pão, pan, pain, pane, brot, bread. { pan de jamón }

ok, i've already told you about my love for baking bread.

the fulfillment it brings to my soul.

well... on the top of that, some kinds of bread bring me an even sweeter feeling,

they recall me of cherished places, memories and people.

one of them

(and i cannot but say that it is my number one, way ahead of the bavarian laugenstange)

is the traditional bread from my hometown: padas de vale de ílhavo.

there's then a bunch of others. like today's bread.

this one in particular recalls me of lazy weekends,

but also of parties and special holidays like christmas and new year's eve.

and it has a very funny story ;)

(oh how i love the smell of sourdough)

it was not until a couple of weeks ago that i found out that this bread is a traditional venezuelan recipe. for me, it was just something that had a spanish name, but was actually really common and typical in my hometown.
i had never thought of its origins.

it was not until i saw the recipe in the blog creating in paris that i figured it was a venezuelan recipe, and if at first i could not understand how it could be so popular in aveiro, the whole story suddenly stroke me as lightning.

i don't know exactly when, let's say it was over the past century, my hometown - and likely many other portuguese cities - welcomed a lot of venezuelan families. upon arrival, many of them - don't ask me why - opened their own bakeries, to a point that they became a majority in the field that has lasted until today. and this is likely the reason this so typical recipe from venezuela became so traditional back home. it's crazy to see how influential such thing can be over less than fifty years!

Pan de Jamón

(para dois pães)

14g de fermento seco

2 colheres de sopa de açúcar

3/4 de chávena de água morna

1 kg de farinha

100g de manteiga, derretida

1 chávena de leite

3 ovos, batidos

sal

500g de fiambre fatiado

200g de paio, bacon ou outro tipo de charcutaria, fatiado

100g de passas

250g de azeitonas recheadas com pimento

1 ovo batido com um pouco de água

Misturar o fermento com o açúcar e a água e deixar repousar cerca de 5 minutos,

Deitar a farinha numa taça bem grande; no centro deitar o sal, a mistura de fermento, os ovos, a manteiga e o leite; misturar tudo e amassar com as mãos,

Deixar repousar numa taça untada com óleo e coberta com um pano limpo cerca de uma hora, ou até duplicar de tamanho,

Colocar metade da massa sobre uma superfície enfarinhada e formar um rectângulo com um pouco menos de 1 cm de espessura com a ajuda de um rolo de cozinha,

Espalhar metade de cada um dos recheios sobre a massa, enrolar bem para formar o primeiro pão; repetir com a segunda metade da massa e recheios para formar o segundo pão,

Deixar levedar mais 45 minutos (eu deixei levedar inicialmente 2 horas por isso saltei este passo),

Colocar os pães sobre um tabuleiro forrado com papel vegetal, pincelar com o ovo batido com água e levar ao forno a 190ºC durante cerca de 45 minutos,

Deixar arrefecer antes de servir para ser mais fácil de cortar (ou ser maroto e comer logo haha).

Pan de Jamón

(makes two)

14g dried yeast

2 tbsp sugar

3/4 cup water, warm

1 kg flour

100g butter, melted

1 cup milk

3 eggs, beaten

salt

500g ham, sliced

200g smoked ham, bacon, or other of your choice

100g raisins

250g olives with pepper filling (pitted)

1 egg beaten with a bit of water

Mix yeast, sugar and water and let rest for about 5 minutes,

Pour the flour in a big bowl; pour over the salt, yeast mixture, eggs, butter and milk; mix and knead with your hands,

Let rest in a greased bowl covered with a clean cloth for about one hour, or until it doubled its size,

Place half the dough over a flour dusted surface and roll it out in a rectangle slightly less than 1 cm thick,

Spread half the fillings over and roll to form the first bread; repeat with the second half of the dough and fillings for the second bun,

Let leaven for another 45 minutes (I let it leaven for 2 hours initially so I skipped this step),

Place the buns over a parchment paper lined baking tray, varnish with the egg wash and bake at 190ºC for about 45 minutes,

Let cool before serving so that it is easier to slice (or be naughty and just eat it straightway, it's so good that no one cares if the slices are not pretty haha).