Because making and baking your own bread is tiring business, I ate one straight out of the oven. Yikes, the filling burned, hahaha.

My passion for making bread started when the pandemic hit and everything suddenly ground to a halt. Cooped up in the house, I got doomsday feels especially when our mobility was hampered. Thank goodness for the internet, I watched many videos and zeroed in on how to make pandesal. Pandesal is a local bread that is soft and covered with bread crumbs. It is many Filipinos' comfort food.

So I had it in my head that pandesal will be my first-ever bread project. My first attempt wasn’t my best; heck, it wasn’t the best of my worst even. But I did not let that failure stop me. I have always been obsessive, especially when my interest is piqued and I like what I’m doing.

After a yearlong hiatus (Chronic tendonitis sidelined me, that’s another story), I started baking again. Following a spate of savory and sweet bread, I asked the husband what he wanted and he asked for pandesal. I made a batch and, right before the last proofing, divided the portions- half with corned beef filling and the rest just plain pandesal. Most of the time, I like my bread to have filling because it simplifies eating, just heat it up and voila, instant breakfast or snack. How lazy can one get, right?

BTW, I knead my dough by hand 100% of the time. My husband offered several times to buy me a quality mixer (Hello, Kitchen Aid) but I decline. Not yet. My hands are my best tools. Besides, I love the smell of butter and dough on them. Nothing even comes close to the feeling of home.

If anyone is interested, here’s the recipe youtu.be/4RiNlBSRi…