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Treats SF Bakes a Puerto Rican Staple

Truc from Treats SF turned to our latest publication to help create the pillowy, delicate Mallorca bread in her home kitchen.
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Published Oct. 14, 2016.

Treats SF Bakes a Puerto Rican Staple

In Bread Illustrated—our first book devoted to bread—we show that baking a perfect loaf is no mystery: It’s just a matter of breaking recipes down into essential steps that demystify the art and science of this age-old process. After rigorous testing, we have created a roadmap to baking more than 100 foolproof breads, each accompanied by step-by-step photo tutorials.


 

A trip to the bakery can be inspiring, but recreating sweet breads at home can seem like a daunting process. Consider Mallorca bread, a sweet, fluffy, and buttery egg bread. To recreate these pillowy, delicate buns at home, Truc of Treats SF turned to our newest release, saying, “When I was thumbing through America's Test Kitchen's latest amazing tome, Bread Illustrated, I was absolutely delighted to see the recipe for Mallorcas.”

The smell of the freshly baked buns is absolutely hypnotic. After a brief cooling they are generously dusted with a cloud of powdered sugar and served slightly warm. Delicioso!

Mallorcas are one of Puerto Rico's iconic baked goods—they made their way to the Caribbean island by way of the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca, which is where Truc witnessed a version of them stocked in bakery after bakery.

“The enriched dough is similar to brioche in that it's laden with eggs and butter,” says Truc.

For our version, we call upon a streamlined two-step process: First, we stretched the mass of dough thin, brushed it with melted butter, and rolled it like a jelly roll to form layers. Then, after cutting the roll and shaping individual ropes, we brushed the dough with more butter before coiling each rope into a spiral-shaped roll.

What else did Truc have to say about our Mallorcas and Bread Illustrated

“The smell of the freshly baked buns is absolutely hypnotic. After a brief cooling they are generously dusted with a cloud of powdered sugar and served slightly warm. Delicioso!”

“There are so many fantastic bread recipes in this cookbook and I can't wait to try more.”

For more on Mallorcas—and more of Truc's lovely photographs—see the original post on Treats SF. 

You Knead this Book

Bread Illustrated

Bread Illustrated—our first cookbook devoted solely to bread baking—is a fully illustrated handbook with more than 100 meticulously tested recipes that will enable you to bake artisan bakery–quality bread at home. Each recipe is a hands-on tutorial with a timeline and photos that break down the recipe step by step, because seeing the process from start to finish helps make any recipe more approachable.  
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