I love a good pandesal. Especially the lovely, purple, ube-flavoured ones! I've never tried making it myself though. And, arguably, I should have started with a more traditional, non-sourdough recipe for my first attempt. But I had starter that needed used, so I figured I'd give it a go.

I think this recipe was largely fine, but I was distracted and in a hurry when making it, so I didn't give it as much attention as I should have and ended up with slightly subpar results.

I didn't quite catch the starter at its peak, so it had already started to sink back by the time I was mixing the dough. I also absent-mindedly started scooping whole wheat flour into the bowl instead of the all-purpose flour that I'd been intending to use. So, instead of 300g of all-purpose flour, the final dough ended up with ~100g of whole wheat flour and 200g of all-purpose flour. This made the dough slightly drier than it was meant to be, which meant that I had trouble getting it to take up all of the flour. And, since I didn't have time to stay there and keep kneading it, I just covered it and let it sit for a couple hours while I attended to other things. This resulted in some obstinate lumps of mostly dry flour that were very difficult to properly smooth out and incorporate later. I was having enough trouble with these lumps and getting everything evenly mixed, that I decided to add a little more water. Now, what I should have done was wet my hands and work a bit of water in that way. Instead I decided to pour a little water in. And ended up adding 30g instead of the 5-10 it likely needed. So then the dough was much too wet. Which required trying to correct it with a little more flour (~40g). Not the end of the world, to be sure, but not exactly ideal either.

And then there was the shaping...

The recipe recommended rolling the dough into a log and then cutting the log into 12 discs and placing the discs cut-side-up for proofing and baking. So I did that. But I'm not really happy with the results that that gave. I think next time I'd pinch off balls of dough and round them in the usual way, placing them seam-side down on the baking sheet. Still... I'm glad that I tried it this way the first time, just to see how it worked out.

As I said, this is not a bad recipe overall. I just need to take a little more care with it next time around.

Sourdough Pandesal

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 120g ripe (fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 150g water
• 300g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 c. canola (or other neutral) oil
• breadcrumbs, for coating

Directions

1. Make sure your starter is very well-fed and active.
2. Combine starter, water, flour, salt, and sugar and mix well.
3. Knead by hand or hook until dough is smooth and elastic (2-10 minutes depending on your technique).
4. Gradually work in the oil.
5. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature for 4-8 hours.
6. Once the dough is fully risen, knock it back and allow to rest for a few minutes.
7. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and round each one.
8. Roll each dough ball in breadcrumbs and place on a greased baking sheet.
9. Cover and allow to rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
10. Rolls may either be baked now or held in the fridge and baked off first thing in the morning.
11. Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
12. Uncover rolls and bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~25 minutes.
13. Transfer to wire rack to cool.