Ube Pandesal and Ube Cheese Pandesal with Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Jam)

ube pandesal roll torn in half sitting on tray of freshly baked ube pandesal

Ube Pandesal and Ube Cheese Pandesal with Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Jam)

This ube pandesal recipe is absolutely delicious! Give the classic Filipino breakfast staple an exciting and delicious twist with the new ube cheese pandesal! Fluffy and soft bread mixed with the sweetness of ube, a dollop of ube halaya jam and oozing with cheesy goodness. It’s the perfect bread roll breakfast recipe!

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine filipino, Philippines

Prep Time 3 15

Cook Time 18

Total Time 3 33

Servings pandesal rolls

Calories 127kcal

Author Aubrey

Cost $6

Equipment

Large bowl, baking sheet, parchment paper

Ingredients

Ube Pandesal

3¼ cups bread flour (preferred for extra fluffiness) or all purpose white flour
¼ cup white granulated sugar
2 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast a standard size yeast packet typically contains about 2¼ teaspoons of yeast
1 cup whole milk (warm)
¼ cup unsalted butter (melted)
1 teaspoon ube flavoring/extract see notes for brand recommendation
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup plain breadcrumbs (fine texture)

Ube Cheese Pandesal

20 cubes cheese (cheddar, cream cheese, brie or any desired variation Optional for ube pandesal with cheese

Ube Cheese Pandesal with Ube Halaya

¼ cup ube halaya (purple yam jam) Optional for ube pandesal with cheese and halaya

Instructions

Ube Pandesal

In a large bowl, pour in warm milk, melted butter, egg, vanilla, ube extract/flavoring and yeast. Mix the wet ingredients well before proceeding.
Next, add in white sugar, salt, and bread flour (recommended) or all purpose white flour.
Tip to Measure Flour: When you measure flour, do not scoop it out directly as that can lead to using more flour than is needed. To correctly measure your flour, give the flour a stir with a fork or a whisk to loosen it. Spoon the flour into cup until it is heaping, then gently level with the flat side of a knife (don't apply pressure downward) or loosely shake off excess.
Mix all the ingredients together until it forms a dough.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 20 minutes. This allows everything to relax making it easier to knead.
Place the dough on a kneading board (cutting board or other clean surface). You may then lightly grease your hands and the kneading board with a bit of oil to help with the stickiness. Then knead the dough for about 7 minutes. See notes for tips on how to knead dough.
Once done, tuck the ends of the dough underneath to form a smooth ball. Lightly grease the bowl with oil before placing the dough in. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let the dough rise for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.
After 2 hours, place the dough on a flat surface and divide it into 20 portions (each portion should weigh approximately 45g or1.6z). See notes for recommended food scale.
For ube pandesal without cheese, roll each pandesal portion into an even round ball.
***See instructions below if making ube cheese pandesal or ube cheese pandesal with halaya (purple yam jam).***
Roll each portion in fine textured breadcrumbs (dust them off) before arranging them on a parchment-lined baking tray.
Let pandesal dough balls rest for another 30 minutes (to allow dough to rise).
Bake ube pandesal in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 18 to 20 minutes.
Take them out of the oven and allow a few minutes to cool before serving as the filling will be very hot.

Ube Cheese Pandesal

For ube pandesal with cheese, flatten each portion into a circle (about the circumference of a baseball).
Place 1 cube of cheese (about 0.5 x 0.5 inches) at the center of the dough and roll each one into a smooth ball, tucking the ends underneath to seal. Be sure to seal dough TIGHTLY or cheese will ooze out when it bakes.

Ube Cheese Pandesal with Ube Halaya

Place ube halaya/ube jam (if desired) and 1 cube of cheese (about 0.5 x 0.5 inches) at the center of the dough and roll each one into a smooth ball, tucking the ends underneath to seal. Be sure to seal dough TIGHTLY or cheese and halaya jam will ooze out when it bakes.

Notes

Ube Extract/Flavoring: Ube extract can sometimes be tricky to find in grocery stores. It is available in some specialty Asian grocery stores. I purchase this Ube Extract online from Amazon.

Food Scale: I highly recommend purchasing a food scale. It is super helpful especially when baking recipes need to be exact. I purchased this affordable digital food scale on Amazon and have used it for many years.

Pandesal Baking Tips:

If you use active dry yeast instead of rapid-rise/instant yeast, you must proof the yeast before pouring it into the mixture. Water temperature for yeast proofing should be within 105-115°F otherwise it will kill the yeast.
Mix wet and dry ingredients well before leaving the dough to rest. Make sure there are no lumps of unmixed flour.
Pandesal dough is normally sticky. To provide ease and help with kneading, you may grease the kneading surface and your hands lightly with oil and 1 teaspoon of flour.
Check the dough using a windowpane test to see if it is properly kneaded. To do a windowpane test, take a small portion of your dough and stretch it out. Well-kneaded dough will form a translucent film at the center without breaking.
Be sure that the dough portions should cover the cubed cheese completely otherwise the cheese will drip out after baking.

How to Knead Dough:

Pandesal dough is quite sticky which means that if you don’t know how to properly knead the dough; you’ll end up with a messy countertop and dough sticking all over the place.
Before kneading the dough, make sure you let it rest for about 20 minutes. This allows the dough to hydrate and properly absorb all the ingredients. It will also allow you to work on the dough a little bit better once it absorbs all the moisture from the ingredients.
After 20 minutes, you can start kneading the dough. Slap the dough to the kneading board, fold it over in half, pick it up again and repeat. Do this multiple times for about 5 minutes or until the texture become smooth and elastic.
The technique to this method is to do it quickly without slowing down to lessen sticking on your kneading board.

Nutrition