Puerto Rican Pan Sobao

2 loafs of puerto rican style pan sobao with a line towel around it.

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5 from 5 votes

Soft, chewy, and delicious is this sweet bread. Great for sandwiches and perfect to have with your morning coffee.

Prep Time2 28

Cook Time22

Total Time2 50

Course: bread, Breakfast, Dinner, lunch

Cuisine: puertorican

Servings:

Calories: 162kcal

Author: Stephenie

Ingredients

1 ½ tablespoon shortening 21g
6 ounces water (110°F) 170g
3 ½ tablespoons sugar 52g
1 ½ teaspoon instant yeast 6g
2 cups bread flour 280g
½ teaspoon salt 4g

Instructions

In a large bowl add the shortening, water, sugar, and yeast. Mix until you see that all the sugar has dissolved.
Mix the salt into the flour. Add all the flour to your wet mixture and mix until there is no more water visible. This should take about 3-5 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a flat surface and knead for 15 minutes. At first, the dough will be sticky but do not add flour. Keep on kneading.
Cut the dough into 2 pieces. With the help of a rolling pin, flatten each piece into a rectangular shape of about 10 inches long and 6 inches wide. Roll each dough piece into a skinny cylinder. Place each roll into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Place your bread to proof in the middle rack of your oven with the light on for 2 hours. Once the bread has been proofed, remove it from the oven. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Bake your bread for 22 minutes. Remove from oven and enjoy.

Video

Notes

Important:

Measuring-

I suggest you use a scale to measure all your ingredients for precision. If you don't have a scale, make sure you measure your flour using the spoon method. You want to fill your measuring cup with a spoon and then level the flour with the back of a butter knife.

The water temperature should be around 110°F. If you don't have a thermometer don't worry just use your hand to check how it feels. The water should feel hot but not enough to burn your hand.

Proofing-

How fast or slow your bread proof depends on many factors but one of the most important is temperature. If you make this recipe in a very hot environment, your bread will rise faster. But on the other hand, if is very cold it will take longer.

Substitutions-

The most common question I get is if you can use butter instead of shortening. The answer is yes but you must use the right kind of butter. I suggest using stick butter and not the spread that comes in a tub because that one has a very high water content. It is important that if you are using butter, have it at room temperature before adding it to the mix.

Dough-

Once you transfer the dough to a surface to knead, you will notice that it will be sticky. This is how it is supposed to be, don't panic. You don't have to add more flour because, after about 3 minutes of kneading, you will notice that the stickiness will be gone. If you have been kneading that long and you see no change in the stickiness then go ahead and add 1 teaspoon of flour.

Storing-

To store pan sobao is best to keep it in a freezer bag, an airtight container, or your oven.

Yield-

The recipe yields 2 long rolls, each being a little more than a half pound. But you can make other shapes with this pan sobao dough. You can make pan sobao hoagie rolls, burger buns, or just smaller loaves. You just have to bake at the same temperature and keep an eye on what you are making. Once you start seeing that nice golden brown crust then your recipe is done.

Nutrition