Hojaldre

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gplain flour
• 2 tspbaking powder
• 2 tbspsugar
• 1.5 tspsalt
• 60 gunsalted butter or vegetable shortening, cold and cubed
• 280 mlwarm water or warm whole milk
• 1egg (optional, for a richer dough)

To fry and serve

• 1 litrevegetable oil, for deep frying
• fried eggs and white cheese (queso blanco), to serve
• strong Panamanian coffee

Directions

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a wide bowl.
2. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with a few larger flakes still visible – those flakes are what give hojaldre its layered flakiness.
3. Add the warm water (and the egg if using) and bring the dough together, kneading only 3–4 minutes until smooth. Over-kneading makes it tough and it will not puff.
4. Cover with a cloth and rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour. The gluten must relax or the dough will spring back and you will never stretch it thin.
5. Divide into 8 balls, oil your hands lightly, and rest them a further 10 minutes under the cloth.
6. Take one ball and stretch it out with your fingers and palms, working from the middle outwards and rotating it, into a rough round about 18–20 cm across and thin enough to see your hand through in the centre, with a thicker rim. Panamanians stretch by hand, not with a rolling pin.
7. Heat the oil to 180°C (350°F) – a scrap of dough should rise and sizzle immediately.
8. Slide one hojaldre in and, as soon as it hits the oil, spoon hot oil over the top surface for 10 seconds. This is the trick that makes it balloon.
9. Fry 60–90 seconds a side until puffed, blistered and deep golden with pale patches. Drain on a rack.
10. Serve immediately, hot enough to burn the fingers, with fried eggs and crumbled queso blanco, and coffee. Some households dust the sweet version with sugar.

Technique

• Resting the dough is the whole difference between a proper hojaldre and a heavy fried disc. An hour is the minimum; overnight in the fridge is better.
• Spooning hot oil over the top the moment it goes in sets the upper surface and traps steam, forcing the dough to inflate into a hollow pillow.
• Oil below 175°C (350°F) makes them greasy and dense; above 190°C (375°F) they colour before they can puff. Check with a thermometer or a test scrap between batches.

Substitutions

• Milk instead of water gives a softer, richer dough closer to the Sunday-morning version many Panamanian families make.
• No deep-frying setup? Shallow-fry in 2 cm of oil in a wide pan, spooning oil over constantly – they puff less dramatically but taste the same.

Variations

• Hojaldra dulce, sugared while hot and eaten as a snack.
• The Chiriqui version, made thicker and smaller so the inside stays doughy.
• Tortilla de maiz, the maize-based Panamanian breakfast alternative served with the same accompaniments.

History

Fried flatbread eaten at breakfast with eggs and cheese, its name borrowed from the Spanish word for puff pastry.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hojaldre?

Hojaldre is a breakfast from Panama: fried dough eaten with eggs, cheese, or sausage. Fried flatbread eaten at breakfast with eggs and cheese, its name borrowed from the Spanish word for puff pastry.

How long does Hojaldre take to make?

Hojaldre takes 20 min of preparation and 20 min, plus 1 hr resting of cooking. The recipe makes 8 pieces (4 servings). It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Hojaldre?

Yes, within limits. Milk instead of water gives a softer, richer dough closer to the Sunday-morning version many Panamanian families make. No deep-frying setup? Shallow-fry in 2 cm of oil in a wide pan, spooning oil over constantly – they puff less dramatically but taste the same.

What is the most important thing to get right in Hojaldre?

Cover with a cloth and rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour. The gluten must relax or the dough will spring back and you will never stretch it thin.