ensaymada

Ensaymada is a Filipino sweet bread, and Vanjo Merano’s selected version folds butter, white sugar and grated cheddar into coiled pieces of yeast dough. More of the butter-and-sugar mixture and cheese finish the baked tops.

Warm fresh milk, rapid-rise yeast and sugar are stirred together and left to activate. Flour and salt form the dry base, which receives whole eggs, melted butter and the activated mixture before the dough is kneaded.

The dough rises under a cloth, is flattened to release air and is divided into serving pieces. Each piece is rolled flat and brushed in its centre with butter mixed with white sugar, then sprinkled with cheese and folded into a long cylinder.

The cylinders are formed into spirals and rest again on a wax-paper-lined tray under a cloth. After baking, their tops are brushed with the remaining butter-and-sugar mixture and sprinkled with more cheese.

The recipe serves the finished ensaymada hot. Merano describes this bakery bread as one of his preferred mid-afternoon snacks, with a cup of brewed coffee served separately.