Pandesal (Filipino Bread Rolls): Step By Step Guide To Perfectly Fluffy Rolls
Learn how to make the perfect Pandesal, a popular Filipino bread roll, with this step by step guide. Fluffy and delicious, these rolls are a staple in Filipino cuisine. Love Filipino breads? Check out my Spanish Bread recipe. More Filipino classics? Check out Ube Hopia, Cassava Cake and Suman Malagkit.
Oh, pandesal in the sweet hours of the morning! Nothing beats a warm tray of these freshly baked Filipino-style dinner rolls with the morning cup of tea or coffee.
Pan de Sal in Spanish mean salt bread. And despite the name, many pandesal recipes have evolved from salty to being slightly sweet with just a touch of salt.
Pandesal is one of the most raved-about recipes here on the blog. If you would like a bread machine version, check out Bread Machine Pandesal!
How to Enjoy Pandesal?
- Pandesal is probably the Philippines’ favorite bread. There is something about these golden dinner rolls that are dusted with breadcrumbs that make them so out of the ordinary. A bread that is delicious on its own, or dipped in coffee.
- For a filling version, we slice the bun in half and fill it with sliced hotdogs, fried egg, and even sauteed corned beef. Sweet tooth? Try peanut butter or coconut jam. Oh, the little things that bring us so much joy!
- If you love pandesal, you need to check out my other pandesal creations like Ube Cheese Pandesal , Red Velvet Pandesal and Chocolate Pandesal with Nutella Filling!
The Perfect Pandesal Recipe
- These pandesal are lightly toasted on the outside. The nice golden exterior has a nice tender-crisp texture, and it renders a nice toasty flavor. Just the way I like it.
- The inside is soft and light. It is not dense and tight-knit, but not too airy either. Just pure crumb perfection.
- They are pillowy soft out of the over AND remain soft the days after.
- Eat them plain, dip them in coffee, slather Nutella, slather butter. You decide how to enjoy it. Lately, we slather it with non-hydrogenated margarine. I think it’s the only way to enjoy it now, and nothing else 🙂
The Process
Proof the Yeast and Mix in the Dough Ingredients
In a bowl of a stand mixer, pour the milk and then sprinkle the yeast. Sprinkle approximately 1-2 teaspoons of the sugar in there as well. Let this mixture sit for 7-12 minutes until it looks thick and creamy.
Add the eggs, the remaining sugar, and the oil. Stir to combine. In a bowl, combine 4 cups of flour and 1 tsp of salt. Gradually add this mixture to the mixing bowl, about 1 cup at a time, stirring well after adding.
Knead the Dough in the Stand Mixer
Now attach the dough hook to the mixer, and on medium speed, mix the dough for 10 minutes. During this period the dough will start to take form, gathering slowly in the center.
After ten minutes of mixing, slowly add more flour with the mixer still running, about 1-2 tbsp at a time. As you add, the dough will gather more and more and it will start to clean the sides of the bowl.
The Dough Gathers in the Center of the Bowl
Continue the mixing and adding, until the dough gathers in the center of the bowl and cleans the sides and bottom of the bowl entirely.
You will also hear the slapping sounds that the dough makes against the bowl. This should take around 10 minutes more, for a total of 20 minutes or so in the mixer.
To test if the dough is adequately kneaded, you can do the windowpane test found in my How to Knead Bread Dough post.
Finish Kneading and Allow the Dough to Rise
You may also need to increase the mixer speed for the dough to release at the bottom of the bowl. You may need less of the 1/2 cup reserved flour, but not more.
Shape the dough into a ball, and let the dough rise in a bowl, Allow it to rise for 1 hour and a half, covered with a clean towel.
Shape the Dough and Dust with Bread Crumbs
After rising, gently deflate the dough. Shape it into a log and divide it into 25-28 pieces.
Roll each piece into a plate of bread crumbs, then arrange the balls in a parchment-lined, light-colored baking pan.
Allow the Shaped Dough to Rise Again, then Bake!
Allow these to rise once more, for 30-40 minutes, covered loosely with a clean kitchen towel. Bake the pandesal for 23-25 minutes, or until golden on top.
Let them cool slightly before serving.
Pointers for Making Pandesal
- The milk should not exceed the temperature of 110F. Hotter than that and you risk killing the yeast.
- If the yeast did not turn foamy after 10 minutes. Discard the mixture and start again.
- The recipe calls for 4 and 1/2 cups of flour. 4 cups are added initially to the dough. The remaining 1/2 cup will be added one tablespoon at a time just until the dough gathers into the center of the bowl. You may not have to use all of the 1/2 cup of flour.
- Use a light-colored baking pan to avoid too much browning of the bottom of the pandesal.
p.s. These will be so good with this Sweet and Spicy Squid or this Filipino Style Pancit Canton.
More Bread Recipes:
- Mamon Recipe
- The Best Ensaymada
- Cassava Cake
- Ube Cheesecake
- Chocolate Mamon
- Yema Rolls
- Coconut Buns with Milky Sweet Filling
- Japanese Milk Buns
- Spanish Bread
- Hawaiian Rolls
- Sweet Cheese Rolls
- Sweet Beehive Buns
- Milk and Sugar Mini Buns
- Pineapple Buns
- Whole Wheat Potato Dinner Rolls
- Crescent Butter Rolls
Pandesal
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 and 1/4 cup warm milk heated to 105-115 F
- 4 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- bread crumbs for dusting the pandesal dough
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the warm milk, yeast and about a tablespoon of the sugar. Let this mixture stand until it is foamy. In another bowl, combine 4 cups of flour and salt.
- Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add in the eggs, sugar and oil to the bowl of stand mixer. Gradually add the flour mixture, about a cup at a time while stirring with a wooden spatula or spoon. Briefly mix everything together until a shaggy dough forms.
- Attach the dough hook to the stand mixer and run the mixer on medium speed to start kneading the dough. After ten minutes of mixing, gradually sprinkle little amounts of flour to the dough ( about a tablespoon at a time) to help in the kneading process. Continue to knead until the dough gathers in the center and is cleaning the sides and bottom of the bowl. This should take about 20 minutes or so and you should only have used up to 1/2 cup of flour. Gather the dough into a ball. Place it inside a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let stand in room temperature to rise for an hour, or until the size is doubled. Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Gently deflate the dough. Divide it into 25-28 equal sized portions. Smooth and shape each portion into an imperfect ball, about 2 and 1/2 to 3 inches in size. Roll each portion of dough in the bread crumbs and place in the baking sheet. Allow little spaces in between portions. Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel and let rise for 40 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake the pandesal for 23-25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden. Serve warm. Store leftovers in a tightly closed container at room temperature.
Hello, I came across your recipe and I have yet to try it out! I just have a few questions. Para po sa 1 tablespoon of sugar for the yeast mixture is that coming out of the 1/2 cup of sugar for the dough mixture? Also gaano po katagal for the dough to let it rise? Lastly would it be okay if I use butter instead of oil? Thank you for your recipe and I am very excited to make it!
Hello Cristelle! The sugar in the yeast will come out of the total amount of sugar. Let the dough rise between 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours, basta doubled in bulk na sya. You can use butter instead of oil but that may change the texture a bit 🙂 Good luck.
Is it okay if i add ham and cheese to this?
Yes, definitely. Yum!
Hi Sanna, I can’t wait to try your pan de sal recipe. Just a question, Could I substitute the AP flour with either self raising flour or plain flour? Which is best recommended? Also, will any milk work even a lactose free milk? Thank you. Can’t wait to hear from you! Baking this tomorrow 🙂
Hello! Plain flour will be fine. I am not sure about the self rising floor. Also, lactose free milk is ok. Good luck!
Hello,I know somebody asked you already about using instant yeast, and you replied to follow the same instructions using the active dry yeast. My question is: with the active dry yeast you mixed it to the warm milk, right? Do i need to carry on to add same amount of milk even I will use instant yeast?
Hi Emily! Yes use the same amount of milk. Happy baking!
Hi Ms. Sanna, just wanna ask what kind of milk should I use? Can I use evap milk? Thank you
Hello Joann! You can use the regular milk (cow’s milk)! Enjoy!
what brand can i use? is it the Carnation? or the regular milk that we use for the cereal? 2% fat milk ?
Yup, those ones 🙂 Happy baking!
Hi ,I have made your recipe twice, and it is awesome, but I would ask is the inside of the pandesal have little holes in it, ? Is this good?
Hi! I was wondering if I’ll make 15 pieces of pandesal instead of 30, do i use half of everything including the yeast?
Hello Samantha! Unfortunately, I don’t recommend halving this recipe:)
I’m trying your recipe right now. I’m currently waiting for the rising of the dough. I have one concern though.. the supposedly kneadable dough is so runny. I followed exactly the recipe but it still is so wet and runny. I don’t think I can shape it into pandesal pieces. I don’t know where I went wrong. But I’ll keep you posted on whatever the outcome will be.
Hello there, I hope the dough turns out well. Although, I think if its runny, I guess it needed more flour to come together as a shaggy dough.
Hi Susana
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, I.made my first ever pandesal, and its so soft and fluffy inside , the frangrance of the pandesal.is mouth watering, thank you agen for the thorough instruction….I still have to master my molding skill or shaping the pandesal…hahahahaa
I am so so happy you liked it!
Hello Sanna, Just made the pan de sal recipe today and turned out really well.My husband loved it. I just had to add around 2 tbsps of flour to make it less it sticky as i try to gather it into a ball. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the feedback and I am happy you loved it!
I’ve been making this recipe since March because of the lockdown in Denmark. My danish boyfriend loved it and specially the pan de coco. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe ❤️
Yay! Thank you so much!
Tried this using my bread machine, and it turned out really well. I used butter instead of canola oil, and added a little bit more sugar, as I like it sweeter. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Thanks so much too, Irene!
Hi,
Just a couple of questions.. I’m from Australia so the weather is pretty cold rn. My pandesal turned out a little bit dense, do you think this is because of the cold weather? If so, what can I do to combat these.
Also I am just wondering if I add a bit more sugar, what would I need to do so it doesn’t ruin the consistency of my dough?
Also is it okay to substitute oil with lard?
Sorry for all the questions haha.
-Jeunesse xo
Hello Jeunesse! If the bread is dense, it may need a little more kneading, or more time rising. You can add a bit of sugar, about 1-2 tablespoons if you like, the dough’s texture will not be altered. And lastly, I have not tried baking bread with lard so I can not tell. If you do, I hope you can give feedback, as I am also interested. Thank you and happy baking!
Hi sanna! Ehat difference does it make if i use all-purpose bleached wheat flour compared to unbleached wheat flour? Have you tried making with a bleached one? Thank you in advance for your answer.
Hello! I have always used unbleached/ all-purpose flour for breads. You can still use the bleached variety if thats what you have, although from my understanding, unbleached is more suitable to attaim the structure and sturdiness of baked goods like bread. Bleqched is more suitable for softwr baked goods like cakes:) I hope that helps.
Delicious! I made these tonight and my family loved them (my Filipina mom said they’re better than the packaged bread at the Asian store!). Thank you for this wonderful recipe. The video says to let the rolled balls rise for an hour, but the written instructions said to let them rise 30 minutes. I went for 1 hour just to be safe, but which is the correct time? Thank you!
Hello there! I am so glad you loved them:) I was not aware I put different times . 1 hour will bw more ideal than 30 minutes.
Amazing! They turned out perfect! It tastes exactly like the pandesal in the Philippines. I have tried to make pandesal for years using different recipes, but never came close to tasting like the original pandesal. Thank you so much!
I am so happy you loved it, May!
Since this covid pandemic made us stay at home, I was inspired to try my hand in baking pan de sal and searched for recipes. Though edible, the end-products from 2 other recipes were unsuccessful and was glad to have found your version. As it’s quite dry and cold in my area, I proofed the dough to get the maximum rise in less time. I also flattened the dough and rolled it into a log to get that authentic pan de sal look. They turned out great and I got nods from the hubby and the grown-up kids! You made 4 people’s tummy happy in this household. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Woot! I am so happy they all loved it! Thank you!