Pan de Sal (continued)

The Recipe

Ingredients:
5 - 6 cups of All-Purpose flour
2 cups lukewarm water
5 tsp. yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspon salt
1/3 cup sugar
breadcrumbs

Procedure:

Soften yeast in lukewarm water (about 10 minutes.) Add salt, oil, sugar and mix well. Gradually add flour and mix until the dough comes off the side of the bowl. If there is vital wheat gluten available in your area, add about a teaspon to the flour before mixing with the liquid. Knead for about five minutes or until the dough has become elastic. (Pull off a piece of dough and stretch, there should be resistance when you pull the dough. At this point, gluten has developed.) Roll the dough and let rest in a greased bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour in warm draft-free place, or overnight inside the refrigerator(preferred).) Punch the dough to let the air out. Divide the dough into two and roll into logs about 2 inches in diameter and a foot and a half long. Divide each log into twelve pieces. Roll each piece in breadcrumbs and arrange in baking sheet (make sure there is enough space for dough to expand.) Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Let rolls rise until double in bulk. Lower oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake rolls for about nine minutes. If you want a crusty exterior to your pan de sal, put a small pan of water on the lower shelf (of oven) while pre-heating and bake the rolls for a couple of minutes more.

Makes about two dozen rolls.