Ensaymada!

Oh yeah, those are some sexy empanadas if I do say so myself.  Yes, I'm proud of these little buggers.  I get all giddy when I feel like I've made something to truly be proud of.  And these ensaymadas are one of two things in recent days I've created that literally made me dance with glee when they were done.  Also, I'm just enjoying saying the word sexy right now.

Sexy.

I adjusted the recipe one more time.  Party because I did take my sister's comments to heart and so tried shortening the dough a little by adding a touch more fat to soften it up.  I also did it because I like round cooking numbers like 4 ounces of butter versus 3 ounces.  And, yes, if you were ever wondering why fats, particularly solid ones, are call shortenings that's why.  They shorten gluten chains in doughs for crumbier baked goods.

Here's the dough after its final knead, wrapped up and ready for its last rise.  I love bread dough.  I love being able to hold it.  Unlike cake batter.  I love just watching bread develop as all the ingredients are kneaded, left to rise, cut, shaped and baked.  I 'cheat' by the way.  Well, not really.  But honestly, I probably wouldn't bake bread if not for my Kitchenaid mixer.  I love that thing and its dough hook.  Anyway, a dough like this, where you add a bunch of fat towards the end, starts out a gooey mess.  But after ten minutes of kneading, it slowly comes together to form this stretchy, satiny, smooth ball.  It's magical.

Once it's risen, the dough is then punched down and divided into 3oz portions.  Each one is then rolled out to a long sheet and cheese is sprinkled along it's length.  I'm using cheddar cheese.  Another commonly used cheese is edam.  I may try it next time.  Or maybe a sharper white cheddar.  That's right, certain parts of the recipe are never set in stone.  Heh.  Not everyone puts cheese in the middle.  But I like the idea of having that extra flavor actually in the dough, not just on top.

The dough is then rolled lengthwise, enclosing the cheese and forming a rope.  Pinching the ends closed the rope is then twirled into a spiral and the end is tucked under the roll.

Now, you can place this little spiralled roll into muffin tins or cups.  This time, though, I chose to be more 'rustic' and fell back on its Spanish roots as a free standing roll.

There they are, waiting for their final proof before baking.  The finished roll looks kind of like a little turban, which compels me to mention a little bit more about the history of ensaimada.  It's believed that the pastry was originally an early medieval arabic or jewish baked good and came to the Iberian peninsula through their culture.  And originally it was made with butter.  Then the Spanish Inquisition occurred and the Catholic Church forced the conversion of many Jews and Muslims.  And to insure they were truly converted required that all  their pastry be made with pork lard, since pork was a forbidden meat among those religions.  That is why the ensaimada and a number of other Spanish pastries call for lard.  Thus ends the history lesson.

And here's what they ended up looking like on the inside.  A beautiful, soft crumb with swirly holes of cheese.  Sexy.