Wood Fire Baked Filipino Rolls (Pandesal Sa Pugon)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let stand until yeast is foamy. Once yeast has become active, add sugar, eggs, both flours, and salt. With a dough hook, mix everything slowly so as not to splatter. Once everything is incorporated, cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

After the resting period, start kneading with the stand mixer on the medium low setting. Start incorporating soft butter slowly, a scant tablespoon at a time, making sure each chunk is fully mixed in before adding the next. Once all the butter has been added, continue kneading for another 7-8 minutes, until the dough separates from the sides of the bowl and is showing strength and gluten development.

Once the dough has been throughly developed, cover bowl and let rest in a warm, draft-free area for an hour, or until doubled in size, to proof.

Now is a good time to prepare the Cru oven for baking.

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle breadcrumbs over the entire surface. Place the rest of the breadcrumbs in a bowl.*

After the dough has doubled, punch down and divide into 24 parts. Roll each part into a ball with a tight surface tension and place dip the tops in breadcrumbs,* then place onto baking sheet.

Place baking sheet in a warm, draft-free place to let the pandesal rise for another 20-30 minutes.

Bake pandesal in the Cru oven.