The Panquemao is a typical sweet from Valencia, which is usually made during Holy Week. Find out how to easily prepare it at home.
Today we are going to discover another new and delicious traditional Easter recipe. And, precisely, it is quite possible that it calls your attention mainly because of its name, especially if you have never heard of it. This is the panquemao, a delicious typical sweet from the province of Alicante, although currently the panquemao is prepared throughout the Valencia Community.
The panquemao as we have said before is a traditional sweet of Holy Week in Alicante. It consists of a sweet, tender, fluffy bun, which is flavored with sweet anise. Its interior is white and on the outside it has a particular dark and toasted tone, in the shape of large round bread and that in other areas is known by other names such as toña, fogaza, Tonya or simply panou.
The dough with which this sweet bun is made is very similar to the dough for the Easter Mona or the traditional Roscón de Reyes.
At Easter, the tradition is to taste it at snack time accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate.
That yes, although the tradition is to prepare the panquemao in Holy Week, the panquemao is currently prepared to taste it at any time of the year that you want.
Pancake recipe
Ingredients:
- 550 grams of wheat flour, sifted.
- 50 grams of fresh yeast.
- 80ml milk.
- 140 grams of sugar.
- 80ml of virgin olive oil with a mild flavor, or sunflower oil.
- 2 large eggs.
- A dash of anise.
- A beaten egg to brush the dough.
- The grated skin of an orange.
- The grated skin of a lemon.
- A pinch of salt.
- Sugar to sprinkle and decorate the panquemao (three tablespoons).
Elaboration:
- We put the milk in a saucepan to heat over the fire, with low heat and only heat a little. Turn off the heat and let the milk get lukewarm to break up the yeast in the lukewarm milk.
- In a bowl, beat the 2 eggs well; add the sugar, the grated skin of the orange and the lemon, the salt, the dash of anise, the oil and beat everything well.
- Then add the yeast and the milk that we had dissolved and beat again.
- Add the sifted flour to this mixture; mix with the help of a spatula or wooden spoon until the flour is well integrated.
- Then we knead with our hands. Once the dough is made, let it rest at room temperature in a warm area so that the dough rises. It should at least double its volume, for at least a rest of 2 hours or more.
- Knead again a little to remove the gas from the dough. We make a ball with the dough and let it rest again for about 2 more hours; we will be making a second rise to the dough.
- After the time we take the ball of dough and brush the dough with the beaten egg. With a knife marking lightly we make the dough the shape of a cross.
- We line the oven tray with baking paper to cook the panquemao. We put the oven to preheat with a temperature of 180ºC with heat up and down, for 10 minutes.
- We put the two tablespoons of sugar in a glass and just moisten it with a little water.
- With a spoon we distribute the moistened sugar throughout the top of the dough. Once the oven is preheated, place the panquemao on the oven tray.
- Place the tray with the panquemao halfway up the oven and cook it for half an hour. If we notice while it is baking that it begins to brown a lot on the top, we cover the panquemao with aluminum foil and continue cooking.
- When it is cooked carefully, remove the panquemao from the oven and let cool.
