in all my years of experience in baking, I have had no problem on using a fabricated oven, until one time, when I connected the plug from the gasul or liquified petroleum gas tank to the oven. Unexpectedly, when I strike a match to open flame for the oven gas burner, a ball of fire struck my hands and part of my face causing minor burns. So the control knob of the oven no longer functioning. I could not control the flow of gas. So the best I did was to have it checked with the person who had knowledge to fix the valve of the oven. I am pretty sure if I have a very safe oven to bake on, It would not have happened. If you are planning to bake and buy oven that can accommodate six trays or eight trays, be sure to check its safety measures to avoid similar accidents.

it's fun baking this favorite filipino breakfast bread- pan de sal when it is accompanied by a cup of your favorite coffee.


Here are the ingredients you need: for a 1 kilo of pan de sal recipe :

• 1 kg of first class flour or bread flour
• 10 grams of instant yeast
• 15grams of iodized salt ( rock or table salt can be used)
• 4 to 10 grams of dough improver
• 50 grams lard or vegetable shortening ( or 25 grams lard, 25 grams margarine)
• 170 to 180 grams white granulated sugar
• 20 grams powdered milk
• water 450 grams
• 5 grams of vanilla
• bread crumbs(available in supermarket, your local bakery)

Baking utensils

• a rolling pin (or a dough roller)
• a weighing scale that can read 2 grams to 1,000 grams or 1 kilogram(which may cost you P500)

• a basin (plastic or aluminum) to mix your ingredients,

• a clean working table

Procedure

• Mix flour, instant yeast, powdered milk, dough improver and sift at a fair height to allow air to encorporate to the mixture .
• in a separate basin, add water, vanilla, white sugar, iodized salt , mix well until salt and sugar have dissolved .
• Add liquid mixture in to the sifted dry mixture with the lard added on.
• Start kneading with your hand until mixture becomes smooth and elastic.
• If you have a dough roller, kneading will be much faster.
• After kneading . you have to allow the dough to relax. After say 10 minutes you can now form the dough into a baston shape and weigh 10 grams a piece.
• Roll the shaped dough in the bread crumbs and place on a greased baking tray.
  
• Allow to rest until dough has doubled in size, you can test it if ready for baking by poking a finger on the dough and if it leaves a dent or a well, and the dough does not bounced back.
• Preheat oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. If your oven does not have a thermometer , I would suggest you buy one.
• As you reach this temperature, you can now place all the dough and wait 5 to 10 minutes or until bread turns golden brown.
• At last you now have a freshly bake pan de sal, readys to eat.
  

I thought of sharing you my knowledge on baker's percentage with my little experience in baking breads,for example. To illustrate to you a simple formula that you can adopt without the help of an experienced baker. for example if you plan to bake pan de sal, here's the computation

• first class flour ------------ 1,000 grams base weight
• instant yeast ------------------- 10 grams 1% (10/1000x %)
• dough improver ---------------- 4 grams 0.4% ( 4/1000 x % )
• iodized salt --------------------- 15grams 1.5 % ( 15 over 1000 x %)
• white granulated sugar ---- 180 grams 18% (180/1000 x%)
• lard --------------------------------- 50 grams 5% (50 divided by 1000 x % )
• powdered milk ------------------20 grams 2% ( 20 divided by 1000 x %)

Total: 1729 grams

if you divide into 10 grams each dough- 1,729 grams/10 or 173 pcs pan de sal