Yes, there is a World Pandesal Day

Chef Richie Manapat during Miele Culinary Experience in Miele BGC Showroom, Taguig City. PHOTOS by RICHARD A. REYES

On Oct. 16, we celebrate World Pandesal Day. I heard about this celebration from Kamuning Bakery owner and columnist Wilson Lee Flores, who revived the 80-year-old bakery in Quezon City.

Today, Oct. 6, and on Oct. 27, Kamuning Bakery will be celebrating by hosting free medical, dental and optical missions from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon at both the Quezon City branch and Caloocan branch below the LRT 5th Avenue station. Kamuning Bakery is partnering with the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center led by president Dr. James Dy and the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII) for the missions.

Wilson points out that while it is called “World Pandesal Day,” the celebration is month-long. Since the theme is pan de sal, Kamuning Bakery will also be giving away 70,000 pieces of pan de sal as well as a care package that includes cheese, sardines and noodles.

Wilson is amazing as the Kamuning Bakery actually suffered a destructive fire last year. It is wonderful to see his tradition of celebrating pan de sal very much alive.

Miele’s tools for baking bread

Speaking of pan de sal, we must mention today’s hippest baker and pandesal maker, Richie Manapat of Panaderya Toyo. If there is one person who has been making a name for himself by baking local bread, it is this reed-thin bread geek.

Watching him at the Miele Culinary Experience at the Miele showroom in BGC last September, it is easy to see why society and bloggers have been raving about this baker. His enthusiasm and commitment to making good bread is apparent.

Although originally self-taught, he has mastered European bread-making techniques, applying these to local grains and taking into consideration our tropical climate.

He also stresses the importance of not using supermarket white flour. Instead, he suggests using rice flour.

He also believes the correct tools help a lot in making better bread.

At the event, he used the Miele MoisturePlus and demonstrated how to use the crisp functions of the oven to achieve a good crust on the outside and keep the bread texture soft inside.

He made banana flour dough bread, tinned loaf bread, seeded banana flour dough bread and rice dough focaccia. Then he distributed Panaderya Toyo’s bread starter called masa madre or mother dough, so guests could try baking artisan bread at home.

Miele is the premium home appliance manufacturer from Germany so it’s easy to see why it would be easier to achieve desired results using Miele’s tools: The Miele oven’s MoisturePlus helped the dough rise and achieve its final expansion through the injection of steam inside the oven cavity during the early baking process. The water from the glass is drawn up the oven through a metal tube then pumped into the steam generator, to be released inside the oven cavity as bursts of steam during the early baking process.

Meanwhile the crisp function helped in creating the nice brown crust on the outside of the bread.

If using this oven still doesn’t cut it for you, well, you can buy pan de sal at either Kamuning Bakery or Panaderya Toyo.

Happy World Pandesal Day!

Miele Domestic Appliances are exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Focus Global Inc. Showrooms are located on the ground floor of The Residences at Greenbelt, San Lorenzo Tower, Esperanza Street, Makati City, (632) 7794-2095; Twenty-four Seven McKinley, 24th Street corner 7th Avenue, McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City, (632) 8705-9999; Pioneer corner Reliance Streets, Mandaluyong City, (632) 8634-8587; and The Design Center of Cebu, P. Remedios corner A.S. Fortuna Streets, Mandaue City, Cebu, (6332)2387605.

Kamuning Bakery, Quezon City. For inquiries, text or Viber 0917-8481828 or 0918-8077777.