Birote

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/xinik/3785489228/

Description

Traditional Mexican bread from Jalisco, commonly used for "tortas ahogadas".

Ingredients

500 g
All Purpose Flour (Dough starter)
1
Egg yolk (Dough starter)
1
Lemon (just the juice (Dough starter))
1
Orange (just the juice (Dough starter))
1⁄2 c
White vinegar (Dough starter)
40 g
Instant Yeast (Dough starter)
300 ml
Water (Dough starter)
2 1⁄2 kg
All Purpose Flour (Birote dough)
30 g
Sugar (Birote dough)
20 g
Salt (Birote dough)
1200 ml
Water (Birote dough)
30 g
Bread improver (Birote dough (not really necessary))
5 t
Sea Salt (glaze)
2 1⁄2 c
Water (glaze)

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients for the dough starter in a bowl, it will end being a runny dough. cover the dough starter with a clean cloth and let it rise until it doubles. For the "birote" dough mix the flour, sugar, salt and the dough starter and knead the dough, add water. Stop kneading until you get a soft and elastic dough; it takes some time to get to this stage and I highly recommend adding water at different stages and not all at once. Let the dough rise until it doubles. Weigh 150 gm portions, and shape the birote. Use this video for guidance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlzgy7bvJRs&feature=related. Once shaped let them rise until they double. Before baking, cut the center of the Birote using a cutter, --use a sharp cutter to avoid deflating the birote. Then, apply the glaze and bake at 240ºC / 450ºF for about 20 minutes.

Notes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_improver, the bread improver is not really necessary but really improves the texture and shelf life of the bread. this recipe is commonly used to prepare "tortas ahogadas" but could be filled with many ingredients or cut into slices to prepare "tapas" or bread puddings like "capirotada"

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