Homemade Ensaimada de Mallorca, authentic homemade traditional Mallorcan recipe

The homemade ensaimada de mallorca It is not a complicated preparation, but like any leavened and enriched dough, it has its tricks and know-how. The process is relatively simple and if we have achieved a perfect dough, the stretched with fatwhere the success of this sweet lies, it will even be fun.

It is made with some very simple ingredients and basic, although as always, it is important that they are of quality and adequate, especially flour.

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Why is it of great importance select the right flour in the elaboration of the ensaimada de Mallorca? Because this sweet needs a good gluten mesh and a good development of it, which is achieved with long kneading and a strength flour. For the kneading, the ideal is to use a mixer because, despite being able to do the kneading manually, these are long.

The rising process once the ensaimada is formed is long, so it is important that you plan to adapt the times to your schedule and be able to bake it at the right time.

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recipe information

• • Preparation time: 1 hour

• • cooking time: 25 minutes

• • total time: 25 minutes (plus about 15 hours of rising)

• • rations:10

• • Category: desserts

• • type of cuisine: Majorcan

• • Calories per serving (kcal):238

Majorcan ensaimada ingredients

• • 100 ml of water

• • 6 g dry baker’s yeast

• • 300 g of strong flour (W360)

• • 1 pinch of salt

• • 1 egg

• • 80g of sugar

• • 150 g lard at room temperature

• • 50g icing sugar

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How to make homemade Mallorcan ensaimada

We start by weighing and measuring all the ingredients. Combine 100 ml of water with 6 g of dry baker’s yeast in a bowl and mix so that the yeast dissolves a bit. Next, we add 300 g of strong flour with 1 pinch of salt.

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Add 1 egg, 80 g of sugar and finally 25 g of lard at room temperature. The rest of the butter will be used after stretching the dough.

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We begin to knead until the dough integrates and detaches from the walls of the mixer if we use it. At first, the dough will be a bit sticky, but we can rest every 10 minutes of kneading and we will see how it becomes smooth and elastic. In this way, we will prevent the dough from getting too hot with friction on the walls of the bowl or with our hands, if we opt for manual kneading.

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After doing several patterns of kneading and resting, we will get a smooth and elastic dough.

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We can check that the dough is smooth by doing the membrane test. That is, when we manage to stretch the dough without it breaking, as shown in the photograph. At this point, the dough will be ready and we will end the kneading.

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Let the dough rest for half an hour so that it relaxes and we can stretch it easily. We put it in a bowl or on the work surface, cover it with another bowl or with a cloth.

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Once the dough has rested and relaxed, we begin to stretch it. With the help of a rolling pin, we are forming a not too thick square of dough, about 100×50 cm. If we leave the dough very thick, then it will be very difficult for us to integrate the butter into it and stretch it, and if we leave it too thin, it will end up breaking. That’s why it’s important to get the perfect point.

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Once the dough is stretched, we take 125 g of lard at room temperature and spread it evenly over the entire surface.

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Next comes the most entertaining and perhaps the most delicate step in the making process of the Mallorcan ensaimada: stretching the dough with your hands until it is a thin veil. For this process, we put our hands under the dough with the palms facing up and stretch the dough from the center to the edges.

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We carefully repeat the process and stretch the dough, so that the lard is absorbed and the dough becomes thinner each time.

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When we have the dough very thin and rectangular in shape, we will more or less reach dimensions of about 170×130 cm. At this time, we begin to roll the dough from the widest part of the rectangle to form a cylinder. Once formed, we let it rest to relax for half an hour. After resting, taking care not to break it, we stretch it until we try to double its length. To do this, we grab it by the center with both hands and carefully stretch it by pulling and moving the hands towards the ends.

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Next, we form the ensaimada on top of a baking tray lined with baking paper. We make a spiral with the dough starting in the center and leaving a space for it to ferment properly.

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Once we have the ensaimada formed, we let it rise inside the closed and turned off oven so that it does not have drafts. We will leave it like this for about 15 or 17 hours, until we see that its volume has doubled. The exact fermentation time may vary as it depends on the temperature and humidity of the environment, but ensaimada fermentation is always long.

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Once the rising time has passed, we will see that the ensaimada has doubled in volume and even a little more, so we have it ready to bake. We turn on the oven at 180 ° C with heat up and down. We put the ensaimada as it is in the oven, without brushing it with anything, and cook it for about 25-30 minutes.

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After the baking time, remove it and let it cool on a wire rack. Once it is cold, we sprinkle it with plenty of icing sugar, about 50 g, and we already have our delicious homemade Mallorcan ensaimada ready to taste.

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Easy preparation summary

1. 1. Mix the water with the yeast and add the flour and salt

1. 1. Add the egg, sugar and part of the lard

1. 1. We knead and we are making rests so that the dough develops

1. 1. After several kneading and resting, the dough will become smooth and elastic.

1. 1. We stop kneading when the dough passes the membrane test

1. 1. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes

1. 1. We stretch the dough with a roller in a square of about 100×50 cm

1. 1. We spread the remaining lard throughout the dough

1. 1. We stretch the dough with our hands placing them underneath from the center towards the edges

1. 1. We are stretching the dough so that it absorbs the butter and becomes thinner and larger

1. 1. When it reaches about 170×130 cm, we make a cylinder starting from the widest part. We let it rest for half an hour and stretch it to make it as long as possible trying to double its length

1. 1. We form the ensaimada by folding the cylinder in a spiral from the center outwards, leaving space between the dough for it to ferment.

1. 1. We let the dough rise for 15 or 17 hours in the turned off oven

1. 1. Bake the ensaimada in a preheated oven at 180 °C with heat on top and bottom for 25-30 minutes

1. 1. Remove it, let it cool on a rack, sprinkle it with plenty of icing sugar and serve.