Bake your own Bolillos to make Mexican Tortas!

“No yoga exercise, no meditation in a chapel filled with music will rid you of your blues better than the humble task of making your own bread.” ― Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher, The Art of Eating

..and so, one such day, when I was feeling blue, I decided to bake these bread rolls! Hehe… no..I decided to bake these Mexican rolls, because they were not available at any of the local bakeries! But I agree- baking your own bread is therapeutic for the mind and soul. There are very few things as comforting as the aroma of freshly baked bread wafting through the house.

We selected a Mexican cookbook for our ‘cookbook club’ this month and I chose to make Tortas (not to be mistaken with Torte), since they have been on my mind for a long time.

Torta is a Mexican sandwich made with a small, oblong,crusty bread, usually stuffed with re-fried beans,vegetables or meat,salsa,Avocado,onion,tomatoes,sour cream etc.

The crusty bread also called as Bolillo is a variation of the French Baguette. A bit sweeter and softer than the Baguette, Bolillo is now an integral part of Mexican baking. I used this recipe from The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger (I halved the recipe to make). This recipe uses a sponge starter or yeast pre-ferment to make the bread dough. Part of the flour and all of the water + yeast are used to make a sticky yeast starter. This yeast starter is left for fermentation,for 1-2 hours . The rest of the ingredients are then added in the second stage, to make the final dough, which in turn is allowed to proof again.

I was delighted with the taste and texture of the resultant gorgeous bread rolls! Also the amount of yeast required was much less compared to what I usually use for my regular breads (without the starter).

My trusted Kitchen Aid came in handy, especially when I had to work with the wet, sticky dough. Also to get a crusty top I ‘created steam’ in the oven by using ice cubes while baking the rolls, even though the recipe did not say so. This recipe uses egg white for glazing the rolls before baking them, I used the same. I saw many recipes on the internet using corn starch and water as a glaze. The next time I am going to use this and see what difference it makes to the crust. Will update here whenever I do that.

For the Torta,I made my own version of re-fried beans using red Kashmiri Rajma and flavoured it with Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce from my secret stash (my bestie got it for me from the US). The hot,smoky re-fried beans were so good that I had to stop the kids from eating them as it is! Also my vegetarian version of Torta uses sauteed Mushrooms. You can substitute them with any other vegetable of your choice or Shredded Chicken or any other meat.

Making the Bolillos from scratch and then making the different components for the Torta seems like a laborious process. But I baked the rolls a day in advance. They can be frozen for up to a month. You can also make the re-fried beans,sauteed mushrooms a day before freeze. In case you don’t want to bake the bread, you can use any crusty bread; I think even the Brun Pav usually available in the local bakeries should be good.

Tortas make a great meal/snack for a small get-together with family or friends or a kiddie party. Make the different components and let everyone assemble their own sandwiches. This ,a pitcher full of Margarita or Mojito or Sangria or some kid friendly drink is my version of a homemade Happy Meal!