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Looking for recipe for Portugese bread

May 4, 2017 - 5:21am
pitom's picture
pitom

Looking for recipe for Portugese bread

Hi,

Long time after my trip to Lisbon area I am trying to find recipe for Portugese bread like this one: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A3o_de_Mafra#/media/File:P%C3%A3o_de_mafra_6.jpg

White flour, mostly wheat, soft and very airy interior, rather pale crust

Can anyone help?

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Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)
May 4 2017 - 6:28am

What distinguishes the Bread of Mafra?

The Pão de Mafra has a soft and fluffy interior and a crusty crust. Its peculiarity lies in the time of kneading and baking which, being rigorous, precise and of short duration, thus allows the emergence of a honeycomb mass and a crunchy and golden crust. It is produced in several forms - long bread, round or small balls - the elongated shape with head is the traditional presentation, which goes back to the origins of the bread that was once cooked in the homemade ovens in the Mafra region. Made with flours from artisanal grinding - in which wheat grains are slowly milled into stone grinds - Pão de Mafra has a low density crust and may have large holes or alveoli because of the type of fermentation and high hydration. Due to the great amount of moisture and the low acid content characteristic of it, Pão de Mafra is distinguished by the intense smell of cereals and sweet palate.

In the caption, under the photo, the ingredients mentioned are as follows... Wheat Flour, Rye, Water, Yeast and Salt.

So perhaps someone here can construct a recipe from all this info.

Colin2's picture
Colin2
May 4 2017 - 2:50pm

If you search there are several receitas online.  I don't know what the ethics of copying recipes is, but this one https://www.mundodereceitasbimby.com.pt/massas-levedas-receitas/pao-tipo-mafra/drjge1p6-886f4-268190-cfcd2-7euvp0hr  seems like a good starting point.  You can put it through Google translate.

There's a stiff starter -- 2:1 flour to water with a little yeast.  Once risen you combine that with water, wheat flour, salt, and a little more yeast.  Some recipes include a little white rye flour.  Hydration in most recipes seems to be 70-75%.  Then there's a really short bulk fermentation of an hour, and an even shorter rise of 15 minutes before it goes into the oven.  

Like other short-fermentation breads it won't keep well but it should be very nice out of the oven.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman
May 4 2017 - 5:50pm

recipe right here, just search and you will find many other ones,

pitom's picture
pitom
May 5 2017 - 2:34am

Excellent, many thanks

I found some recipes online but most use commercial yeast and I think the traditional version should be made with wild yeast. What do you do differently do convert recipe to wild yeast?

Lechem's picture
Lechem (not verified)
May 5 2017 - 2:42am

and just preferment a percentage of the flour and water. Depending on how quick or slow you want the bread to take, which will alter from taste and profile of the final loaf, preferment more or less of the flour/water. So there is no one correct way to convert. It'll all depend on what result you're aiming for.

Colin2's picture
Colin2
May 5 2017 - 10:09pm

As Lechem says the obvious and easy way is to use commercial yeast but pre-ferment part of the dough, as several of the online recipes do already.  If you really want wild yeast (with its bacterial symbionts) ... do you have a levain or sourdough starter going already?  

Here's a really interesting page: http://portuguesebreads.blogspot.com/  I don't see Mafra bread there, but the blogger seems committed to naturally-leavened Portuguese breads and might respond to a question.