Margaritas are popular in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, a bread roll that resembles a hamburger bun. The first time I enjoyed a hamburger in Monterrey was back in the early 80’s. It was not like any hamburger I had ever had in California. This Mexican style burger had refried beans on the bottom with jalapeños and avocado! It was delicious! And of course it was on these homemade, soft margarita rolls. The rolls are ideal for smash burgers and any of your favorite tortas (sandwiches).
Chespiritos Favorite Torta de Jamon(Ham Sandwich)!
Growing up in a Mexican household, of course there was music and t.v. programs in Spanish. One iconic t.v. character was Chavo del Ocho, Chespirito. The characters were adults playing the rolls of children. The main character, chavo del ocho, an eight year old orphan, loved tortas de jamon( ham sandwiches). It consist of a roll similar to the margarita, a telera roll, layered with mayonnaise, tomato, lettuce, sometimes refried beans and queso fresco. Of course I enjoy adding avocado and pickled jalapeño strips too! Growing up, we enjoyed many avocado tortas. Simple, but delicious.
Why Bother Baking Bread From Scratch?
It’s one of those things. Why not challenge yourself and attempt baking bread from those simple ingredients? It’s so satisfying in the end. Just make sure you have friends you like to share with because you don’t want that fresh baked bread to go to waste!
I Love My Cookbooks, But YouTube Makes Learning So Easy!
I never imagined back in the early 80’s that there would be a day that I could look up pretty much any recipe on a video platform. Whenever I approach a recipe that I have never attempted, after browsing through my cookbooks, I need a visual source. Mostly I listen for tips that have worked for people when it comes to certain recipes. I have been baking homemade bread for quite a few years now. There’s still so much to learn though.
My Best Suggestion Is To Invest In An Inexpensive Digital Scale!
When it comes to baking from scratch, my best tools in the kitchen are my scale, bowls in various sizes and my pastry scraper. Those tools make the whole process a lot easier. The stand mixer is a big help too, but before that I would mix the dough by hand. Definitely labor intensive, but it’s possible.
When it comes to mixing bowls for dough, look for a shallow wide bowl. It’s much easier to mix that margarita bread dough!
Glass measuring cups in various sizes for measuring liquids as well as measuring cups for dry ingredients are essential.
Not sure if your yeast is still good? Test 1 tsp. in 1/2 a cup of warm water. If it does not foam up in a few minutes, then it’s no good.
Things can get sticky and stressful! Lol!
This is where your patience will be tested if you are mixing by hand. That bench scraper will come in handy at this point. It helps move that sticky dough around as you are trying to build the gluten and eliminate some of that moisture from the dough.
Eventually, with lots of patience and elbow grease, the dough comes together.
My lukewarm oven is the perfect place to proof the bread dough!
Always look for the light colored heavy baking sheets. Dark baking sheets sometimes will burn the bottoms of my bread. That has been my experience anyway.
It’s all smooth sailing from here! Shaping, more proof time, then bake!!
And you are probably wondering why bother to let it proof if you are going to flatten it?
The margarita bread rolls characteristic is a larger, flatter, soft roll. But if you want to not flatten it, that works too!
Soft! Soft! Soft!
Ham Torta! Mayonnaise, tomato, lettuce, jalapeños, ham and avocado!
Pan Margaritas- Bread Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 cups bread flour or ap flour, plus 1/4 cup for dusting about 388 grams of flour total
- 12 grams active dry yeast, (4 tsps)
- 12 grams sugar, (2 1/2 tsps)
- 10 grams salt, (1 3/4 tsps)
- 12 grams shortening, plus 20 grams more for later 2 1/2 tablespoons total
- 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
Instructions
- In a large shallow bowl, add the flour(360 grams) , yeast, sugar and salt. Using your hand or a fork, cut 1 tablespoon of shortening into the dry ingredients until you have fine crumbles.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. When it comes up to temperature, turn the oven off.
- Gradually mix in the water. The dough will be sticky. Here is where you will have to be patient and continue kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. You want to resist adding more flour.
- Once the dough is mostly smooth, transfer to a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Transfer to a greased bowl. Cover and let it sit in the semi warm oven for 30 minutes or until it has almost doubled in size.
- When ready, transfer the dough to your work surface. Rub hands with oil to work the dough easier. Knead the dough for one minute. Using a pastry cutter or large knife, divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Place 8 dough balls on greased baking sheet. Place remaining 2 dough balls on a smaller greased baking sheet.
- Using the remaining shortening, take a little at a time and shape the margaritas by gently flattening and rotating all the way around so it looks like a thick pancake. Don't be shy with the shortening. Once they are all done, cover once again and place them back in the semi warm oven to proof for another 30-40 minutes.
- Once the margaritas have proofed, remove them from the oven. Preheat the oven to 380 degrees F. When it's up to temperature, uncover the margaritas and place them on the middle section of the oven. Bake until light golden brown, 21-23 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing open. Store cooled margaritas in a plastic storage bag for a few days.
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Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I’m from Nuevo laredo where this type of bread is made.
Hi Juan! I am happy you liked the recipe! Let me know how it goes.
I’m also from Laredo and I’ve been looking for the bread to make lonches de ternera like El Popo!
Those lonches look amazing! I need to make some soon!