Fried dough – Tortas de pan fritas

I am sure that the recipe I bring you today, you have eaten it (and probably, made it) countless times. But I could not pass up the opportunity to share with you how to make the classic Fried dough – Tortas de pan fritas, also known as tortas fritas, sopaipas, asopaipas, sopaipillas, although the latter are made without yeast unlike tortas de pan. It is a very simple recipe to carry out, but I wanted it to be part of the recipe book that I share with all of you so that you can make them whenever you want.

I remember when I was a little girl that every weekend we would go to visit my maternal grandparents. My grandmother, Maria, always had a huge platter of fried dough made along with freshly brewed coffee. I feel as if I were there right now, that smell as I walked up the stairs to my grandparents’ house. I will never forget it.

It was my grandfather, Manolo, who always opened the door for us, unless he was smoking on the terrace…. In that case, it was my grandmother who welcomed us. When you entered their house, you could feel the warmth of the brazier coming from the living room, her house was very old and did not have central heating like today’s homes. That warmth was accompanied by the smell of freshly fried dough and café de puchero, as my grandmother called it. Although she actually made it in an Italian coffee pot (which, by the way, I have in my house and is a wonderful memory).

I loved that moment, arriving to see them and being greeted with things they had made. I will always relate this recipe to my grandparents. My mother also made them at home some weekends, but especially at Christmas time. It was a breakfast she used to prepare almost always, we all loved it so much. So, as you can imagine, this simple recipe, I relate it directly to my childhood and family moments.

Origin fried dough – tortas de pan fritas.

The term “torta” is a word shared with several languages; Italian, Portuguese and French (tourte), although with many regional peculiarities. In American Spanish, “torta” refers to a large cake, except in Mexican Spanish where “torta” is the equivalent of the Spanish bocadillo, such as its famous tortas ahogadas.

In Spain, torta refers to all those breads that are flat and round, both savory and sweet, thick or thin.

Torta has its origin in different regional variants such as flatbread, of which the torta de gazpacho or torta cenceña remain in certain areas of Spain. They are also mentioned in Leviticus 24: 5-9, in the Spanish translation of the Bible. Today, the word torta is also used to refer to different types of bread and pastry products depending on the region.

Historically, the difference between torta and bread was its round and flat shape, as well as the absence of yeast in its preparation. The well-known word tortilla, used mainly in Mexico, means a “small cake”, while tortada means “big cake”. In most regions, a torta is considered inferior in value to traditional bread. This is reflected in a well-known Spanish saying: A falta de pan buenas son tortas – For lack of bread, tortas are well received.

Torta frita is a fried flatbread eaten in Uruguay and Argentina. In the latter, it is customary to accompany it with mate.

Sopaipilla.

This simple preparation, made with bread dough, has its origin in Germany and it is believed that it was brought to the Río de la Plata by Spanish immigrants from the south, since this recipe was deeply rooted in Andalusian cuisine. The Arabs called this cake “sopaipilla“, a term that in turn comes from the Germanic “suppa” and means “bread soaked in liquid“.

It is a type of fried food made from a wheat flour dough that is later fried in oil or lard. The traditional shape is usually round and with a central hole that allows them to be cooked without swelling, as well as making them easier to pick up or eat. The ingredients of the recipe can have many variations depending on the area where it is made.

Not all fried doughs are made with yeast; some of them are made without this leavening agent, resulting in a bread that is more crunchy than spongy. The rest of the components remain the same or very similar in all cases.

To carry them out we will not have to complicate us in excess, it will be enough to elaborate a simple bread dough, to knead it until achieving a good development of the gluten and to let it rise. Afterwards, divide the dough, knead, flatten and fry it. My mother didn’t ball the dough. She divided the dough directly from the large piece into portions of different sizes, flattened and fried. Each one had a different shape and I liked that. You could see that it was something homemade.