{"id":22352,"date":"2020-04-04T11:16:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T09:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bake-street.com\/?p=22352"},"modified":"2026-04-08T12:26:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T10:26:45","slug":"candeal-bread-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bake-street.com\/en\/candeal-bread-crown\/","title":{"rendered":"Candeal Bread Crown"},"content":{"rendered":"

We continue to expand the repertoire of breads to make at home and, on this occasion, it is the turn of Pan Candeal<\/strong><\/em>. I’m sure many of you are as fond of this variety of bread as I am, with a tighter, denser, but soft and spongy crumb. Coupled with a soft, but incredibly aromatic crust of bread. To make the process a bit more fun or different, I have left you a different shape and we will see how to make this dough by making a Candeal Bread Crown, Corona de Pan Candeal<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This type of bread, inevitably, always takes me back to my childhood. My grandmother always bought “roscas de pan candeal<\/em>“, it was her favourite bread and she always had it at home. Besides, I remember perfectly, that it was a type of bread that was in perfect condition for several days. The fact is that whenever we visited her, she would give all her grandchildren a few ounces of chocolate (super large ones, by the way) with a piece of candeal bread. The best snack of my life forever and ever. What’s more, as I write this I can even remember the smell of her house perfectly…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That’s why I’ve always been very fond or appreciative of this variety of bread. For me it is a direct link to my maternal grandparents and there is no occasion when I eat this bread and do not remember them.<\/p>\n

\"Candeal <\/picture><\/div>\n

Besides, I’m going to tell you a little anecdote that has nothing to do with this bread.<\/h3>\n

But while I was writing I remembered and I feel like sharing it with you.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, in fact I think it was when I started making bread, my mother told me that my great-grandfather had flour mills. Apparently, every week he would give away sacks of flour to those who did not have much money so that they could at least make bread at home. Well, bread or those elaborations that could be done with flour. This touched my soul. Not only for his good heart in helping others selflessly, but for knowing that this passion I feel inside, may come with me for my genes. How curious life is, because I believe that there are things that are carried within and emerge alone. They cannot be contained within.<\/p>\n

Well, we continue \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

Pan Candeal origin.<\/h2>\n

Candeal Bread – Pan Candeal<\/strong> is also known as pan sobao, pan bregao or pan amacerao<\/strong><\/em>, it was born in the areas of Castile and Leon, specifically in Valladolid. From 1563 the technique of white bread<\/strong> began to be exported to the south of Spain. Since then and until today, it is a variety of bread that has evolved and taken different forms depending on the baker who carries it out.<\/p>\n

What is Pan Candeal?<\/h2>\n

Pan Candeal is a variety of bread very different from the bread we usually eat. It is usually and must be prepared with candeal wheat flour<\/strong>, which is characterized by its high protein content and by having less gluten than common wheat. This type of wheat gives rise to a flour with less strength than conventional flour and is therefore not suitable for the production of industrial bread.<\/p>\n

It has a very particular process to carry it out. The ingredients are mixed and the dough is worked, and then the roller pin is used to carry out the refining process. This consists of stretching the dough several times, accompanied by folds, with the help of a roller pin. The number of rising carried out on this bread is only one instead of the usual two<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is how the texture that so characterizes the crumb of this type of bread is achieved. So, candeal bread, is an artisan bread not compatible with the mechanization to which many breads are subjected to, which stands out, above all, for its unique texture and flavor.<\/p>\n

\"Candeal <\/picture><\/div>\n

What flour should be used to make the bread?<\/h2>\n

The bread was traditionally made with flour from Candeal wheat<\/strong>, a type of flour that has a high protein content but less gluten than the wheat currently on the market.<\/p>\n

In my case, I didn’t have this type of flour, in fact finding flour these days is quite complicated. So what I did was to make this bread with the flour I had at home. I used the “weak” flour I had at that time, a strength W=200 (bread flour) attached to a pastry\/cake flour with a strength of W=80. I remind you that in the post about how to make easy bread, I tell you how to calculate the strength of a flour<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

To elaborate the Candeal bread crown, we will use a solid preferment.<\/h3>\n

In fact, we’ll be using what we commonly know as a biga<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This type of preferment was developed in Italy to enhance the development of gluten due to the low protein concentration of its flours. Originally it is a type of dry dough preferment, with a hydration that ranges between 50-60% and free of salt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We can find recipes with a liquid biga, others more dense, others fermented at room temperature or even cold. So we can say that the term “biga” is used in Italy as a generic term for preferments that refers to a specific process in the preparation.<\/p>\n

It is made 6-24 hours in advance and a maximum of 3 days (as the gluten would be very weak). It is the strongest preferment of all and very suitable for the production of breads with high hydration, as it strengthens the gluten mesh. Although it can also be used in low hydration breads, such as the one we are going to prepare today.<\/p>\n

The amount of yeast used in it is usually 0.2% of the total weight of yeast in the recipe<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Characteristics of Candeal Bread.<\/h2>\n

It is a type of bread that has a tight white crumb, this is achieved thanks to the type of flour used. Another factor is the low hydration of the dough. Candeal bread is usually made with 45-50 % of final hydration<\/strong> compared to the 60-65 % of hydration that a traditional loaf<\/a> may have or even 80 % that a chapata<\/a> may have.<\/p>\n

The low final hydration of this bread is very important to get the dough we are looking for, a tight crumb, dense and without alveoli. Traditionally, a piece of dough from a previous preparation was used for the fermentation of the candeal bread, it was well kneaded until a homogeneous mixture was obtained and it was worked by carrying out its very peculiar process.<\/p>\n

Why is it more laborious to work this kind of dough?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Due to its low hydration. There is one thing that we must keep in mind when we make bread of these characteristics and that is that gluten develops in the presence of water<\/strong>. That means that the lower the hydration in a bread, the more complex it will be to develop gluten and therefore the harder our work will be.<\/p>\n

This is also the case when the presence of hydration in a bread is very high. Gluten is more difficult to develop. So, it could be said that when we move between 60-65% of hydration in a bread, we will be in the ideal world of breads<\/strong>. Rosy clouds that will make us enjoy the baking process as if we were in a fairy tale. But, when we get out of that range, both up and down, we will enter a more chaotic and darker world, hahaha. In this case, we’ll have to do a lot of kneading by hand or with a roller pin. The good thing is that in the end, there is a great compensation. An amazing bread.<\/p>\n

I know that when you’re at work, you’ll remember all the members of my family… But I also tell you that when you finish the refining process and prepare to form the crown of bread, you’ll love me a little more. And after baking them, you’ll love me a lot, hahaha.<\/p>\n

\"Candeal <\/picture><\/div>\n
It’s a type of bread that’s better digested.<\/h5>\n

In a study published in the journal Food Chemistry<\/strong><\/em>, three types of bread were analyzed; candeal, loaves<\/a> and ciabatta<\/a>, according to the percentage of final hydration used in the production of each of them. Candeal bread uses 45% water in relation to the final weight of flour, the loaf has 60% and the ciabatta reaches 80%.<\/p>\n

This can also be seen in its internal structure. After baking, the crumb of the candeal bread is more compact and dense, while in the chapata it looks more open and honeycombed. In the crust, in all cases, water evaporates more quickly during baking, which reduces its presence in the final product and the maintenance of the starch structure, which is less accessible to digestive enzymes.<\/p>\n

“The speed of starch digestibility is key, as it allows the release of energy to be more widespread”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“According to their behaviour in this degradation, there are three types of starch, fast digesting, slow digesting and resistant”.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Explains Laura Rom\u00e1n<\/a>, researcher in the area of Food Technology.<\/p>\n

“Slow digestion is associated with a low glycemic response and with the control and prevention of diseases related to hyperglycemia, such as diabetes or vascular disease,”<\/strong><\/em> she adds.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The type of rapidly digestible starch was the most common in any case, both on the outside and inside of the loaves. However, slowly digested starch was significantly more present in the bread,<\/strong> due to the lower water content in its kneading and to its more closed structure.<\/p>\n