I had my first corned beef pandesal from Le Coeur de France, a bakery chain in Manila in the early 90’s. This is pandesal with the corned beef filling baked inside and not just sandwiched in between. This bakeshop was French inspired but had the Filipino taste and flavor in mind; they sell corned beef pandesal, kesong puti panini, croissants, fruit tarts and other bakery treats. My dad would always get corned beef pandesal to take home for us. Le Coeur de France was also a favorite hang out for me and my husband when we were still dating. They have a location in Alabang Town Center, which is a stone’s throw away from where we live. Unfortunately, they permanently closed their doors in February 2016.
Fast forward to 2018, during a visit to Manila we fell in love with the corned beef pandesal from Starbucks. They offer this from their bakery menu together with spicy tuna pandesal, ensaymada among others.
Ever since I made pandesal at the beginning of this lock down, I told myself I will make my own corned beef pandesal. It’s just that for the past few month’s I haven’t been able to get my hands on my preferred corned beef brand. Fortunately, on a recent trip to a Filipino restaurant to pick up food, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they are carrying a few grocery items. My husband was able to pick up a couple of cans of Purefoods corned beef.
I just followed my recipe for pandesal. While my dough was proofing, I prepared the filling by sautéing 2-3 cloves garlic minced and half a medium sized onion chopped in olive oil before adding the can of corned beef. Cook until just heated through and I just added a bit of ground black pepper to season. Do not add any liquid since you do not want a watery filling. Set aside to cool.
When your dough has sufficiently risen. Punch it down and divide in two. Roll the dough into logs and cut each log into seven pieces. Flatten each piece into circles and place a tablespoon of corned beef in the middle. Gather the dough around and up and seal the edges by pinching. Roll in breadcrumbs and place in a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat for all remaining dough. Cover the filled dough with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. Bake in a 375 F pre-heated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Best eaten straight out of the oven.
