Step 1

In a bowl add flour together with water and dry yeast.

Step 2

Mix until completely dissolved.

Step 3

Cover with film and let it proof at room temperature overnight. In my case it was 9 hours at 66º-68ºF (19-20ºC).

Step 4

Dissolve the poolish with 80% of the total water. Set aside.

Step 5

In the bowl of KA add the flour together with the poolish dissolved with water, the beaten eggs and half of the sugar.

Step 6

Mix with the aid of the hook at speed We will obtain a slightly brittle mixture. Continue kneading, occasionally removing the dough from the hook and sides, to make sure that the kneading is correct.

Step 7

Add the salt together with the rest of the water and knead again. We will need to do an intensive kneading, which means that it can be extended from 30-40 minutes without problems.

Step 8

Once we have more or less the developed gluten mesh, add the rest of sugar. Keep kneading for a few minutes.

Step 9

Incorporate the dry yeast, previously dissolved in 5 g of water, and continue with the kneading. We must obtain a perfect gluten development. To check this, we will perform the membrane test. In this post, I tell you how to do it.

Step 10

When our dough has a good gluten development, add the olive oil and knead again until it is fully integrated. The result must be a perfectly developed dough with a smooth appearance.

Step 11

Take the dough out of the bowl, finish kneading by hand (these are personal preferences, I think the dough looks better) and make a ball.

Step 12

Grease the entire surface with olive oil, place in a bowl, cover with film and leave to rest for 1 hour.

Step 13

Divide the dough into two equal pieces. One of them will be reserved in the bowl and covered with film to avoid drying while working on the first piece.

Step 14

Flatten the dough lightly with your hand and start stretching with a roller. We'll do it until this one lets us.

Step 15

At this point, spread lard all over the surface. Be generous, never fall short at this point.

Step 16

And, we will proceed to stretch it with our hands.

Step 17

Place your hands underneath and slide your fingertips towards us as if you were stroking the dough.

Step 18

As it gets bigger, we will have to go around the table to access all the points of the dough.

Step 19

We will always stretch from the center to the ends. It is very important that we do not exert force or pressure, simply slide to stretch the dough little by little. You will notice as you stretch that the edges will become thicker than the rest. Try to stretch it as much as you can, if possible.

Step 20

I recommend you leave the filling inside a piping bag before you begin to stretch the dough.

Step 21

Place the filling making a cord from one side of the dough to the other. We will do this at the top of the stretched dough, leaving a little margin to fold the dough over it.

Step 22

Roll up the ensaimada. Fold the dough over the filling trying to cover it.

Step 23

We start rolling the dough on itself, we'll do it carefully. You will notice that this process is done very easily thanks to the amount of lard we have spread.

Step 24

Prepare two trays and line with baking paper.

Step 25

Take one of the ensaimadas and start unrolling. As we lift the dough, we press it in the same way as if we were milking. We must thin the dough and roll it in our hand.

Step 26

Once we have all the dough stretched out, we begin to shape a spiral with it on the tray. It used to shape in a clockwise direction, but it wasn't comfortable for me... That's why you'll see that I roll it in the other direction.

Step 27

As we place the dough, press gently to flatten it. You must leave space in the spiral because the dough will rise a lot during the proofing.

Step 28

Preheat the oven to 355º F (180ºC) 30 minutes before baking the ensaimada.

Step 29

Place at medium height and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Step 30

Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.

Step 31

Just before serving, sprinkle generously with icing sugar.