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Chilean Marraquetas (Sourdough or Yeast)
The Marraqueta is a simple and delicious crusty white bread that’s very popular in Chile. It’s eaten in countless ways — at breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner — with accompaniments like butter, dulce de membrillo (quince jelly), ham, chorizo (sausage), cheese, or avocado. Actually, the latter, marraqueta con palta, may well be the original avocado toast! Bolivia and Peru also have marraquetas and other South America countries like Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil have similar flour-water-salt-yeast breads often called pan francés or French bread. In fact, one of the origin stories of the marraqueta is that it was originally baked by two brothers with the name Teran-Marraquett who emigrated from France to Chile in the late 1800s. One day in a bakery production error, their pistolet breads (rolls) were united in pairs and the results were a hit among their customers.
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Some people scoop out the tender crumb or miga for an even more crusty bread experience.
This recipe focuses on Chilean marraquetas with their signature four-segment shape. I did test bakes with the traditional yeast leavening and with sourdough leavening too. That conversion was simple. The hard part was learning how to shape this bread. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and read many recipes (see the Notes section for a bibliography of sorts), trying different flour strengths, hydration, and degress of fermentation. The thing that made the segmentation last through the baking process was to divide the dough a second time just before it went into the oven.
Here’s a video showing the shaping and dividing of the marraqueta dough, but I still have room for improvement!
Marraquetas can be baked on baking sheet, and oven steam can be created in a variety of ways, but in my tests, baking on a preheated stone and using a drip tray best re-created the oven spring and crustiness of a professional bakery. In this oven-steam approach, which @homebreadbaker taught me, you load the dough onto your preheated stone and pour a cup of boiling water into a aluminum tray under the stone. Steam is made as the water drips through a pinhole in the tray onto the hot oven floor (or onto another sheet under the tray).
Marraquetas are also called pan batido or whipped bread. This article explains that the name comes from the high hydration of the dough, but the recipes I encountered were under 70% hydration, with some even under 60%. The dough does indeed get worked intensely for gluten development though, at least 10 minutes of kneading and/or mixing with a dough hook.
This recipe uses a 50:50 mix of all purpose and bread flour, a compromise in tenderness and dough strength. It is, of course, fine to use all of one or the other. To have a similar dough feel with only all purpose flour, drop the water amount by about 10-20 grams. Conversely, increase the water by 10-20 grams if you use all bread flour. You’re also welcome to experiment with high extraction and whole grain flours, making hydration adjustments as needed during mixing and when you knead the dough.
Chilean Marraquetas (Sourdough or Yeast)
Chilean marraquetas are crusty on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. They are shaped into four segments, so you might eat half with the traditional filling of mashed avocado and a pinch of salt. Later in the day, the other half will call out to be enjoyed with cheese and quince jelly alongside a hot cup of tea. Finally at dinnertime, choripán, a grilled sausage sandwich perhaps with Argentinian chimichurri, may start to look really appetizing. Suddenly you've had marraquetas at every meal!
Ingredients
Sourdough
Yeast
Instructions
Mixing, Gluten Development
Bulk Fermentation
Pre-shape, Bench Rest, Shape
Final Proof and Second Division
Bake
Notes
I learned how to merge the two dough balls from this video. (Spanish)
This video reassured me I wasn't the only person who needed to make the lengthwise division just before baking for it not to disappear. I also learned that palta is another word for aguacate or avocado. (Spanish)
This recipe showed me that a knife honing rod works well for dividing the dough segments. (Spanish)
I copied this recipe's use of a 50:50 bread flour and all purpose flour ratio. (English and Spanish)
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Shopping List
Sourdough Starter (Dry)
High Protein Bread Flour
All Purpose Flour
Red Star® Organic Instant Dry Yeast — 5 Packets
$7.50FibraMent Oven Baking Stones
USA Pan Cookie Sheet
Flour Sack Towels — Set of 4 Regular
Dough and Storage Bucket w/Lid – 2 qt. Square
Parchment Paper Sheets — 200 Sheets
$19.00Breadtopia’s Choice Kitchen Scale
$18.00Breadtopia’s Choice Digital Precision Scale
$14.00Chilean Marraquetas (Sourdough or Yeast)