I always explore new recipes. The most interesting ones to me are the authentic recipes from different countries.
A very talented chef Javi Martinez, was generous enough to share a recipe of Soft Puerto Rican sweet rolls called Mallorca.
I’ve baked many soft and sweet breads and rolls before, but this bread stole my heart. It is super soft, moist and sweet, perfect for breakfast or dessert. I turned it into a sourdough version with by adding stiff sourdough starter, but original version of this recipe was made with dry instant yeast. If you will plan to go with yeast version, just use 1% dry instant yeast from the total amount of flour in the recipe.
Thank you, Javi, I am in love with this recipe now.
Ingredients
Stiff Sourdough starter
- 10g sourdough starter
- 25g water
- 50g bread flour
Dough
- 340g bread flour
- 60g stiff starter
- 125g milk
- 125g water
- 3 egg yolks
- 55g soft butter
- 90g sugar
- 7g salt
- 0.5g yeast (optional) to reduce sourness
Spread
- 50g melted butter
Dusting
- 3 tbs of powdered sugar
Directions
Day 1
Starter
- 10 pm add starter to the water and whisk together, add flour, mix well, form a ball, then roll it into a tight roll, place in a jar, cover with water, make sure it is covered with water, let sit at room temp 74-76F until it increases in size and starts to float on the top of the water.
- In about 8-10 hours the top of the starter will dry and the bottom will start to melt in the water. We will need only the center part of it.
- Keeping stiff starter in the water helps to reduce its acidity and sourness of the final product (learn how to make starter from scratch here).
Day 2
Dough
- 8 am mix starter, milk, egg yolks, flour, sugar, yeast (if using), let it autolyse for 30minutes.
- During the autolyse period the flour becomes fully hydrated. This process activates gluten development.
- 8.30 am mix the dough on low speed of your mixing machine for 2-3 minutes, or KitchenAid on speed 3 for 3-4 minutes until well incorporated.
- Add salt and mix for a couple more minutes. The dough should form a ball.
- Add soft butter, increase the speed, mix for 10-15 minutes until the dough comes up together. If its not coming up together, feel free to add a little more flour (10-20g).
- 9 am cover and let it proof for 3- 4 hours at 76-80F/ 24-28C.
- During that time perform 2 stretches and folds.
- The dough should become slightly puffy.
- 12 pm transfer the dough to the fridge for cold fermentation until next morning.
- 7 am sprinkle work surface with flour. Release the dough from container. Roll it into 8×15 inches rectangular.
- Cut the dough into a 6 stripes along the length.
- Generously spread melted butter all over each strip.
- Roll each stripe into a tight roll and hide the tail under.
- With a palm of your hand press each roll down, and transfer to a baking tray, lined with parchment paper.
- Cover and let them proof for 2-4 hours until bigger and puffier.
- Preheat oven 375F.
- Bake Mallorcas for 10 min at 375F, then lower temperature to 350F and bake for 10-15 min more until top will get golden brown.
- When Mallorcas are done, remove them from the oven, let them cool down and generously sprinkle them with powdered sugar.
Enjoy!
Omigosh, I am making these, that is for sure.
Barbara, You will love it!
Natasha, I’m proud to say I am Puerto Rican 🇵🇷 and the mayorcas from the island are delicious. I just find you and looking at your recipes probably doing more than one of them. 🥰 I hope this ones take me back to Puerto Rico. They look delicious and something else… we make ham and cheese sandwiches with them 😉
Thank you so much, Aida!
I love this recipe❤️
What size pan did you use?
Hello, What kind of yeast do you use for the 0.5g of yeast? Is it SAF RED or GOLD?
Hi!
Any instant dry yeast
Hi, Can you tell me what yeast you use? Thank you
Hi! Dry instant yeast ☺️
The dough recipe says 125g of what’re but the directions never mention it? Is it just milk or do you add water when you add the milk? Thank you!
You said that only the inside of the stiff starter is used. How much of it is needed?
Hello, Can you send me the sourdough recioe?
Hi!
https://natashasbaking.com/sourdough-starter-from-scratch-in-7-days/
Hi!
You will need 60g
Could you please convert the grams to cups or spoonfuls please. In America we go by cups and teaspoons tablespoons thank you
Hi!
For more accurate results I prefer to go with grams. Sorry for inconvenience.
Bakers all over the world primarily use a scale-not measuring cups. Even in the USA. It’s accurate.
Yes I agree. Buy a scale and start baking with it. Forget what they use in the USA because it’s inferior!
I agree wholeheartedly. I have been baking bread and other things for at least 60 years. At first, I used a cup to measure, because that is what my mother taught me. Every time I baked, the recipe needed adjusting, too much flour, or too much liquid, it drove me crazy. I don’t remember at what point or what encouraged me to switch to a scale with grams. I was thrilled that my recipes no longer need adjusting, just mix, allow to rise, bake and I am done! Even my sourdough recipes are spot on every time. I also use the scale when I bake cakes and cookies as well. Makes a world of difference!
I live in California, just so you know that I also am an American. In the past, I used cup/spoon measurements for baking breads or cakes, but finally switched to a scale about 6-7 years ago. It really helps with more accurate measurements. I find that using grams helps my bread dough be more consistent. You don’t need an expensive scale. Mine is an Escali Digital that has grams and ounces. Before using a scale, I thought I was measuring accurately, but my measurements of flour and liquid would be slightly off, enough that one time the dough was too dry or another time too moist. Constantly having to adjust was frustrating and took extra time as well. Once I used the scale the bread dough or cakes come out the same each time.
Thank you, Barbara!
You are always such a huge help.
I also live in California and use a scale. I didn’t believe it made that much of a difference but then weighed cups of sugar. I tried 6 times and got different weights every time. I’m definitely a convert. My first scale was $15.00 and was fantastic (until my grandson thought it should swim in the potty). I absolutely recommend getting a scale. You will be amazed at how consistent your baking becomes.
If I want to use yeast instead of starter, how would I go about this? Do I still do the stiff starter but replace sourdough starter with yeast? How much yeast? I would love to make this but it’s difficult for me to understand the instructions if I want to use yeast instead of starter. Your recipe also looks much more plush than others online so I’d love to use this one if I can just understand it. Thanks!
Hi!
Just skip the starter part at all, use only yeast (2-3g) and off course with only yeast fermentation will go faster.
Hi! Im so excited with this recipe.
I saw 125g of water in the ingredients but not when is incorporated.
Thanks for the recipe
Thank you.
It all should go with milk
Tv bhjnbvgg
Where does the 125g water in the dough ingredients get added in? I might be missing something but I cannot see where it should be added
Hi!
Sorry I missed it in description. Add it with milk 🥛
Hi Natalya,
Can I freeze the dough before baking it?
You can keep it in refrigerator but not in a freezer.
I made them with sourdough and a tiny bit of yeast as recommended. The result turned out really good. Thank you for the recipe.
Amazing! Thank you for sharing 🙏
Hi Natalya thanks for sharing the recipe. Could I use liquid starter instead of stiff starter?
Yes, you can!
But be ready to taste some sour aftertaste
Does it matter whether I use wheat sourdough or rye sourdough?
Rye sourdough can bring acidic taste to these. So I would stick to a wheat sourdough
thanks Natalya!
Hi dear , I tried this recipe but my dough failed to rise .
Am sure I must have goofed up at the time of converting my starter to stiff starter mainly at the time or pulling from the center.
It was floating in the water but the bottom had melted so I couldn’t pull the center as it was not enough.
I weight 60 gm the top and the center to of the SS to use for the recipe.
Can you share a video of how you separate the SS after it has risen to use in the recipe.
Many thanks
Jui
Hello Natasha. I love your website and recipes. Thank you for sharing your great ideas. I wonder, is there any freezing instruction for this bread? I want to make a really large batch, but can I keep it in the freezer for about 1-2 months?or will it go bad?
Thank you for sharing this recipe! Testing it right now.
The only feedback so far is to emphasize that this is 3 day process (at least in this case with sourdough).
Hi , thank you for the recipe, can I used King Arthur high gluten flour for this recipe ? Thank you .
Hello Natasha, i would like to know if this would be your preferred recipe over Japanese sweet bread. I need to choose which one of the two would be better to take as a gift. Please let me know your honest thoughts. Thank You!
I love the way this recipe comes out, as i am half Puerto Rican and love to get closer to my roots through baking! I am making them for the second time now, as the first time i added water after the autolyse due to the error in instructions. This time i added the water with the milk. Also, i find that in order to achieve a nice ball, i have to add nearly 100g more flour, is that due to me living in southern florida? I added the extra flour the first time and they came out great, even with adding the water later than supposed.
Thank you for sharing your experience with the recipe! It’s wonderful to hear that you are enjoying getting closer to your Puerto Rican roots through baking. The adjustments you made to the recipe based on your location and personal preferences are perfectly fine. Living in a humid environment like Southern Florida can indeed affect the consistency of dough, so adding more flour to achieve the desired texture is a common adjustment. It’s great to hear that your past batches still turned out well despite the slight deviation from the instructions. Keep experimenting
Hi!
This looks gorgeous!!
Could you pls tell me what is a stiff starter?? And sourdough starter?? And where could I get both?
Thank you!!☺️