Today I learned to make PAN DE JAMÓN (Traditional Venezuelan Ham Bread) l Sumito Estévez

Although I have been a chef for most of my life, I have never made "Pan de Jamón", one of the most traditional recipes to celebrate Christmas in Venezuela. That is why I asked the great Claudio Nazoa to send me his recipe, and together with my talented chef Pedro Castillo, we decided to recreate it. Let me in the comments know how it goes for you!

INGREDIENTS:

For the dough:

- 500 grams of wheat flour (reserve 250 grams of flour in case the dough is still wet)
- 125 grams of liquid milk (warm)
- 75 grams of egg
- 1 tablespoon of yeast (activated in 50 grams of water)
- 100 grams of sugar
- 5 grams of salt
- 75 grams of "papelón" (brown sugar cane)
- 100 grams of butter
- Lard for greasing the tray

For the filling:

- 300 grams of smoked ham
- 3 slices of bacon
- 30 grams of raisins macerated in rum or red wine
- 38 grams of olives stuffed with pepper (cut into wheels)

I love you so much

that after almost a year
recording here on the YouTube channel,

I started studying again.

I have never made Pan de Jamón.

Pan de Jamón
(Traditional Venezuelan Ham Bread)

So I started to study
how to make Pan de Jamón

because that's what
I'm going to teach you today.

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... the dough begins to homogenize.

If it's still wet, you'll use...

That is the voice of Claudio Nazoa.

Claudio Nazoa is my uncle,
my dad's brother.

But besides that, he is famous
in Venezuela, my country,

for his recipe, precisely of pan de jamón.

I called Claudio to explain me the recipe
and he sent me a number of instructions

and it has been a real pleasure,

and hopefully, at some point,
I will be with Claudio

and we can make together
his famous pan de jamón.

Today's recipe is his,

with all the details he shared with us.

As I told you, I had never made
pan de jamón,

sometimes, I helped my dad,
but the truth is I'm not a baker,

so I'm going to get help from someone
who knows a lot about bread making,

the chef of Sumo Gusto,
my place here in Chile.

His name is Pedro Castillo
and he's very good at bread making.

Let me call him... Pedro!
Can you come here, Pedro?

- Hey, Pedro...
- Yes, what did I break? (laughs)

Do you mind being on television?

- No, not at all.
- Great.

This is Pedro Castillo.

Pedro is a very good baker
and he knows a lot about bread making.

Pedro, I'm going to try
to make pan de jamón

but if I screw up, you can give me a hand.

Yes, of course.

I'm going to ask Pedro to stay here

but I want to clarify something
which is very important.

These programs will remain for eternity

but right now we are recording it
in a period of a global pandemic

where we're both supposed to wear,
if we are together, a mask.

Here, we are always wearing masks, hats,
and following all sanitary measures.

But we are recording for you,

and to be recording a program
wearing a mask, it's impossible.

I can assure you that none of us
at this moment has any problem.

So, please forgive me,

but I'm going to ask Pedro
to take off his mask

because we are recording a TV program

and this program is not only
for this time of pandemic,

but for eternity, so that everyone,
including your children and grandchildren,

can also learn how to make pan de jamón.

Pedro, this is the first time I'm going
to say something that I haven't allowed--

Well, chef, if this is my first time
on television,

they should at least see me.

Greetings to the people of Cumaná
who are watching.

Pedro, I'm going to lean on you
because I'm nervous.

The amounts for the recipe,

which I have here as a reminder,

you also have them.

The quantities showing
on the Youtube channel

-- when you hit that little arrow --

they are two times the amounts
that I've got here.

I mean, you have a recipe
for 1.5 kg of flour

and I have a recipe here
for 750 grams of wheat flour.

What's the first thing
that Claudio explained to me?

You'll have yeast

which needs to be activated
with a little bit of water

and, as it's commonly done when baking,
you add a little bit of sugar.

- Right?
- That's correct.

If the yeast is good,

it'll do its job,
even if you don't activate it.

I mean, if you add yeast to a dough,
it will just do its job,

like consuming
all the existing carbohydrates,

producing air and the whole process
of fermentation that is generated.

The reason we add
a little warm water to the yeast

to activate it
-- which is what I'm doing --

it's just to see if there is
indeed any activity.

We add the yeast to the water
and wait for a little.

If we start to see bubbles or foam,

then we can say that the yeast is good.

What would be terrible
is that when we're making bread,

we add the yeast,

the yeast was dead,

and we don't understand
why the bread didn't rise.

This yeast proofing is what tells us
that we're on the right track.

Correct me,
if I'm not on the right track--

You can even use some of the sugar
to activate it faster.

If Pedro is saying it,
we'll add a little bit of sugar.

Remember that yeast
is an organism that needs to be fed,

and it feeds on sugars,
the sugars that are in the wheat flour.

If you add a little bit of sugar,
you are giving the yeast some food,

and if you keep it
at the right temperature

-- anything over 20-25 degrees Celsius --

you'll have all the conditions
for the yeast to begin to activate.

- Right?
- That's right.

Claudio says we should make his recipe
-- I am respecting his recipe --

with warm milk.

While it's warming up,
I have here, as I told you before,

half of what is in the original recipe
that Claudio sent me.

Let's add the flour.

He told me that it's important
to shape it like a small volcano

-- he's referring to the table
where we'll work the dough --

so with my flour shaped
like a small volcano, we add the milk...

- Is this sugar ...?
- Yes, yes, it's all measured.

This recipe uses a lot of sugar.

It's slightly sweet and that makes
the bread extraordinary.

Yeah, quite a lot.

And, the salt.

I'm following the steps exactly
as Claudio explained them in the audio.

Okay, Pedro, tell me now,
what do we add first?

Yeast, milk with sugar, or the egg?

You can place them here
or we can beat the eggs in the milk.

- The egg is beaten with the milk?
- Yes.

Because they are all liquid
and then the dry ingredients...

I follow what you're telling me.

Here I have milk, sugar, salt...
The whole egg, including the white?

- That's right.
- A whole egg.

(Pedro) Approximately, 80 grams of egg.

Okay. And sugar?

125 grams of sugar and 5 grams of salt.

Okay, this is clear.

There we have it.

Come closer and take a look at
how this is already foaming.

You can see it clearly
and just happened now.

That foam that's being formed on the yeast

is telling us that there's activity
and the gas is coming out.

This just tells me that
the yeast is good and alive,

and this is the reason
why we do this initial test.

Once that's done, we have the flour here.

- Do we just add it all?
- Yes.

We incorporate the milk
and the egg to the flour.

- Everything?
- Everything.

- Just like that?
- Just like that.

Okay.

You can call a friend
but your friend is already here.

- And this one also the whole thing?
- Yes.

- Like this?
- That's right.

It is very important because,
then, we are going to integrate the butter

once you have a uniform
and homogeneous dough.

Yes, in fact, Claudio insisted a lot
that I make the dough first

- and then add the butter.
- That's right.

He told me that if I add butter
to this mix in the beginning,

the dough will not proof
the way it should.

That it is important to add it later.

The recipe indicates that
we keep 250 grams of flour separately,

so that if the dough is still wet,
we can add a little bit more flour.

Okay, here we're forming our dough.

What's happening here?

I'm making a classical dough
with the necessary wetness

provided by the milk and the egg,

and once you've made the dough,

there is yeast,

and that yeast will begin to feed,
to feed on the flour,

and it'll start to do its job,
which is to produce alcohol

-- that will disappear during baking --
and gas.

Therefore, the goal is to trap
these bubbles within the dough

and, this way, the dough will rise.

♪ (music) ♪

Tell me, Pedro, once we have this dough...

(Pedro) Let's remove this board
so that we can start kneading it.

This is so cool, thanks to you,

and the innumerable requests
for this recipe,

I'm also going to learn
how to make pan de jamón.

Let's see how it goes.

By the way, I will mention
something important

that Claudio told me in the audio.

This is, actually,
quite an expensive recipe

and you must keep this in mind.

Because a pan de jamón

needs to have a generous amount
of olives, raisins, ham, smoked ham...

so this is, clearly,
a recipe for the holidays,

or for December, in our case.

Okay, Pedro.

(Pedro) We place it here,
so that you can start kneading.

(Sumito) And I start kneading.

When do I incorporate the butter?

(Pedro) Let me show you
how to do the kneading.

We work it this way.

So that the dough relaxes
and we can start incorporating...

(Sumito) Do I take like this pinch
of butter and add it like that?

(Pedro) Right.

- (Pedro) Now, begin to knead.
- (Sumito) Okay. You all saw it.

(Sumito) Claudio also said
you can use margarine

but if you're already going
through all this effort,

it's better to use a good butter

because it gives it an incomparable taste.

So I decided to get a very good butter
to make this recipe--

this is quite greasy because
you've added all this butter...

(Pedro) Gradually, the texture
will start changing.

(Sumito) Totally, look.

Pedro, you told me something
very important about the dough.

That we shouldn't break it
when kneading it.

Otherwise, I'm breaking
the gluten mesh that is being formed

and it will no longer rise
or not as much as expected.

There are two mistakes,
please, help me here,

- one is to insert your fingers...
- or rip it.

... or rip it, exactly.

What you should do,
literally, is massage it,

like I'm doing now, right?

Caress it, let yourself
be carried away by the dough.

Okay. (chuckles)

(Sumito) But never rip it or make holes
with the tips of your fingers.

Pedro, tell me something,

how can you tell if you have
kneaded enough, that this is ready?

Chef, when you start feeling very tired,
you still have a long way to go.

- Seriously?
- Yes.

So, this one still has a long way to go?

- A long way.
- Oh, okay.

So I stay here.

♪ (music) ♪

Obviously, when we're recording
this type of program,

there are times when we stop the cameras
or, otherwise, it would be very boring,

and then turn the cameras back on,
and edit the footage.

I have been kneading this way,
possibly 5-10 minutes,

5 or 10 minutes,

and this is far from resembling
another dough that Pedro made a while ago

in order to continue with the recipe.

Pedro, am I doing something wrong?

I mean, because I'm feeling exhausted.

(Pedro) Of course.

(Sumito) And this is still far from...

If we're going to translate this
to machine levels,

you would be speed one
and I would enter at speed two...

- to make the dough...
- Come and show me.

(laughs) Okay, show me.

(Pedro) Okay, we would start like this...

When you begin to knead,

you have to apply
some force and movement.

You have to dance with the dough.

- And like that for half an hour?
- Yes, chef.

- At that speed?
- Of course.

Can't you see the size of...?
(laughs)

They fed me mondongo--
(Traditional Venezuelan tripe soup)

I have seen skinny bakers.

Yeah, but I come from
the east (of Venezuela), chef--

Fried fish, mondongo, arepa of banana...

They only fed you pizca.
(Soup from the Venezuelan Andes)

It still needs some work but you can see
that the dough is already taking another--

Yeah, it changed.

Yeah, indeed, it changed.

So we just have to keep kneading,
kneading, and kneading...

We have one here
that Pedro finished a little while ago.

Bring it so we can see it.

It's another dough,
so that we can show it to you.

But, indeed, this is really happening,
practically in real-time.

And as he was saying,

the texture of the dough
has changed a lot,

from the time we started
kneading it this way.

- Beautiful.
- This is a dough that has rested and--

But did this rise or not yet...?

This is the texture we want
to start the next step...

We can't knead this dough again
or we'll make it tigher.

Okay, we got to this point
after kneading it for a while.

It's clear that this one still needs
a lot of work to be like this other.

What are we going to do with this dough?

We'll divide it so we can start
rolling and adding the filling.

Is this one ready to be rolled
or do you have to wait for it to rise?

Now we're going to divide and roll it,
and add the filling.

- So this dough has already risen...
- Yes.

Okay, let me explain something.

This dough that I have here,
after I finish kneading it,

I'll let it rest for 45 minutes,
according to uncle's instructions,

so that, internally,
it'll get air and rise.

- This is the step that we have here.
- That's right.

Another point, we shouldn't stretch
to divide the dough,

- it has to be cut...
- That's why we have this.

Okay, go ahead.

I'll continue kneading until
I have achieved the desired texture

but let's do one thing,
while I keep kneading this one,

Pedro, to buy time
and be able to explain it well,

take the dough
and roll it into a rectangle,

so that we can show you the rolling
and filling of a pan de jamón.

♪ (music) ♪

Pedro, I didn't think the texture would be
lighter, just that it'll be manageable

but, indeed, look at how it gets
-- after kneading it a lot --.

This dough, according to Claudio
and other bakers,

needs to rest.

To avoid having a dry layer built-up
due to the dehydration,

we need to cover it carefully with
plastic wrap, a kitchen cloth...

And this must be left to rest

-- depending on the temperature
of the room --

until it doubles in size.

Once it has doubled its size,
then it'll be ready for this step

that Pedro has in here,

which is to roll it
into a rectangle, right?

That's right.

Great, let's leave this dough
to rise and double its size.

You know, in the audio,

Claudio tells me that
when he's at this step,

he kneads it after 15 minutes,

let it rest and kneads it again
after another 15 minutes,

and then he lets it rest
for 45 minutes to double its size.

I'm going to tell you something
that Claudio told me,

that you have to be
very generous with the ham,

that you could use any ham,

but if it's smoked ham, even better,

and he told me to don't put the ham
flat over the surface

but, instead, put it wrinkled,

I guess something like this...?

- That's right.
- Right?

(Pedro) Yes. He knows what he's doing.

He told me that when you do this,
it looks like it has more ham.

That's right.

And when people cut it,
they'll say, "This is full of ham."

Put it here.

- Here?
- Yes.

Okay, now you know it,
the ham is added wrinkled, not flat.

Your intuition tells you
to place the ham like this...

But no...

It's like this...

We continue now with the bacon
-- I thought it needed more --

- but he said only 3 strips--
- Three strips in diagonal, yes.

Okay, then I assume is one in here...

one here...

and one here.

Three strips placed diagonally.

I'm sure that, right now,
there's a lot of bakers watching me

because many people follow the channel,

so apologies for my clumsiness
but I'm learning with you here, too.

I'm enjoying this
even more than any of you.

(Pedro) And it's also an honor
to make this recipe...

Yeah, that's right, I have mentioned
my uncle Claudio a lot

but Claudio Nazoa is also
very famous in Venezuela.

He was a comedian, a writer,

a playwright, a puppeteer...

a real character in the art world,

one of those intellectuals in my country.

In addition to that, he has wonderful
stories with the pan de jamón

and if you do a search
here on the channel,

about a year ago, I interviewed him
and that episode was great,

so you can look for it as
"Interview with Claudio Nazoa".

Okay, now we put...

(Pedro) Also, chef, one of the most
important things he mentioned

was to cut the olives into wheels

to place it this way.

(Sumito Why is one of
the most important things?

Why we should cut them into wheels?

Are there people who add them whole?

Yes.

Initially, that's how they used
to add them on the bread.

Ah, okay, he said to add them like this...

And, curiously, he also told me
to macerate the raisins in red wine.

And I did that
-- I am not going to use the liquid --

so these grapes are now
rehydrated with red wine.

Now, I'm adding these raisins
macerated in red wine.

Pedro, when I told you about this method,
you said that it was a very good idea.

Have you also done it like this before?

Yes, I've also done it
several times like this before.

Okay, there it is.

♪ (music) ♪

Help me out, Pedro, I mean,
don't help me, just instruct me. (laughs)

First, we fold this in, correct?

- Up to here?
- Yes... that's right.

(Sumito) Why did my uncle mention
two more folds?

Do we fold this twice?

(Pedro) Here, put some pressure...

- Pressure is applied and...
- Keep folding.

- (Sumito) Here we have one...
- (Pedro) Okay.

(Pedro) And now you go with the next one.
Exactly, there you have it.

(Sumito) Ah, yes,
they are two folds, okay.

Then, we have to pull these ends...

(Pedro) And we finish closing it.

(Sumito) There it is.

Pan de Jamón.

- And these corners? Do they remain...?
- No, you have to close them.

Pedro will do the same decoration
as explained in the audio

from Claudio Nazoa.

He said to do a thin strip of dough,

and then make cuts on the sides
so that it looks like a wheat spike.

♪ (music) ♪

I've finished making the bread--
This is heavy...

There are like 1/2 kg of ham,

1 kg and some more of hydrated flour...

So this might weigh about 2 kg.

Once done with this,

we have to let it rest and ferment.

- Half an hour?
- Yeah, half an hour, approximately.

And after half an hour,
it goes to the oven.

In Claudio's recipe, he makes
papelón (sugar cane syrup)

like the one we have made
innumerable times before

for the bread cake,

for the cassava fritters...

so we've made it here many times.

Claudio told me that
we bake it first without the syrup,

and once it's half-baked,
we brush it with the syrup

to give the bread its final
golden brown color.

Let's leave this to rest.

♪ (music) ♪

How exciting, my first pan de jamón!

Actually, you helped me a lot.

Pedro gave me two important tips.

One, and you must have seen it--

The tray where I left the bread to rest
and rise before putting it in the oven,

I didn't grease it with butter
but with lard, right?

And he gave me a good reason,
which is very logical.

If I use butter to grease the tray,

with the heat of the oven,

the dairy in the butter
will burn the bottom of the bread.

That's why we used lard and,
as you can see here,

the bottom part looks really nice.

The other tip, which is also important,

is that with we need to make
little holes with a fork,

as you can see here,

so that the steam comes out

and that is important to produce
a good pan de jamón.

This one was baked--

Keep in mind I have a big oven--

At 180 degrees Celsius
for about 35 minutes.

Fifteen to 20 minutes in,
we took it out and brushed it

-- that's why it has
this spectacular color --

with papelón, which you can feel
when touching it.

and then, we let it bake for the last...

Let's say you brush it
at the 15 minutes mark,

then bake it for another
25 minutes, approximately.

Each oven is different,

so you'll have to try it
with your home's oven.

What's really important,

and Claudio Nazoa also mentioned it,

if you have a convection oven,
turn on the heat from the bottom

but be careful and don't turn on
the heat coming from the top

-- some household ovens might
have like a grid at the top --

because that's going to scorch
your pan de jamón.

- Should we check this out?
- The moment of truth.

The moment of truth. Let's cut here?

Let's see...

Just by cutting it, you can see...

Look, look, look...

My first pan de jamón!

Indeed, you can see...

- Do you want, chef?
- Well, chef, we have to try it.

(Sumito) This is one of those situations
in which you can't refuse

a pan de jamón...

Please, try it...

You now have in this channel
almost the entire collection

of recipes for Christmas.

We have hallacas,
Venezuelan-style pork shank,

pan de jamón,

we're recording for this year
ponche crema (Venezuelan eggnog),

Venezuelan chicken salad

-- you'll start to see these coming --

so for December,

you'll see the entire menu
of a Venezuelan Christmas.

- Cheers, my chef.
- Cheers, chef.

- I wish you...
- Merry Christmas!

Not Merry Christmas
because is not Christmas yet--

But thank you very much
for the class, my chef.

Thank you.

♪ (music) ♪

Today's recipe of pan de jamón

was the perfect recipe to understand
the philosophy of this channel.

A recipe that brings us together
around the table

and teaches us new techniques.

I learned something new today
thanks to you.

Share in the comment section

what you've learned
from this YouTube channel.

Subtitles by Jenny Lam-Chowdhury
www.eatingwithmyfivesenses.com