Venezuelan Ham Crescents Food

EASY VENEZUELAN HAM CACHITOS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
• Open the can of crescent rolls and separate the dough according to the instructions on the package.
• Place 1-2 tablespoons of the cut ham in the widest part of the triangle. Fold the corners over the ham. Roll the dough, beginning from the widest part that has the ham and ending at the tip. Fold down the sides if necessary and place on the baking sheet. Repeat the process with the remaining pieces of dough.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crescent rolls are golden. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter. Serve.

CACHITOS DE JAMON (HAM CRESCENT ROLLS)

Steps:

• Activate yeast.
• In a large glass bowl mix sugar, salt oil, milk and flour. Knead until mixed. Add the egg and continue kneading, adding the yeast last.
• Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place for two hours.
• Knead the dough again, and then divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, roll into a 10" circle. Cut the flattened dough into 8 triangles. Place ham in the widest part of each triangle. Then roll from the wide end to make a crescent. Place on a cookie sheet.
• Cover the rolls with plastic and let rise for one hour in a warm place. Pre-heat oven to 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Brush melted butter on each roll and bake 15 minutes or until they are light golden. Remove and brush with egg white. Return them to the oven until they are golden brown.

PAN DE JAMóN (VENEZUELAN HAM BREAD)

Steps:

• Make the bread: In a small pot over medium-low heat, scald milk. When milk is near boiling and bubbles form around the edge of the pot, remove from heat and let cool.
• In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup warm water and 2 tablespoons sugar and mix well. Add yeast and let rest for 5 minutes or until bubbly.
• Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, the rest of the sugar and the salt on medium-low speed just to combine. With mixer running, add eggs, cooled scalded milk and yeast mixture. Mix on medium speed until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes.
• Place flours in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Change out the stand mixer attachment for a dough hook and slowly add flours to butter mixture about 1/2 cup at a time, until fully incorporated. The dough should pull away from the bowl's edges relatively cleanly. Let rest in bowl for about 5 minutes.
• Sprinkle all-purpose flour on a clean work surface. Scrape out dough and knead for 5 minutes. If dough is too sticky to handle, add a little more flour, but do not let it get too dry. Cut dough into 2 pieces.
• Roll each piece of dough with heavy rolling pin into a 15-by-20-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Using a small offset spatula or butter knife, spread about 3 tablespoons butter in a thin layer over the top of the dough, just enough to cover.
• Fold dough into thirds like a letter: With the short end of the dough facing you, fold up from the bottom, and then fold down from the top. Then, take the letter-shaped dough and fold one more time lengthwise, making a small square.
• Wrap each of the pieces in plastic or place each one in a plastic bag and let them rest in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. Repeat process of rolling, buttering, folding and refrigerating 2 more times with both pieces of dough. This will take a total of 12 hours, but additional chilling time between rollings is O.K., allowing you to break up the process overnight. (For instance, the first rolling can be done the night before, followed by subsequent rollings the next day.)
• Remove dough from refrigerator and divide each piece into 2 equal sections, for 4 pieces of dough in total. Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll one piece into a thin 15-by-20-inch rectangle, rewrapping in plastic and returning the other pieces to the refrigerator.
• Fill the bread: Working lengthwise, put down a stripe of ham strips in a single layer. Below that place a stripe of bacon strips and below that, a sparse stripe of raisins and olives. (Make sure to use a light hand with the raisins and olives.) Repeat this pattern until the surface of the dough is covered.
• Take one of the short edges of the dough, and carefully roll it up, like a jelly roll, tucking it in as you go to make sure it is tight. When it is fully rolled, tuck the open edges on either side underneath the roll, and place the whole roll seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet so it doesn't pop open while baking. Repeat rolling-and-filling process with the other 3 pieces of dough. Place loaves on 2 baking sheets lined with parchment, 2 to a sheet. Cover loaves with a clean dish towel and let rise for 45 minutes.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 2 loaves at a time for about 40 minutes, checking to make sure tops are becoming golden without burning. If loaves are browning too quickly, tent with foil.
• Prepare the glaze: While the bread bakes, add milk and sugar to a small bowl and stir to dissolve.
• At the 40-minute mark, pull the loaves out of the oven, and, using a pastry brush, glaze their tops. Bake for another 5 minutes, until the loaves have a slight sheen and are deep golden brown in color. Remove from oven and let bread rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

HAM CROISSANT ROLLS (VENEZUELA)

Steps:

• Put the yeast, a small amount of water and 1/2 cup warm water into a small container.
• Let rise for 10 minutes or so.
• In a large glass bowl, combine the sugar, salt, oil and milk.
• Add the flour and knead until everything is mixed.
• Then add the eggs and keep kneading.
• Finally, add the yeast mixture and stir until the mixture has a consistent texture (that sounds backwards to me, but I didn't write the recipe--I'm just translating).
• Cover the mixture with plastic wrap (or stick in a plastic bag) and let it rise in a warm place for two hours.
• Knead the dough again, and then divide it into four equal parts.
• Work with one part at a time.
• Roll each part of the dough into a 25 centimeter (10 inch) circle using a rolling pin--not yesterday's wine bottle, Coke bottle or whatever.
• Cut the flattened dough into 8 triangles, as if you were cutting a cake.
• Place ham in the widest part of each triangle.
• Then roll up each triangle, beginning at the widest part (where the ham is) and rolling towards the point of the triangle (which used to be the middle of the circle).
• Place the wrapped-up ham on a cookie sheet or pan, with the point folded underneath so it doesn't come unrolled.
• Cover the rolls with plastic and let rise for one hour in a warm place.
• Pre-heat oven to 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Brush melted butter on each roll and cook them in the heated oven for 15 minutes or until they are light golden.
• Remove them from the oven and brush with either a mixture of water and sugar or with an egg white.
• Return them to the oven until they are golden brown.
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• If your dough does not raise it's because your yeast is old.
• Don't assume the yeast you bought at Christmas to make"panes de jamon" (another recipe for ham bread) will still work.
• Buy new yeast.
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• Eat the rolls while hot.
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• If you don't want quite so many rolls, you can freeze the dough and make them another day.
• Or if you like, you can make the rolls without the ham and leave them in the freezer for up to two months.
• You can cook those after thawing them for only a few minutes.
• But I always just make 32 rolls and four of us eat them all within two days.