Many years ago, long before the Internet era, my dear college friend Alma sent me an important letter. I could feel her excitement for the little surprise she was sending in that letter. It had two recipes, one for the famous sweet bread (“conchas”), and the other for the bolillos.
Bolillos Recipe
Mexican Bolillos Recipe
She described how she spent an entire Saturday at her neighborhood bakery learning how to make them and wanted to share the recipes with me, knowing how much I enjoyed cooking. At the beginning when I started to work with this recipe my bread was a mess, but throughout the years, with practice and tweaking the recipes, I finally have bread that resembles the one sold in Mexico. I still have to keep practicing with it, since it’s not that easy to make a bread exactly like those sold in bakeries in a home oven without the commercial flours and enhancers, but the texture, smell, and even the crunchy sound is there.
This bread is also known as “Pan Francés”; the French baguette recipe was transformed in Mexico and became ours as the “bolillo”. It is also known as “Birote” and “pan blanco” in some areas of the country. It is very common in my hometown to have this bread sliced and toasted in the griddle/comal with butter. Every Sunday we have coffee with bread and butter in our home, sometimes even in bed.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
How to make Bolillos Recipe
DIRECTIONS: 
- The night before baking, place yeast and water in a small bowl, mix well and add the flour. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- In a large bowl or your heavy-duty mixer, place the starter, flour, salt, yeast, and melted shortening. Start kneading the dough, adding the warm water slowly right at the beginning of the kneading process.
- Remove dough from the bowl and place on your working surface to form a ball.
- Grease a large bowl with shortening, oil or PAM spray. Place the dough and turn it all over to make sure all sides are covered with a coating of the grease. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours.
- After the dough has doubled in volume, gently push your fist in to deflate it. Divide the dough into 10 pieces.
- To form the bolillos-rolls, dust your work surface with flour very lightly, flatten one piece of dough with the palm of your hand and fold ⅓ of the dough towards you and press down with your fingers, sealing it very well. Fold the dough again, repeating the sealing process until you form a roll, pinching the dough tightly. Make sure all the ends are sealed.
To shape the rolls, place your hands over the dough and press gently but firmly, cupping your fingers, rolling back and forth.
- Place each bolillo/roll seam side down on the greased baking sheet and cover with a greased plastic. LINK to baguette pan.
- Once the rolls have doubled in volume, and just before placing them inside the oven, make a deep cut using a sharp serrated knife or a razor blade.
- Spray the rolls with warm water, place them in a preheated oven and add 1 ½ cup of cold water to the metallic tray you placed on the oven floor. The steam will create that beautiful thin and crunchy crust.
MEXICAN BOLILLOS: CRUSTY ROLLS
This bread is also known as “Pan Francés”; the French baguette recipe was transformed in Mexico and became ours as the “bolillo”. It is also known as “Birote” and “pan blanco” in some areas of the country. It is very common in my hometown to have this bread sliced.
Ingredients
STARTER
- ¾ cup of water (177 ml or 6 oz)
- ½ teaspoon instant or active yeast* (1.5 grams)
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour or Bread flour** (125 grams or 4.25 oz)
DOUGH
- 3 Cup All Purpose Flour (375 grams or 13.23 oz)
- 1 ½ teaspoon instant or active yeast (5 grams or 0.22 oz)
- 2 teaspoons of salt (11 grams or 0.40 oz)
- ¼ cup of shortening melted and cooled.*** (50 grams or 1.76 oz)
- 1 cup of warm water NOT HOT(235 ml or 8 fl oz)
Instructions
- FOR THE STARTER: The night before baking, place yeast and water in a small bowl, mix well and add the flour. Mix again. You don’t need to knead here. Cover with a plastic wrap and let sit on your kitchen counter top all night or at least 8 hours. Making this starter will increase the flavor of your bread. The next morning the starter will have a larger volume and will have formed lots of bubbles.
- BAKING DAY. In a large bowl or your heavy-duty mixer, place the starter, flour, salt, yeast and melted shortening. Start kneading the dough, adding the warm water slowly right at the beginning of the kneading process. IMPORTANT: If you live in a very humid place, you will need to reduce the amount of water by about 2 tablespoons less than indicated. If using a mixer, knead for 7 minutes on speed 2; if kneading by hand, knead the dough for about 15 minutes. The dough will separate from your mixing bowl like it shows in the above picture while kneading.
- Remove dough from the bowl and place on your working surface to form a ball. It should look soft but still a little rough.
- Grease a large bowl with shortening, oil or PAM spray. Place the dough and turn it all over to make sure all sides are covered with a coating of the grease. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours or until the dough has doubled in volume. If you live in a warm and humid weather this step will take less time.
- After the dough has doubled in volume, gently push your fist in to deflate it. Divide the dough into 10 pieces. (About 110 grams each). Place the pieces of dough into your slightly greased working surface and cover with a greased plastic wrap and let them rest for 15 minutes to allow the gluten to develop and help to shape your bollillos/rolls easier.
- To form the bolillos-rolls, dust your work surface with flour very lightly, flatten one piece of dough with the palm of your hand and fold ⅓ of the dough towards you and press down with your fingers, sealing it very well. Fold the dough again, repeating the sealing process until you form a roll, pinching the dough tightly. Make sure all the ends are sealed.
- To shape the rolls, place your hands over the dough and press gently but firmly, cupping your fingers, rolling back and forth. While doing this, press the heel of your hands to leave some dough uncovered to form the traditional bolillo ears.
- Place each bolillo/roll seam side down on the greased baking sheet and cover with a greased plastic. Allow them to rise until they’ve doubled in volume. About 1 and ½ hour.
- At least 20 minutes before the end of the rising period, turn on your oven at 450 degrees F. Place the metallic pan for the water on the oven floor.
- Once the rolls have doubled in volume, and just before placing them inside the oven, make a deep cut using a sharp serrated knife or a razor blade, holding your hand at a 45-degree angle.
- Spray the rolls with warm water, place them in a preheated oven and add 1 ½ cup of cold water to the metallic tray you placed on the oven floor. The steam will create that beautiful thin and crunchy crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until they are golden, remove form the oven, and let them cool on a wire rack.
The bread keeps well for a couple of days in a plastic bag, or it can be frozen for up to a month. To reheat: thaw bread lightly, spray water, and place in preheated 400 degrees F oven until crispy. About 12-15 minutes until warm and crunchy.
Notes
• *If using active yeast, dissolve first with the water, mix well and let it proof for 5 minutes.
• **Bread flour will render a finer texture.
- ***Traditional the bolillo recipe doesn't include shortening or any other sort of fat. But, I like to add it to preserve the softens of the bread for more days.
- • You will need a large baking sheet, a metallic pan to place in the oven with water, a spray water bottle, and plastic wrap.
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 6gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 470mgPotassium: 76mgFiber: 2gSugar: 1gCalcium: 8mgIron: 2.4mg
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Please leave all your questions in the comments section, I will be happy to answer them.
More Recipes:
How to make Pozole Rojo.
How to make Caldo de Pollo.
Receta en Español Pan Francés.
Grace
These are so amazing and tender, thank you!
Liz
Mely thank u so,much for this wonderful recipe it is perfect I have enjoyed ,akimg these nolillos several ti,we and all have been perfect. Today I finally get to share them with my sisters. & Brothers after the years long quarantine.
Vanessa C.
I just finished making your recipe! It took me all day since I didn’t start the night before, but it was well worth it! They are delicious, just what I imagined it would be. My birote came out pale not that pretty golden color you have in your pictures. But they were still very good. Thank you for sharing your recipe! Definitely took me back to fond memories.
Mely Martínez
Hello Vanessa,
Thank you for trying the recipe.
Diane
I made these today;they came out beautifully!
Mely Martínez
Hello Diane,
Thank you for visiting the blog, I'm glad you like the bolillos! Happy baking!
Tracy England
I followed recipe exactly as written and rolls were awesome but not as crispy on outside as I am used to with store bought ones. Would baking longer make them more crispy on outside and still leave inside soft ?
Mely Martínez
The oven and the amount of steam you create with the water has a lot to do with the crispiness of the crust.
Tracy England
Thank you. Will up the steam next batch
M G
Nice crust with a soft crumb. We have made several different types of sandwiches; butter grilled ham and cheese, Italian beef with peppers and onions, turkey breast. All were very good on the roll. I will make another batch tomorrow. The starters is bubbling.
Shimora Dyck
Mely, I want to thank you for such a great recipe. I have re-worked your Bollillos recipe to gluten free. The rolls have turned out so well that we too can have a fantastic tasting roll, that looks like your original recipe with the proper crumb. We have made our own flour recipe and luckily it turns out great gluten free bread, that is pretty darn close to the real gluten bread. We now we can eat the breads we did before. It did not work for the flour tortilla, that was a shame.
I am also making French bread from your recipe, we are very lucky in that we found your site, it gives us great insight into your culture and food!
You have no idea how important this is to us!
Best wishes,
SD
Mely Martínez
Hello Shimora,
Thank you for trying the recipe, and for taking the time to come back and share your gluten-free experience. I know it will be of a lot of help for other people.
J Faux
I tried the recipe (95%)and it turned out great! I didn’t have the spray bottle but the outer crust still turned out crispy like it should. Thanks for the contribution.
Mely Martínez
Hello J Faux,
Enjoy your bolillos!