Love Your Food

Spanish bread, the popular Filipino sweet bread stick typically enjoyed for breakfast or mid-daymerienda, is very similar to the snail-shaped, brioche-like ensaimada but coiled in a different way. The dough is rolled into a sheet, brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with breadcrumbs and sugar, then rolled into a stout stick like a Mexican bigote (bread shaped like moustaches). Why the roll is called Spanish bread is unclear. There is nothing obviously Spanish about it. Its similarity to the Mexican pan dulce and the Spanish sugary ensaimada may very well be the reason it got its name.