Hojaldras (or hojaldres) are Panama's fried breakfast breads, a soft fried dough served alongside eggs and carne. Despite the name, distinct from European puff pastry.
Tear a hot hojaldra and it's puffed, golden, and soft inside with a crisp fried surface, lightly sweet. Bite: pillowy and tender, faintly sugary, the fried exterior shatteringly thin. Torn and dipped in egg yolk or wrapped around white cheese, it's the carbohydrate heart of a Panamanian breakfast — best eaten the moment it leaves the oil.
Baking powder and a hot fry make the thin dough puff and blister; a little sugar and butter give it tenderness and faint sweetness. Frying fast at the right temperature puffs it golden without absorbing too much oil — it must be eaten hot before it deflates and toughens.
Variations
Plain savory (no sugar). With aniseed. Larger family-size. Thinner and crispier. Topped with cheese before frying. Served with carimañola for a full breakfast.
On the Palate
Where Hojaldra sits in the Panamanian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 25 min active + 35 min waiting
- 15 min
Mix 400 g flour with 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 40 g butter.
- 26 min
Add ~180 ml warm water and knead into a soft, smooth dough.
Watch outKnead just until smooth and soft — over-worked dough fries up tough instead of puffing.
- 330 min
Rest the dough, covered, 30 min.
- 46 min
Divide into 6 balls and roll each into a thin round or oval.
- 55 min
Heat oil in a wide pan to 180°C.
Watch outGet the oil to a shimmer with a fast bubble on a scrap — too cool and it drinks oil instead of puffing.
- 66 min
Fry each round 1-2 min per side until puffed and golden, spooning oil over the top.
Watch outSpoon hot oil over the top and it balloons in seconds — flip once it's golden and puffed.
- 72 min
Drain on paper.
- 82 min
Serve hot with fried eggs, white cheese, or carne guisada.
