A classic and traditional recipe for pumpkinless sopaipillas, as they are made in southern Chile, usually using a bit of the bread dough mixture, a preparation that is pure nostalgia from the kitchens of yesteryear.
Contents
How to make Southern Sopaipillas?
Southern sopaipillas or pumpkinless sopaipillas are basically a wheat flour dough for bread that is fried in oil or lard instead of being baked. You can make them with yeast, letting the dough rest for 20 minutes, or with baking powder if you want to fry your sopaipillas immediately.
Nutritional Information
Category: Breads
Cuisine: Chilean
Calories: 300
Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking: 30 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Southern Pumpkinless Sopaipillas recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g wheat flour
- 350 ml warm water
- 50 g lard or butter
- 10 g dry yeast o 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- Coarse salt
Preparation
- Sift the flour into a large bowl and depending on your choice, add the yeast or baking powder. Add the salt, mix everything with a wooden spoon, add the melted lard and warm water gradually, kneading until you get a homogeneous and slightly moist mixture that does not stick to your hands.
- Transfer the mixture to a clean surface and knead for about 5 minutes until you get a smooth and manageable texture, shape it into a ball, and if you use yeast, let it rest in the bowl covered with a clean cloth for about 20 minutes at room temperature. If you use baking powder, continue to the next step immediately.
- Sprinkle a little flour on the surface and gently roll out the dough until it reaches approximately ½ centimeter thick and cut strips about 5 centimeters wide by 8 centimeters long, in rectangular shapes or diamonds. Reserve covered with a cloth.
- Preheat the oil in a large frying pan or pot to 160°C (320°F), gently place the sopaipillas without overlapping and fry for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove from the oil, drain on paper towels, and optionally sprinkle a little coarse salt over them.
- Serve the sopaipillas immediately while still warm, ideally accompanied by pebre, buttery cheese, a merkén sauce, or even caramel.
Yeast or Baking Powder for Sopaipillas?
Both yeast and baking powder serve the purpose of adding carbon dioxide to the dough, giving it volume. Y
east produces it from the sugars in the flour, while baking powder results from a chemical reaction to the liquid and heat.
Origin of Southern Chilean Sopaipilla
These pumpkinless sopaipillas were originally made using a piece of the same dough used for making house bread, fried in oil or lard, and for immediate consumption, perfect for a winter afternoon snack.
Did you know?
The word “sopaipilla” is believed to come from Arabic, where “sopaipa” referred to a fried bread dough, which would have reached Latin America through the Spanish, where it became popular in its diminutive version as “sopaipilla”.
