Bolillo (Mexican Bread Roll)

The bolillo is Mexico's everyday white bread roll: oval, roughly the length of a hand, with a thin crisp crust, a slash down the top and a soft, open crumb inside. It descends from the French breads introduced during the nineteenth century, but it is shorter, lighter and less chewy than a baguette, and it is baked to be eaten the same day. It is the structural basis of a great deal of Mexican food. Split and filled, it becomes the torta, Mexico's sandwich — with milanesa, ham, chorizo, refried beans, avocado and pickled jalapeños. Halved, spread with beans and cheese and grilled, it becomes molletes, a standard Mexican breakfast. A softer, flatter variant is dipped in chilli sauce for pambazos, and stale bolillo is what goes into capirotada, the bread pudding eaten during Lent. Its virtue is that the crust holds up to wet fillings without the roll collapsing, while the crumb is soft enough to compress under a filling — which is exactly what a torta needs. In the UK, fresh bolillos appear in Mexican and Latin American bakeries and grocers, mostly in the larger cities; some sell part-baked ones to finish at home. As a substitute, a small French pain individuel or a Portuguese papo-seco is very close in shape and texture; a ciabatta roll works for tortas though the crumb is holier and wetter, and a plain white crusty roll from any bakery will do the job. Bolillos stale quickly, as any bread with no fat does. Eat them the day they are baked, or freeze them and refresh in a hot oven for a few minutes.