Pebete is an Argentinian sandwich made with spongy but crusty bread, similar to a BLT. The bread is made with yeast, flour, sugar, salt, and butter, and can include sourdough. It is cut into circular shapes, brushed with egg or a cornstarch-water paste, and used to make sandwiches with cheese, tomato, mayonnaise, and cured meat.
Pebete is a type of Argentinian sandwich, similar to the American BLT. In fact, the term pebete is commonly used to refer to PBT – bread, or pan in Spanish, bacon and tomato. The term, however, refers to the spongy but crusty bread, not the sandwich ingredients.
Since pebes is a yeast bread, yeast is needed. Usually, a fast-rising or fast-rising yeast is used, as opposed to the active dry yeast often used in bread-making. Also included are flour, sugar, salt and butter. Some recipes may also mix sourdough into the dough. Originally from San Francisco, sourdough is created with flour, milk, yeast, and water, just like regular yeast bread. The yeast, however, is a local wild yeast that gives the bread a tarter flavor than the commercially produced variety.
To make pebete bread, the yeast is first dissolved in warm milk. Next, the other ingredients are mixed in and the dough is allowed to rest for a short while as it rises. The dough should have a pizza-like consistency. If sourdough is also used, it is prepared separately and placed in the dough mixture with the rest of the ingredients. Sourdough doesn’t use quick-rising yeast, however, so it will take much longer to rise.
After the pebete dough rises, it is cut and rolled into roughly circular shapes, which are pulled into puffy ovals. The ovals are then placed on a baking sheet and left to rest. Once the second rise is complete, the rolls are typically brushed with egg before being placed in the oven to cook. The completed pebete bread will have a crusty, brown exterior and a spongy, soft interior.
Some recipes don’t suggest brushing the tops of egg rolls before baking. Instead, they recommend combining cornstarch or cornmeal with water to make a thin paste that can be brushed onto bread before or after baking. This is sometimes called “painting” the bread.
Pebete bread can be made by hand or in a bread machine. In Argentina, it is commonly found in bakeries. While it can be eaten on its own, only pebe bread is used to make pebe sandwiches.
When used for sandwiches, the sandwiches are cut lengthwise. Traditionally, there are four ingredients to a pebete: cheese, tomato, mayonnaise, and usually bacon or ham. The meat is variable and its only requirement is that it be a type of cured meat.
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