There is nothing I miss most living in Rhode Island than being able to have tostadas y café con leche for breakfast. Now, I have café con leche every morning; that is not problem. But tostadas? I can’t even get anything similar to Cuban bread for those.
But, Dios ayuda a los pobres, and I have good friends (Thanks Vivi!!!!). Yesterday I received a package with Mallorcas and YES, pan de agua aka Cuban bread. It might’ve not been the best bread ever, but when you’ve been as deprived as we have, trust me. It. Is. The. Best. Bread.
So for those of you clueless on how to make great Cuban tostadas, it is quite easy. So here we go! The most MOST important ingredient for making Cuban tostadas, is a plancha. You have to have one of these:
La Sanwichera! aka Grill
Of course the first thing you need is a libra de pan.
Pan de Agua from Pepín
After you’ve cut the bread into the size toast you want (for example the picture depicts three tostadas), then halve it so we but butter inside.
Pan with butter
Next key ingredient is softened butter. NO, not margarine. Aside from how unhealthy it is butter tastes sooooo much better. So be sure to butter both sides of the toast. Once we are ready, we heat up the grill machine, and I personally butter both sides of the planchas. It gives the tostadas a nice color and an even better taste. Once the grill is hot enough (I use the medium setting) carefully place the tostadas inside, and let the lid fall with its own weight on the tostadas. Be careful and make sure the tostadas stay parallel to the plancha.
In the beginning.....
Every once in a while apply a bit of pressure by attempting to close the grill. After about 5-7 minutes, turn the tostadas over. Leave them on another 5-7 minutes while again applying some pressure on the lid. Lastly, flip the tostadas over. This means that although your are turning them on their side, you are also turning them back. For example if you had an end, with the end pointing towards you, now on this last flip the end should be pointing away from you. This will finish off the flattening part of the tostadas.
Last leg of Tostadas....
See? You can almost close the grill! Now, just another 5 minutes and then they are ready to be served. Accompany with a nice hot and foamy café con leche and you have a Cuban breakfast!
Cuban Tostadas!
Enjoy!!!!!
So glad you enjoyed the bread…
Callate nena…las tostadas de la Viña…
That’s a little misleading. We had the same thing in P.R. I guess you can call them Cuban or Puertorican depending on whose hand is on the grill.
ahhhh, but did you have them before the Cuban Spaniards got there in the 60′s??? Maybe they are Spanish tostadas!
They are probably Spanish, though. You may be right on that one. I was watching “Spain on the Road Again” and I think I saw something very similar to tostadas.
Hi Adriana,
How cool are you??!!
I just made café con leche and some pan tostado (but with faux-Cuban bread – aka French. *sigh*). I am tempted to drive 2 hours and 5 area codes to get me some REAL Cuban bread.
(I am lusting after that plancha. I know this is a sin. =D)
Marta, you don’t have a plancha????
Adriana, no plancha. I’m a plancha-less loser who uses a George Forman grill (with not-terrible results, but that’s not important right now). I know. Shut up. =(
I’ve always toyed with the idea of moving up north, (I live in Miami) and my family always scares me into staying by letting me know the scarcity of croquetas and pastelitos in other places of the country.
To Marta and Adriana: I’ll have a Cuban breakfast at a real Cuban bakery tomorrow in your name. :]
Catherine, it is indeed a sort of hefty price to pay in particular if like me you live in a small town. But hey, where there’s a will there is a way; it just means you have to start cooking up a lot of your stuff. This summer I plan to master making Cuban bread.
Enjoy the breakfast!