Breads & doughs
Venezuelan pan de jamón: Christmas ham bread
Soft Venezuelan Christmas bread rolled with cooked ham, bacon, olives and raisins. Includes both rises and the cooling time before slicing.
- Total time
- 3 hr 25 min
- Preparation
- 35 min
- Cooking
- 40 min
- Rest / waiting
- 2 hr 10 min
- Servings
- 12
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Cuisine
- Venezuelan
Ingredients
Quantities adjust to your servings. Times, temperatures and “to taste” stay the same.
Check off the ingredients you already have above.
Method
Follow the recipe one step at a time.
Mix the dough
Mix 500 g flour, 7 g instant yeast, 35 g sugar and 8 g salt. Add 200 ml milk, 50 ml water, both lukewarm and no hotter than 38 °C, and 50 g egg. Mix until no dry flour remains.
Work in the butter
Knead for 8 minutes. Gradually add 50 g soft butter and knead for another 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic and lifting away from the worktop as you work. Avoid drying it out with extra flour.
Let it double
Place in a bowl, cover and prove for about 75 minutes at 24–26 °C until doubled. Judge by the volume: a colder kitchen needs longer.
Prepare the filling
Cook 80 g bacon in a frying pan for about 5 minutes, until it no longer looks raw. Drain and cool. Drain and pat dry 80 g olives. Set aside 300 g ham and 60 g raisins.
Roll out and fill
Gently deflate and roll into a rectangle about 40 × 35 cm. Distribute the ham, cooled bacon, olives and raisins evenly, leaving a 2 cm border.
Roll up and prove again
Roll from a long edge, seal the seam and tuck the ends underneath. Set seam-side down on a parchment-lined tray. Cover loosely and prove for about 40 minutes until visibly puffier.
Brush and bake
During the second rise, preheat the oven to 180 °C, conventional heat. Prick the top in 3 places with a fork and brush with 25 g beaten egg. Bake for 35–40 minutes until golden and the dough is cooked; cover with foil if it browns too soon.
Rest and slice
Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before cutting into 12 slices. Serve warm, showing the bread spiral and evenly distributed filling.
The step photos are illustrative.
Notes
Use fully cooked ham and cool the bacon before filling. The 130-minute rest includes a 75-minute first rise, 40-minute second rise and 15-minute cooling period; a cold kitchen can extend proving. Avoid excess flour: the dough should be soft and slightly tacky. Contains wheat, milk and egg; the filling contains pork. Refrigerate leftovers covered at 4 °C or below within 2 hours, eat within 2 days and reheat thoroughly.
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Nutrition facts
1 of 12 slices
- Protein
- 11.2 g
- Carbohydrates
- 41 g
- Fat
- 10.7 g
- Saturated fat
- 3.8 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sugars
- 7.5 g
- Sodium
- 635.1 mg
Recipe-based estimate; brands, actual portions and cooking losses affect the values. Not a laboratory analysis.
Reference source: USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy + documented reference labels
For general information only; it does not replace advice from a qualified health or nutrition professional.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make it the day before?
Bake, cool and refrigerate covered. Reheat the slices covered to soften the bread without drying the filling.
Why does it split in the oven?
Too much wet filling, a poorly sealed seam or too short a second rise can cause splits. Drain the filling, seal carefully and let the loaf expand before baking.
Can I freeze it?
Yes. Freeze the baked, cooled bread in well-wrapped slices for up to 2 months. Defrost in the refrigerator and reheat thoroughly.
