Discover the Evolving Flavors of Puto: A Filipino Steamed Cake 🇵🇭🍰
Puto, a beloved Filipino delicacy, has evolved with the changing times while preserving its cultural roots. Originally, it was made from fermented rice soaked in water and ground to create a soft rice batter. However, in this modern lifestyle, the recipe has transformed to a wheat flour-based version, incorporating special ingredients like coconut cream, salted egg, cheese, and more.
The evolution of Puto has brought forth a delightful array of sizes, flavors, and variations. From the traditional white Puto, new flavors have emerged, such as pandan, ube, jackfruit, corn, coconut brown sugar, caramel, and chocolate. The possibilities are truly endless, allowing Puto to cater to diverse tastes and preferences.
In recent years, Puto has become more than just a delicious treat—it has turned into an art form. Creative bakers have elevated its presentation by skillfully drawing intricate designs of cartoons, flowers, and other beautiful patterns. These artistic renditions add an extra touch of wonder and delight to the already charming Puto.
If you’re non-Filipino and would love to try this delightful treat, you can easily follow the recipe and create your own No Egg Puto Cheese at home. Alternatively, when you visit the Philippines, be sure to indulge in the different versions of Puto sold on the streets or in shops. You won’t miss it, as it is a famous snack or tea-time food in our country.
Whether you try on a culinary adventure in your own kitchen or experience the authentic flavors during your visit, Puto promises a delightful journey into the heart of Filipino cuisine. Let the softness, the flavors, and the cultural richness of Puto transport you to the vibrant and diverse food culture of the Philippines.
Since there are still so many who fail to master the Puto (steamed cake) here is my write up how to master it.
In this discussion we will learn how make puto effectively. Reduce the percentage of error and guess work.
MotherBee's tried and tested recipe had been in our family for several years now and had been shared to several members in my Facebook baking and cooking group. Unfortunately, not all are successful enough to recreate this recipe.
✅Learn the ingredients
✅Proper procedure
✅How to cook/steam it
✅Troubleshooting
✅Cooling and packing
✅Storage and Shelf life
✅Costing and Selling Price
Learn the ingredients
Ingredients Functionality
All purpose flour - have medium level of gluten or protein content therefore it will create a tender but still stretchy Puto.
Make sure to use the exact type of flour to create similar result. Do not use bread flour it contains higher gluten which can cause a thicker batter and tougher texture.
Baking Powder - It is the leavening agent that will help your Puto rise and gives that light and fluffy texture. Make sure you use a double acting baking powder to ensure that you will have the perfect rise during steaming.
A single acting baking powder will lose its gassing power as soon as it gets mixed with the liquid ingredients. Therefore, it will result to a denser and harder Puto. On the other hand, double acting baking powder will react similar to the single acting but some of the chemicals will still have the leavening power to produce gas during steaming or
baking. Therefore, double acting baking powder will ensure you to have a second lift coming from the gas
formed when the chemicals react with the heat and liquid.
Sugar - whatever type you will use will improve the taste and texture of the Puto. You can use white or brown sugar depending on your preference. Using coconut sugar and muscovado sugar will give you a light brown colour but will give a different flavour profile and taste. The Coconut sugar and Muscovado are healthier option and will give a caramelized taste with enhanced milky profile.
Milk - It helps improve texture, taste and improve shelf life. You can use any liquid milk of your preference except for Sweetened Condensed milk. If you will be using this type of milk you have to consider the sugar content added into this milk. Sugar reduction must be considered in order not to increase the sweetness or sugar level of the final product.
The liquid milk in this recipe is the only source of liquid to hydrate the dry ingredients therefore, the quantity will depend on the moisture absorption of your flour.
You may use the same type of flour all the time but not all All-purpose flour have the same exact moisture absorption. Its moisture absorption varies from batch to batch and depending on the weather of the environment.
You have to perfectly remember the exact consistency of the batter you have produced to achieve that perfect Puto outcome.
Water- Still part of the liquid and helps dissolves other dry ingredients and makes batter well blended. You can use 100% water in this recipe but the taste, flavour, creaminess and texture will change but will help reduce your food cost and increase margin.
Vanilla- This is to improve the taste and give a certain particular flavour profile of the final product. You can choose any type of extract, flavour or essence for this purpose. If the flavour added is coming from a puree or juice then you have to reduce the milk or water from the recipe and consider reducing the sugar as well if the puree or juice added can affect the final sweetness of the product.
No-Egg Puto Cheese Recipe
135 grams All purpose flour
100 grams White granulated sugar
12 grams Baking powder
80 grams Liquid milk
158 grams Water
2 grams Vanilla
Toppings:
-Grated cheese or
-Salted egg
Total weight of the mix – 487 grams
Deposit weight per mold – 40 grams (+/- 1g)
Yield – 12 pieces **this is depending what size of the mold you will be using.
No-Egg Puto Cheese Procedure
Mix all ingredients until smooth - mix all dry ingredients first, make a pre-mix of dry ingredients. Make sure all ingredients are distributed properly. Then mix all liquid ingredients first. Finally mix the dry and wet together until the puto batter is smooth but do not over mix. Over mixing will toughen your finish product.
Pass through a sieve to make sure no lumps of flour. -you will only do this if there are still visible flour. I am straining my batter because I do not want to over mix my batter. Just mix quickly then strain. Straining also removed bubbles or air trapped.
Pour batter into molds. - I do not recommend the colored plastic puto molds. These molds are cancer causing, they produce toxic chemical transferred to your puto when it undergoes high temperature.
Pre-heat the steamer. For 10 minutes. The water should be vigorously boiling and the steam is high. The steam is a leaving agent as well. It creates pressure that lifts your batter and rise.
Puto your puto inside the steamer and steam for 5 minutes.
Quickly open the lid and add your toppings on top of each puto. Close the steamer lif again and continue steaming for another 5-10 minutes.
Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the middle of the puto. It should not be wet but have puto crumbs sticking in the toothpick. If the toothpick is still wet with batter continue steaming for another 3 minutes.
Remove from the steamer, let cool down in the mold for 5 minutes.
Unmold carefully.
Serve with melted butter, more cheese and grated coconut.
Steam works hand in hand with your chemical leavner (baking powder). If the steam is low then the puto result will not as big. High steam will produce cracks or dome, if you do not like this result reduce your heat a little. It will take skills to perfect this setting.
Note: the steaming time indicated will depend on the mold used and the steam produced. It usually varies between 10 - 15 minutes using a 3 oz. mold. You will know if the Puto is cooked when you touch the top surface and it has resistance and springs back a little.
The surface is shiny and firm and when you touch the surface it is not sticky and slightly springs back. To make sure the middle is cooked insert a wooden skewer or barbecue stick. If the skewer comes out clean and no batter adheres to the surface of the stick then remove the cooked puto and cool down.
Tips and Trouble shooting
Make a small batch and cook enough. If you need more just prepare another batch. This is to avoid leaving the batter at room temperature uncooked for a long time. It will affect the leavening agent's efficacy. The Puto cooked towards the end will not be the same.
Before you pour the batter into the mold make sure you stir the Puto batter. This is to make sure that the dry ingredients settling at the bottom will be distributed evenly again. When you are waiting for the first batch to cook the batter left in your mixing bowl will have a tendency to have separation or settling down.
Grease the Puto mold with enough not excessive oil. The batter still needs to cling a little bit to the surface of your mold. If excessive fat is in the surface of the mold there will be shrinking and the size of the puto will be small.
If you noticed that the mixture is runny compared to the usual consistency you must add a little flour at a time until you have reached the correct consistency. Measuring in volumetric such as cups or tablespoons have a higher chance of having bigger variance. Therefore, results will vary from time to time. If you can convert the recipe into weight it will give you a more consistent result.
You can only make larger batches if your capacity or capability to mix, steam and pack is also directly proportional to the volume of mix you made.
Do not use unlabelled ingredients. If unsure of the ingredient DO NOT USE.
Cooling and Packing
✅Cooling your puto will usually takes 15-30 minutes, it depends on the room temperature of your area.
✅Make sure you cool down the puto completely before packing.
✅Do not pack when the puto is still warm. This will produce condensation and will increase moisture, the excessive moisture will give higher chances of early mold and yeast formation.
✅Pack your puto into air tight container or wrap first into food grade plastic.
Storage and Shel life
You can store your puto at room temperature but make sure you re-heat it again prior to serving if you have stored the Puto more than 4 hours at room temperature. The milk makes the Puto to be considered a high-risk product that should be reheated after 4 hours when stored at room temperature. If you have omitted the milk
and replaced it with water then you can keep it longer than four hours at room temperature but always re-steam prior to serving.
If you keep it inside the refrigerator you can keep it there for a maximum of 3-5 days depending on the efficiency of your refrigerator to have a consistent low temperature. Always re-heat prior to serving.
Costing and Selling Price
You will be the one to determine the correct cost of your ingredients but I will just give you an example: You have to determine the total cost of the ingredients you use.
Example:
Flour – cost 875.00/25 kilos, get the cost per gram by dividing 875 pesos by 25,000 grams
(there are 1,000 grams per 1 kilo). The cost will be 0.035 pesos per 1 gram of flour.
Do the same method to all of your ingredients, determine each ingredient’s cost per gram.
Once you have identified the cost per gram for all ingredients your initial cost will look like this
Food cost
All purpose flour 135g x 0.035 = 4.725
Sugar 100g x 0.12 = 12.00
Baking powder 12g x 0.275 = 3.3
Milk 80g x 0.10 = 8.00
Water 158g
Vanilla 2 x 1.2 = 2.4
Total 30.425
Yield – 12 pieces
Cost per piece – 2.54 pesos
The weight or amount of ingredients used is multiplied by the cost per gram to get the total cost used of an ingredient in the recipe. Then total all of the total cost.
To get the total cost per piece, divide the total cost by the total number of pieces produced. You have to
include the number of pieces that was rejected or got damanaged.
👆This is just an example of how you will be able to get the total food cost in the recipe.
You have to include the cost of the packaging used for the product.
Example 1 styro tray cost 10
pesos then you have to add the cost of the styro to your food cost.
Food and packaging cost
If your total food cost is 100 pesos then add the 10 pesos cost of packaging.
The total cost will be 110 pesos.
How would you determine your selling price?
The Food and packaging cost should be 40% of your selling price
Gross Profit = Total Food and Packaging cost x 147%
110 total cost x 147% = 161.7 (round it to 162)
Selling Price = Gross Profit + Total Food and Packaging cost
162 + 110 = 272 as your selling price
Check if your total cost is 40% of the selling price
Total food and packaging cost / selling price = Total Food and packaging % cost
110/272 = 40%
162/272 = 60%
Other operating expenses
From the gross profit you need to deduct other operating expenses:
10% labor cost
2% electricity cost
2% water cost
2% gas cost
2% marketing
2% wastage
2% product improvement/development
total = 22%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------you still have 38% as your profit.
Your gross profit is 162
Labor cost = 162 x 10% = 16.2
Electricity cost = 162 x 2% = 3.24
Water cost = 162 x 2% = 3.24
Gas cost = 162 x 2% = 3.24
Marketing cost = 162 x 2% = 3.24
Wastage = 162 x 2% = 3.24
Product improvement cost = 162 x 2% = 3.24
Total operating expenses : 35.64
Net profit = Gross profit - Operating expenses
162 - 35.64 = 126.36
The percentage given is just an example it depends on the business how you will get those targets. The higher the cost you put into one area the lesser profit you will get.
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