Ensaimada

Name: Ensaimada
Prep time: 9 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 27 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 5g Yeast; 200g Caster Sugar; 2 medium Egg; 600g Strong white bread flour; Drizzle Vegetable Oil; 100g Lard

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Dessert recipe with Spanish flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 42 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Step-by-step instructions

Pour 230ml lukewarm water into a bowl and add the yeast. Leave to stand for 3 mins, then add the caster sugar, eggs, flour and 1 tsp sea salt flakes. Mix together to form a dough, then knead for 10 mins in stand mixer using a dough hook (or 15 mins by hand) until the dough is elastic enough to be almost see-through when stretched. Cover and set aside to rest for 30 mins, then cut into four equal pieces. Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Leave to rest for another 30 mins.
Oil the work surface and a rolling pin with vegetable oil. Working with one portion of dough at a time, flatten it against the surface using the palm of your hand, then roll it out into a thin rectangle, about 30 x 50cm. Let it rest for 2 mins while you spread a quarter of the lard over the top. (If you want to fill your pastry with sobrasada de Mallorca, mix 50g lard with the sobrasada, and spread this over the dough instead.) Pull one corner of the flattened dough and stretch it out as far as it will go without breaking. Repeat every 10cm or so around the dough rectangle in every direction until it reaches about 50 x 70cm.
Cut a strip from each of the shorter sides and lay these beside each other along one of the longer sides of the rectangle; this is what we call the heart of the ensaimada. From there, begin rolling the dough until you have a long pastry snake. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.
Take the first roll of dough and stretch it until it is over a metre long. Then, roll it up into a spiral, leaving 1cm between each turn of the spiral so the dough can expand. Flatten a little and transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Repeat with the remaining dough. Leave to rise in a warm place for at least 12 hrs, or ideally 24 hrs.
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the ensaimadas in the top third of the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Bake for 18 mins until dark golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack. To fill your ensaimada with whipped cream, slice and open, then spread over the cream and close. Dust with a generous amount of icing sugar, if you like and cut into pieces to serve.

Why this works on a weeknight

Ensaimada genuinely fits a 30-minute weeknight window, which is why it earned a spot in our Sweet Finishes collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Ensaimada actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍮 Sweet Finishes Dessert Spanish ⚡ 30-Min Dinner