Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Philippines

Puto (fermented galapong)puto

Soaked rice is ground with water into a wet paste. One tenth of it is grown into a yeast-and-lactic starter while the rest drains in a cloth and sours. The two are mixed and fermented, the sour batter is neutralised with lye and sweetened, and after a second rise it is steamed into a soft, spongy cake. Made in 7 steps over 2.8 days – 2.9 days. The longest step, grow a starter from one tenth of the paste, takes 24 h (Kozaki M 2001) and runs at 20–25 °C (Kozaki M 2001). Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Enterococcus faecalis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step24 hReported[kozaki2001]Grow a starter from one tenth of the paste
Temperature20–25 °CReported[kozaki2001]Grow a starter from one tenth of the paste
Fully documentedCereals and bread2.8 days – 2.9 daysMore cereals and breadMore from Philippines

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceTraditional household method described by Kozaki et al. 2001. The percentages are as the source gives them; it does not say exactly what the 10–15 % sugar is measured against.
Polished rice · Traditionally year-old rice[fao1999]
Water[kozaki2001]
About 1 % of the riceSugar for the starter · Feeds the yeasts[kozaki2001]
About 1 %Lye or sodium hydroxide · Neutralises the soured batter; more lye gives a yellow-brown "red puto"[kozaki2001]
10–15 %Sugar for the second rise · White sugar for white puto, brown sugar for red puto[kozaki2001]
Startera starter grown from one tenth of the wet rice paste, with a little sugar; in newer methods a prepared yeast and lactic starter

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.8 days – 2.9 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: water moving into a grain

What changes: Rice soaks in water for a few hours

Step 1 of 7
Soak the rice
Time
3–4 h
Reported
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
L. mesenteroides
Enterococcus faecalis
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: soaked rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Puto is made from rice with no legumes, unlike idli. Its sour batter is neutralised with lye partway through and fermented a second time, so the cake is sweet, not sour.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Red putoMore lye and brown sugar give a yellow-brown cake.
  • Improved starter methodA prepared yeast and lactic starter with 1–2 % sugar; primary fermentation overnight (12–15 h), second fermentation 3–5 h; some shops add baking powder.
  • Puto with wheat flourIn some homes and markets wheat flour, 30–50 % of the rice, is added before fermenting.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

  1. [kozaki2001] Kozaki M., Dizon E.I., Sanchez P.C., Seki T. 2001, Steamed rice bread in the Philippines, puto (rice bread), Food Preservation Science 27(5):295–302 (in Japanese)paper
  2. [fao1999] FAO 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, chapter 3, Cereal fermentations in countries of the Asia-Pacific regiongov
  3. [tamang2016] Tamang J.P., Watanabe K., Holzapfel W.H. 2016, Review, diversity of microorganisms in global fermented foods and beverages, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:377 (table entry for puto)paper