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Puebla-style cemita buns

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Six large Puebla-style sandwich buns with a sweetened starch glaze and sesame seeds.

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Original illustrative photograph of baked Puebla-style cemita buns with sesame and folded crowns; the bun preparation, not an assembled sandwich.

Buns for cemita sandwiches

This Puebla-style bun has a sweetened starch glaze and sesame surface. It is shaped with a folded lobe and baked as a large roll for sandwiches. The name cemita also denotes different breads in other regions.

Sources for this section

Bread within a Puebla market meal

In PROFECO's December 2021 account, Patricia Meza Hernández of Cemitas Las Poblanitas in Mercado El Carmen describes the sesame bread and fillings such as white cheese, avocado, chipotle and pápalo. Other popular versions include milanesa or pork foot. This named vendor account places the bread within Puebla's market food.

Those fillings describe the assembled sandwich. They do not change this bread-only recipe, whose glaze, folded shaping and six large buns follow Irene's home method. Nor does one vendor's account establish a single birthplace or a universal filling rule.

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A continuing public tradition

Puebla's government announced an eighth Cemita Poblana Festival for May 2026 at Parque del Carmen, with thirty-five cemita vendors. Its programme included varied fillings and vegan options. The announcement documents contemporary promotion and participation, rather than an invention date.

The published attendance and sales figures were forecasts, so they are not used as counts of what actually happened. The evidence supports a living Puebla food association while leaving the bread's first attestation unknown.

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History

Puebla-style cemita buns are documented as sandwich bread; a first attestation is not established.

Ingredients

Yield 6 large buns · Scaling: source batch only

Plain wheat flour
500 g
Plus a little for handling
Salt
6 g
Instant dry yeast
11 g
Water
414 mL1¾ cup as recorded
Approximately, warmed to about 110°F (43°C), for dough
Water
118 mL½ cup as recorded
For glaze, divided
Sugar
13 g
For glaze
Cornstarch
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
For glaze
Sesame seeds
For topping
Oil
For greasing the bowl

Method

Risks and precautions · Standard risk

Contains wheat and sesame.

Do not taste raw dough; raw flour can contain harmful germs. Wash hands and surfaces after handling it.

Take care with hot glaze, oven and tray.

  1. Put flour in a bowl and distribute salt around it. Add 1 cup warm water in a well with the yeast and a little flour. Let stand briefly, then mix in the remaining warm water as needed and the rest of the flour.
  2. Knead the sticky dough for about 8 minutes, using a scraper to gather it, until soft and elastic. Rest briefly, lightly flour and form into a ball. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 1–2 hours until doubled.
  3. For the glaze, dissolve the sugar in ¼ cup water in a saucepan. Mix cornstarch with the remaining ¼ cup cold water; stir into the saucepan and cook, stirring, until thickened. Set aside to cool.
  4. Deflate the dough, roll into a log and divide into six. Shape into balls, cover and rest for 10 minutes.
  5. Pinch about one third of each ball into a smaller attached lobe. Twist the join once, flatten the smaller lobe and fold it over the larger one. Pinch the edge to seal and gently flatten.
  6. Set on a lined tray, brush with cooled glaze and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400°F (about 200°C).
  7. Brush again with glaze and sprinkle with sesame. Bake on the middle rack for 25–30 minutes, until golden and crisp. Cool for a few minutes.

Conditions

Yield6 large buns

Places

Puebla

Documented preparation · Region evidence

The author describes Puebla-style buns; no precise birthplace is claimed.

See Pueblaon the mapLocation source 1 →

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