Alright folks, let’s get into it. Wanted to try making these Mexican wafer things, obleas, at home. Saw a simple recipe and figured, “how hard can it be?” Grabbed what I thought I needed: regular flour, eggs, milk, sugar, a pinch of salt, and butter. No fancy stuff here.
Starting the Dough Mess
First step said “mix dry stuff.” Dumped the flour into a big bowl. Measured the sugar kinda roughly, just poured it in. Salt? Yeah, a tiny sprinkle. Whisked that around a bit with a fork, felt like I was back in school art class mixing paint.
Next was the wet part. Cracked the eggs straight into the flour mountain. Poured in most of the milk, saved a little just in case. Then plopped in the melted butter. Started stirring with a wooden spoon. Man, it turned lumpy fast. Like little flour bombs everywhere. Kept stirring, harder this time, scraping the sides. Added the last bit of milk, splashing some on the counter too. It finally came together, but man, it looked thick. Figured, “eh, it’ll probably thin out.” Covered it with a dish towel and walked away for 30 minutes. Let that sticky beast rest.
The Cooking Fiasco Round One
Came back, dough looked relaxed. Heated up my trusty non-stick pan, medium heat. Melted a tiny pat of butter to coat the bottom. Grabbed a ladle, scooped some batter. Poured it into the hot pan, swirled it like the pros do on TV. Total disaster. It was too thick! Barely spread. Tried pushing it with the back of a spoon, just made holes. Cooked it anyway. Flipped it after a minute or so. Got a weird, thick, kinda chewy… thing. Not crisp. Not wafer-like. More like a sad pancake. Tasted it. Bland and dense. Ugh.
- Problem: Wayyy too thick. Needs water.
- Problem: Tastes like paste. Needs more sugar or vanilla?
Fixing the Goo (Mostly)
Back to the bowl. Added maybe half a cup of water. Just splashed it in straight from the tap. Stirred hard. Added another glug of water. Stirred more. Still seemed thick, so went crazy, added like a third of a cup extra milk and a generous splash of water. Kept stirring. Now it was much runnier, like heavy cream. Threw in an extra tablespoon of sugar for good measure and a capful of vanilla extract I found. Gave it another stir and a ten-minute sit.
Pan hot again. Tiny bit of butter. Scooped batter – much less this time. Poured, swirled immediately! Way better! It spread thin and quick. Let it cook until the top looked dry and the edges started lifting. Easy flip. Cooked the other side for maybe 30 seconds? Ah ha! A thin, lightly golden circle! Pulled it out, let it cool for a minute. Tried bending it – it cracked! Like a wafer should! Sweet taste of victory.
Putting It All Together
Did this like ten more times. Some were perfect little rounds. Others were weird shapes – my swirling skills aren’t championship level yet. But most came out thin and crisp. Let them cool completely on a rack. They got nice and snappy.
Then the fun part. Spotted some dulce de leche I had leftover. Grabbed one wafer, spread a layer of that sweet caramel goo. Put another wafer on top, pressed gently. Voila! My own dang oblea! Crispy outside, sweet filling inside. Crunched beautifully. Not perfectly round, but who cares? Tasted good. Mission accomplished after the initial dough disaster.
So yeah, that was my messy kitchen adventure today. Lots of trial, mostly error at first, but eventually got something edible and kinda right. Dang satisfying to hear that crunch after all that stirring and flipping.
