Colizas Chilean Bread

Versión en español

Colizas are a type of Chilean special bread, “Pan Especial,” they are enriched pieces of bread with butter or eggs, which creates a softer center. “Pan Corriente” ordinary bread in Chile is made with only flour, salt, and yeast.

Colizas are flat and square. The coliza is similar to the hallulla in taste and appearance: a chewy, heavy bread with a flakier crust and more effortless to crack and break apart to eat in pieces.

How the coliza originated or came to Chile is unknown, but it’s delicious when toasted with butter and jam. Lots of bakers also like to play and bake big coliza by adding embellishments and decorations to the flat-top crust, tracing designs and images, or using rolls or cut-outs of dough to illustrate scenes or pictures.

So many of my memories revolve around bread. Growing up, someone in the family would buy fresh bread each afternoon. My family lived in downtown Rancagua for many years so we would buy bread at Reina Victoria’s. There was always a wide variety to choose from: marraqueta, hallulla, frica, colizas, dobladitas, bocado de dama, cachitos, de completo, de miga, etc. And the smell in Chilean bakeries is unbeatable.

My uncle and aunt in Santiago would also buy bread at the neighborhood bakery, where they had the most fantastic meringue and lucuma pastries, Palmeritas, and there would always be macaroons. I miss being able to do that.

Now, in the US, on Sundays, my husband makes bread. My kids love it; they are very Chilean that way.

You may also be interested in the recipe: Pan Amasado Country Chilean Bread.

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