Pan De Muerto
What You Need
Ingredients
Preparation
This sweetbread, made from enriched, yeasted dough, often flavored with orange blossom water or anise, is served in Mexico throughout October leading up to Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, on November 1. Its iconic shape comes from forming batons of dough into crossed bones, in remembrance of loved ones who have passed.
*This recipe originally ran in Mexico on HexClad.mx.
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Make pre-ferment. Fit stand mixer with bowl and dough hook. Add flour, milk, sugar, salt, yeast and egg. Beat on medium-low speed, until dough comes together into a sticky and slightly shiny ball, 6 to 8 minutes. Loosely cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
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Toast seeds. In a HexClad 8"/20 cm Hybrid Fry Pan over medium-low, toast anise seeds until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
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Make dough. When pre-ferment has doubled in size, punch down to release air and return bowl to machine base. Add 1 cup/165 grams flour, orange zest and juice, sugar, egg yolks and toasted anise seeds.
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Mix on medium-low speed, scraping down sides of bowl once, until dough comes together and starts to pull away from sides of bowl, about 5 minutes.
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Increase speed to medium. Add butter 1 tablespoon at a time, fully incorporating each before adding more. Continue mixing until dough is soft and oily, about 10 minutes. Add remaining 1 tablespoon flour and beat just until dough stops sticking to sides and it is incorporated.
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Cover bowl loosely with a clean kitchen towel; set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment and brush with oil. Cut another sheet of parchment paper into a circle to fit on HexClad Pizza Steel, and brush with oil.
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Form bread. Make four (4-oz/115-gram) balls from dough (you won’t use all dough for this step). On a clean work surface, roll balls using a circular motion with hand cupped over ball. Space equally on prepared pizza steel. Cover with a kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise.
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Form decorations. With remaining dough, form 4 tiny marble-size balls; place on prepared baking sheet. Divide remaining dough into 8 ping pong ball-size balls (each ball will form one bone). On a clean work surface, roll larger balls into (5-inch/13-cm) long ropes. Use pointer, middle and ring fingers outstretched to form three indentations while rolling, which will form segmentations of bones. Place each bone on prepared baking sheet, pinching and elongating each, to make them as bone-like as possible. Cover with a kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours.
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Make egg wash. In a small bowl, combine egg yolk, water and a pinch salt. Whisk to combine.
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Assemble pan de muerto. Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Brush 4 larger balls with egg wash. Each pan de muerto will be topped with two bones and one small ball. Drape one bone across top of ball, pressing gently to adhere. Brush bone with egg wash. Form a cross with a second bone, pressing gently to adhere. Brush second bone with egg wash. Place one marble-sized ball at center of crossed bones. Brush ball with egg wash. Repeat with remaining dough, balls, bones and egg wash.
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Bake dough until risen, fragrant and golden, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer bread to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Brush top and sides of bread with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with sugar to coat tops and sides.
NOTE:
50 grams corn husk (about 10 husks)
Outdoors, in a metal, fire-safe bowl, separate the corn husks and light them on fire. They will burn down to a black ash in 5 minutes or less. Set aside to cool. Crush burnt totomoxtle into a medium bowl and add sugar, mixing well with your fingers. Strain mixture through a strainer to remove any large pieces of burnt husk. The sugar should be a nice, blackened grey color.
