Pan De Muerto

Feliz  Dia de los Muertos!

If you’re not familiar, this holiday is celebrated in Mexico and in certain countries throughout Latin America, lasting 3 days to honor those who have passed. On the days leading up to the celebration, families start to set up altars dedicated to loved ones and pets that have passed–as a way to remember them and celebrate their spirits. Personally, death and the afterlife wasn’t something I really thought of until my grandma passed away a few years ago. Celebrating Dia de los Muertos helped pacify the blow of her absence by making me totally rethink of what and how I thought about death.

The altars people set up can often be very, very elaborate. They’ll be adorned with pictures of the deceased, marigolds, their favorite alcohol, water, their favorite dishes, sugar skulls and items of theirs amongst other things. If you happen to be in Mexico during the celebration, you’ll often see an influx of marigolds all around because they are an important part of the celebration. These bright blooms are said to be used to guide the deceased to their altars, and illuminate the path to their graves. Pan de muerto is a big staple in this celebration, and bakeries in Mexico often start selling this bread in early October, because people love it so much.

This year, I decided to refine my recipe for pan de muerto and added notes of orange, clove, ginger and cinnamon and really took my time forming each separate loaf. One of the things I’ve  learned about making pan de muerto is that this recipe requires your tender love and care. You need to take your time carefully forming the crossbones and really give it some time to rise after it all comes together or it won’t cooperate with you while it bakes. Luckily, my Samsung range has a built in compartment that allows you to proof your dough, so everything proofs in the perfect amount of time, every single time!

I hope you all have a great weekend, and if you have anytime for a baking project this weekend, get the family involved! This would make a great group activity to get everyone together and celebrate and share memories of those who have passed on!

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5 from 1 vote

Pan De Muerto

Makes 10 small loaves

Course Bread

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword dia de los muertos, pan de muerto, Pan Dulce

Prep Time 2 hours hours

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 10

Calories 541.87kcal

Author Esteban Castillo

Ingredients

• For the Bread:
• ⅔ cup whole milk
• 2 packets active dry yeast (or 4 ½ teaspoons)
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1 navel or valencia orange
• 7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ tsp. kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ¼ teaspoon cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon cloves
• 5 large eggs at room temperature lightly beaten
• For the coating:
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
• 3-4 tablespoons cane sugar

Instructions

• Heat up the milk to 100-110º F (about 35-40 seconds in the microwave) then mix in the yeast with a pinch of sugar. Set this aside while you work on the rest of the dough.

  Melt  1/2 cup of butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. While it melts, zest the orange right into the saucepan then juice the orange into a measuring cup to measure out ⅓ cup of its juice. If you don’t quite have enough to measure out 1/3 cup, add enough water to make the measurement. Remove the butter from the heat as soon as it completely melts then stir in orange juice.
• Add the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice and clove to the bowl of a stand mixer, stir to combine, then add the yeast and milk mixture, and stir on the lowest speed while you pour in the juice/butter mixture followed by the eggs. Once it’s all combined turn the speed up by 1 and knead for 3 minutes.

  Lightly grease a large bowl with a quick spray of non-stick cooking spray and turn the dough out into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm draft free place for about an hour and a half to double in size.
• Once the dough has risen punch it down and turn it out onto a cutting board, then cut and weigh the dough into 3 ounce equal sized pieces (I got about 16 pieces). Set aside 5-6 chunks of dough for the cross bones then roll the other chunks of dough into smooth round balls.

  Line three baking sheets with parchment paper then place 4 of the dough balls on each one, evenly spaced.

  To make the skull and crossbones tear off two golf ball sized chunks of dough from the reserved pieces (you should be able to make two sets of cross bones from each reserved piece ), roll them into snakes with your hands then lay them on your counter or cutting board, spread open your fingers and roll with your fingertips to create the bone shape.

  Make two bones for each pan de muerto then take the remaining dough and roll it into balls about the size of a large marble and place on top of each crossbones. Set these decorations down to proof on it’s own cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. If you don’t let these proof separately and let them proof on top of the pan de muerto, they will stretch and break while they bake.
• Lightly cover each baking sheet with plastic wrap and let the pan de muerto proof until almost doubled in size, about 20 minutes, then gently take the skull and crossbones and place them on top of each loaf of pan de muerto.

  Bake in a 350ºF oven for 20-25 minutes, one tray at a time, until lightly golden brown and you have a slight hollow sound when you tap on them. Let them cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet then working on one at a time, brush with melted butter and immediately sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Pan de muerto is best served warm with coffee or hot chocolate.