Every year the Dia De Muertos, in Spanish for the Day Of The Dead is celebrated from 1st to November 2nd. This is a tradition where most Mexican families like to keep.
The Pan De Muerto Recipe Without Anise is easy to make at home for the beginner and more advanced baker, to make a sweet bun, that is decorated with bone shaped pieces, the dough is made with anise seeds, but it can be also made with orange water or orange zest.
The Pan De Muertos is a tradition in Mexico, which is only made in the bakeries a few days previous to this festivity, but when you have the recipe and when you know how to do it, you can enjoy this bread anytime, we are sure this bread will be one of your favorites recipes to make for your family.
Pan De Muerto Recipe Without Anise
Pan De Muerto Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cup of flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 8 gr dry yeast
- 1/4 cup of warm water
- 1 egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup of milk
- 1 tablespoon of orange zest
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 80 gr of butter
Instructions
How To Make The Poolish
In a small bowl stir one tablespoon of flour, one teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 of warm water, cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
How To Make The Pan De Muertos Dough
You can make the dough with your hands on a wooden table or you can use a stand mixer.
1. Add the flour, sugar, orange zest and salt, and stir well all ingredients.
2. Add the egg and egg yolks, and the milk to the poolish, mix well with your fingers or on slow speed in the stand mixer.
3. Knead the dough until it gets smooth and stop to be sticky, when you start kneading the dough, it might be too sticky, but as you keep kneading, it will get smoother.
4. When the dough get smooth and easy to take off the table, add the butter cut in small pieces and at room temperature, keep kneading the dough, when you add the butter it might get hard to work with it, but keep kneading and it will become smooth again.
5. When the dough is smooth again, stop kneading it and put it in a bowl, cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise until it doubles its size, this step might take some time.
6. Take the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide the dough in three, put one part in a bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel and place it in the fridge.
7. Take the two parts of dough and make one ball with them, place this ball in a baking pan with parchment paper and let it proof until it double its size.
8. With the dough you have in the fridge, divide it in three and shape two like the bones and make one small ball with the third part.
9. Make some egg wash and wash the big ball once it has proofed, the egg wash will be the glue to add the dough shaped as bones and the head. Wash these doughs too. You can sprinkle some sesame seeds or sugar, in case you want to add some icing sugar, you need to bake the bread first, let it cool off and then cover it with icing the sugar.
10. Preheat the oven at 220 C and bake the Pan de Muertos for about 25 minutes.
11. When the bread is baked, take it out of the oven and let it cool off
Final Thoughts
We are sure you will love the taste of the Mexican Bread Of The Dead, a classic bread in the traditional Mexican cooking.
The recipe can be made with the traditional Anise seeds or with orange water or orange zest, and it can be decorated with sesame seeds, with sugar or with icing sugar, you need to try the three to decide which one is your favorite.
Happy Baking!
