Pan de Muerto, “Bread of the Dead”
Posted by: TammyDay of the Dead is a traditional Mexican holiday celebrated around this time of year. We don’t celebrate it but the Spanish teachers discuss this holiday with the students as part of their Spanish class. I have volunteered to make the bread for the last few years so the kids can sample this traditional bread. It’s a rich bread similar to a Challah bread with lots of eggs and sugar.
I’ve noticed that there are many variations and some involved raisins but all have anise seed. I wish I could give proper credit to the site which had this particular recipe. We printed it up but it didn’t print up the site it came from and it’s been several years since we found this great recipe.
Pan De Muerto, “Bread of the Dead”
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
5-5 1/2 cups of flour
4 tsp of instant yeast
1 tsp of salt
1 TBS of whole anise seed (I only use about 1.5 tsp)
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
In a microwave or saucepan, heat the butter, milk and water to warm but not boil.
In your mixing bowl, place warmed liquids and then add 1.5 cups of flour, salt, anise seed, sugar and yeast. Mix to combine. Then add the eggs and another cup of flour. Mix/knead and continue to add more flour until the dough is soft but not sticky. Knead for another few minutes.
Lightly grease a bowl and place dough in it, cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down the dough and shape into loaves. I generally divide it in half and then create two round, free-form loaves. Traditionally, the loaves were made to resemble skulls and smaller pieces of dough were shaped as “bones” and placed on top.
I allow the loaves to rise again (about double) and then bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and paint on the glaze.
Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
2 TBS of grated orange zest
Bring to a boil for 2 minutes and then apply to the bread with a brush.
Here are two of my finished loaves: