Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) by Cool Chile
The 1st and 2nd of November are days of remembrance for loved ones that have passed away. It is celebrated
with a family get together, either at home or at the cemetery. All the favourite foods of the deceased are prepared to
encourage the spirit to come back and visit! Pan de Muerto is a sweet bread that is served after the meal with a Mexican hot chocolate. The loaf is traditionally decorated with skull and bone shapes on top with a generous sprinkling of sugar. The recipe is basically a brioche dough with orange and aniseed flavourings. The dough is sticky to work with, but don't panic or add more flour, with a little flour for dusting and a thorough chilling it should behave much better.
Makes 2 loaves.
120ml luke warm water
7g dried yeast
10g salt
4 medium free range eggs (beaten)
85g Mexican runny honey
150g unsalted butter (melted)
485g bread flour (or half bread & half plain)
1.5 tsps aniseeds
Grated rind of 1 orange
For glaze:
Grated rind & juice of 1 orange
100g granulated sugar (plus extra for sprinkling)
Mix the first six ingredients (water, yeast, salt, eggs, honey & butter) in a bowl. Then add the next three (flour, aniseeds and orange rind), stirring with a wooden spoon until a thick, sticky batter has formed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest at room temperature for approx. two hours. Then place in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day remove the dough from the bowl, place on a floured surface and lightly dust over with flour as the dough is very sticky. Divide evenly into two pieces (approx. 600g each). From each 600 gram piece remove 100 grams to make the top decorations. Roll each remaining 500 gram pieces into a round loaves and place on a greased and floured baking sheet. Take one of the 100 gram pieces and shape each into five 20 gram balls. Then with floured hands, roll the four of the balls into thick ropes and squeeze the middle to create 'bone' shapes. Place the remaining ball on top on the centre of a loaf and drape four 'bones' down the side of the loaf. Repeat this for the other loaf. Leave the loaves to rise a second time at room temperature for approx. two hours. Then place in a pre-heated oven (160˚c) for 40-50 minutes. The loaves should be ready when golden brown and sound hollow when tapped from underneath.
While the bread is baking you can make the glaze. In a small saucepan, mix the orange juice and rind with the sugar, bring to the boil, let simmer for 5 minutes then remove from heat. After the loaves have cooled slightly from the oven, brush the glaze on and sprinkle with granulated sugar all over.