Animalitos de Yema Comitecos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl, clay or stainless steel
• •Wooden spoon or stand mixer with dough hook
• •Cast iron comal or open flame for softening banana leaves
• •Two heavy baking sheets or a wood-fired horno tray
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the yeast

   Stir the warm milk, active dry yeast, and 1 teaspoon of the measured sugar in a small bowl. Let it stand for 8 to 10 minutes, until foamy on top. The milk should feel warm, not hot. If the yeast does not foam, it is dead. Start again now, before you waste eight yolks.

2. 2

   Mix the dry base

   In a large bowl, whisk the flour, remaining sugar, salt, and crushed anís verde. Crush the anís between your palms or in a molcajete first so the oil wakes up. That small perfume is part of the Comiteco bakery smell.

3. 3

   Rub in the manteca

   Add the softened manteca de cerdo to the flour mixture. Rub it in with your fingers until the flour looks sandy and no large pieces of fat remain. La manteca es el sabor. It coats the flour and gives these rolls their soft, tender crumb. Shortening leaves a flat, waxy finish. Do not bring me that shortcut.

4. 4

   Make the dough

   Add the 8 egg yolks, the whole egg, and the foamy yeast milk. Mix with your hand or a wooden spoon until a soft yellow dough forms. It will be tacky. That is correct. If dry flour stays at the bottom of the bowl, add milk 1 teaspoon at a time. Do not flood it.

5. 5

   Knead until elastic

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured table and knead for 10 to 12 minutes, until smooth, elastic, and no longer tearing when stretched. Use as little extra flour as possible. Too much flour makes heavy animalitos with hard bellies. In a stand mixer, knead with the dough hook on low for 7 to 8 minutes.

   Rich dough rises more slowly because yolks, sugar, and lard make the yeast work harder. Patience is part of the recipe.
6. 6

   Let it rise

   Grease a clean bowl with a little manteca. Set the dough inside, turn it once to coat, and cover with a cotton cloth. Let it rise in a warm corner for 60 to 75 minutes, until puffy and about one and a half times its size. It may not double like lean bread. Do not punish it for being rich.

7. 7

   Prepare the leaves

   While the dough rises, wipe the banana leaves clean. Pass each leaf quickly over a gas flame or hot comal until glossy and flexible. Cut them to fit two baking sheets and grease them lightly with manteca. If a leaf cracks, it has not been softened enough.

8. 8

   Divide and rest

   Turn the dough out and divide it into 18 pieces, about 50 to 55 g each if you are weighing. Cover the pieces and let them rest for 10 minutes. Rested dough listens to your hands. Tight dough fights back.

9. 9

   Shape the animalitos

   Shape each piece into a small animal: an oval body for a pig, a pinched head and tail for a bird, long ears for a rabbit. Pull off tiny bits of dough for ears, snouts, wings, and tails, then attach them with a dab of water. Press cloves or black sesame seeds in for eyes. Make the features a little exaggerated because the oven softens details. This is how the panaderas teach it: firm hands, no fuss.

10. 10

    Proof and glaze

    Arrange the animalitos on the banana-leaf-lined baking sheets, leaving space between them. Cover loosely and let them rise 25 to 35 minutes, until puffy and soft to the touch. Brush lightly with the egg-yolk glaze. Do not let glaze pool in the folds, or the little ears and tails will blur.

11. 11

    Bake golden

    Bake at 350F for 18 to 22 minutes, rotating the sheets once, until the breads are deep golden and the bottoms release cleanly from the hoja de plátano. If you have a horno de leña, bake in the falling heat after the coals have been swept aside. The leaf edges will darken and the bread will pick up a gentle green aroma.

12. 12

    Brush and serve

    Brush the hot animalitos with the melted manteca de cerdo in a very thin layer. Let them cool 10 minutes so the crumb settles. Serve warm or at room temperature with atole, chocolate de agua, or café de olla. Remove whole clove eyes before giving them to children. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh manteca de cerdo from a butcher or carnicería that renders often. It should smell clean and faintly sweet. If it smells stale, do not use it. Bad lard ruins bread faster than bad flour.
• •In old panaderías, a piece of mature dough often starts the batch. Active dry yeast is the home-kitchen bridge. It gives you reliable animalitos without pretending your apartment is a horno de leña in Comitán.
• •Banana leaf keeps the bottoms tender and gives a faint green aroma. If you cannot find it, use parchment. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Do not confuse these with marranitos de piloncillo, the brown pig-shaped cookies from central Mexican bakeries. Animalitos de yema are soft yellow breads from Comitán. Different state, different dough, different table.
• •The yolks and whole egg need to be at room temperature. Cold yolks tighten the lard and make the dough uneven. Pull them from the refrigerator before you start measuring flour.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed through the first rise, covered, and refrigerated overnight. Bring it back to room temperature for 45 minutes before shaping.
• •Shaped, unglazed animalitos can be refrigerated up to 8 hours, covered loosely. Let them puff at room temperature before glazing and baking.
• •Baked animalitos keep for 2 days wrapped in a cotton servilleta once completely cool. Rewarm in a 300F oven for 6 minutes to soften the crumb.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 60g)