Campechanas Yucatecas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Long rolling pin (a French-style wooden pin works best)
• •Bench scraper for cutting the log evenly
• •Two heavy half-sheet pans lined with parchment
• •Pastry brush for the melted lard
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the base dough

   In a wide bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and the tablespoon of sugar. Make a well in the center. Add the cold water, vinegar, egg yolk, and three tablespoons of the lard. Work the liquids into the flour with your hands until a shaggy dough forms. Turn it out onto an unfloured counter and knead for eight to ten minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough should feel firm, not soft. Soft dough cannot hold the lamination.

   The vinegar relaxes the gluten so the dough stretches without tearing. Do not skip it. Yucatecan panaderas have used this trick for generations and it is the difference between a pliable dough and one that fights you.
2. 2

   Rest the dough

   Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic, and refrigerate for at least one hour. Two is better. The flour needs time to fully hydrate and the gluten needs time to relax. A rushed dough will spring back the moment you try to roll it out. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Roll out the first sheet

   On a lightly floured surface, roll the rested dough into a large rectangle, about 16 by 20 inches. Roll thin, about an eighth of an inch. The thinner you go, the more delicate the finished campechana. Yucatecan bakers roll these almost translucent. If it tears, patch it with your fingers and keep going.

4. 4

   Apply the lard layer

   Take the remaining lard, soft but still cool, and smear it evenly across the entire surface of the dough with your hands or an offset spatula. Do not be shy. The lard is what creates the layers and the snap. La manteca es el sabor, and in this case it is also the structure. Skip lard for butter and you have made a French pastry. You have not made campechanas.

5. 5

   Roll into a log

   Starting at the long edge closest to you, roll the dough away from you into a tight cylinder, like you are rolling a yoga mat. Keep the tension even. The roll should be about 20 inches long. Pinch the seam closed. Wrap the log in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour. This rest sets the lard back into the layers.

6. 6

   Cut and stack

   Unwrap the chilled log and slice it crosswise into twelve equal pieces, each about an inch and a half thick. Take one piece, set it cut-side up on the counter, and press it down firmly with the heel of your hand into a small flat disk. The spiral of layers should be visible from above. This is what will puff and shatter in the oven.

7. 7

   Roll out each campechana

   Working one at a time, place a disk on a lightly floured surface and roll it into a thin oval, about six inches long and four inches wide. Roll firmly but not so hard that you crush the layers. You should still see the spiral pattern faintly through the dough. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving an inch between each. They will spread.

8. 8

   Sugar the tops

   Brush the top of each oval generously with melted lard. Pour the finishing sugar onto a plate and press the lard-brushed side of each campechana firmly into the sugar, coating it heavily. The sugar should sit in a thick blanket across the top, not a sprinkle. This is what turns to glass. A timid sugar layer makes a timid campechana.

   Press hard into the sugar. The pressure embeds the granules into the lard so they melt into a solid sheet instead of scattering off the surface as the pastry bakes.
9. 9

   Bake until amber

   Heat the oven to 400°F. Bake the campechanas for fifteen to twenty minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. They are ready when the sugar on top has melted into a glossy amber sheet and the pastry beneath has puffed and turned deep golden. Watch them in the last three minutes. The sugar goes from molten to burned faster than you think. Burned sugar is bitter sugar.

10. 10

    Cool completely

    Let the campechanas cool on the baking sheet for five minutes, then transfer carefully to a wire rack. The sugar shell needs time to set. It hardens as it cools and that is what gives you the snap when you bite. Do not stack them while warm or the glass will smear. Serve with café con leche or chocolate caliente. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Use real manteca de cerdo, the kind sold at a Mexican carnicería or rendered at home from pork fat. The hydrogenated stuff at the supermarket is not the same. It does not melt the same way and it does not taste like anything. La manteca es el sabor.
• •Keep the lard cool but workable, the same texture as soft butter. If it gets too warm it soaks into the dough instead of forming distinct layers. If it gets too cold it tears the dough when you spread it.
• •The sugar must be pressed firmly into the lard-brushed top. A light sprinkle slides off in the oven and you end up with bare pastry and a sticky pan. Press until the sugar embeds into the surface and stays put when you lift the pastry off the plate.
• •If you have access to piloncillo, grate a little over the finished campechanas while still warm for a deeper, molasses-edged sweetness. Optional but Yucatecan-approved.

Advance Preparation

• •The base dough can be made one day ahead and refrigerated, well wrapped. Bring it just barely back to cool room temperature before rolling.
• •The rolled and chilled log can be sliced and stored in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours before pressing, sugaring, and baking.
• •Baked campechanas keep at room temperature in an airtight tin for two days. After that the sugar glass starts to absorb humidity and the snap softens. In Yucatán's coastal humidity, eat them the day they are baked.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 93g)