Chamucos de Calvillo

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small heavy saucepan for piloncillo syrup
• •Two large mixing bowls or a stand mixer with dough hook
• •Bench scraper
• •Heavy sheet pan or charola lechera
• •Pastry brush
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the syrup

   Put the piloncillo, water, and canela stick in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, crushing the piloncillo as it softens, until the syrup is glossy and smells like cane sugar and cinnamon. Simmer 2 minutes more, then cool until just warm. Remove the canela stick. Measure 2/3 cup for the dark dough and reserve 2 tablespoons for brushing.

   Do not pour hot syrup into yeast dough. Hot syrup kills yeast. Warm is fine. Hot is impatience.
2. 2

   Mix pale dough

   In a large bowl, mix the flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the warm milk, egg, and vanilla. Stir until shaggy, then knead for 4 minutes by hand or with a dough hook. Work in the manteca vegetal a spoonful at a time. At first it will smear across the dough. Keep kneading. The dough should turn soft, smooth, and slightly tacky.

3. 3

   Mix piloncillo dough

   In a second bowl, mix the flour, instant yeast, ground canela, and salt. Add the cooled piloncillo syrup and egg. Knead until the dough comes together, then work in the manteca vegetal. This dough will be darker and stickier because piloncillo is heavy. Do not bury it in flour. Lightly oil your hands if you need control.

4. 4

   Let both rise

   Place each dough in its own lightly greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm corner for 60 to 75 minutes, until puffy and almost doubled. The piloncillo dough may move more slowly. Sugar weighs down yeast. That is not a mistake, that is bread teaching you patience.

   If your kitchen is cold, give the dough more time. Do not put it in a hot oven. You want fermentation, not a cooked skin.
5. 5

   Divide the doughs

   Turn both doughs onto a lightly floured table. Divide the pale dough into 10 equal pieces and the piloncillo dough into 10 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball, cover with a towel, and let rest 10 minutes. Rest matters. Tight dough fights the hand.

6. 6

   Roll and twist

   Roll one pale piece and one piloncillo piece into ropes about 9 inches long. Pinch the two ropes together at one end, then twist them around each other 4 or 5 times. Keep the twist snug but not strangled. The women in Calvillo know by sight when the dough has room to grow. Learn that.

   If the ropes shrink back while you roll them, cover them and wait 5 minutes. Gluten relaxes when you stop bullying it.
7. 7

   Coil the chamucos

   Coil each twisted rope into a loose spiral, like a hand-formed caracol, and tuck the final end underneath. Leave the dark piloncillo bands visible and do not make the spiral machine-perfect. Set the chamucos 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined heavy sheet pan or charola lechera. Press the center lightly so the coil holds.

8. 8

   Proof and heat

   Cover the shaped chamucos and proof for 35 to 45 minutes, until visibly puffy and a fingertip leaves a slow dent. Heat the oven to 375F. A horno de barro gives the best dark tips, but a home oven with a heavy sheet pan will do honest work if you let it heat fully.

9. 9

   Brush and bake

   Brush the tops lightly with the reserved piloncillo-canela syrup, paying attention to the tips and the dark bands. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, rotating once, until the pale dough is golden, the piloncillo dough is deep brown, and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. If you use too much syrup, it will puddle and burn. A thin hand is better here.

10. 10

    Cool and serve

    Move the chamucos to a rack and let them rest 20 minutes. The piloncillo needs time to settle into the crumb. Tear one too early and it will gum under your teeth. Serve for merienda with cafe de olla in a jarrito. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Use piloncillo that smells like cane and molasses when you break it. If it smells dusty, the bread will taste tired. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •Manteca vegetal is the version I learned for Calvillo chamucos. Some Hidrocálido panaderos use fresh manteca de cerdo instead. That is a local split, not a shortcut. Butter gives a different fragrance and a softer bakery roll. This bread is not asking for butter.
• •Do not use baking powder and call it chamuco. This is yeast bread. The rise gives the coil its pull and its chew.
• •There are no chiles in this bread. Do not add chile powder because you think Mexican food needs to announce itself that way. Piloncillo, canela, wheat, and fat are enough. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
• •The coil should look worked by human hands. If every chamuco is identical, you shaped with anxiety. Calvillo bread has rhythm, not factory discipline.

Advance Preparation

• •The piloncillo-canela syrup can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Warm it gently before mixing so it loosens, but let it cool again before it touches the yeast.
• •Both doughs can rise once, then be covered and refrigerated overnight. Bring them to room temperature for 45 minutes before dividing and shaping.
• •Baked chamucos keep for 2 days wrapped in a clean cotton cloth or stored in a closed tin. Do not refrigerate them. Refrigeration dries bread.
• •Chamucos freeze well for 1 month. Rewarm in a 300F oven until the crumb softens and the piloncillo surface turns glossy again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 105g)