Condoches Hidrocálidos de Aguascalientes

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Horno de barro or home oven with a baking stone or heavy sheet pan
• •Wide clay bowl, wooden batea, or heavy mixing bowl
• •Small saucepan for piloncillo syrup
• •Charola lechera or soaked dried corn husks for baking
• •Cotton servilleta for resting and serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Make piloncillo syrup

   Combine the piloncillo, water, canela, anise seeds, and salt in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring until the piloncillo dissolves and the syrup smells of canela and toasted sugar. Remove from the heat and let it cool until warm, not hot. Hot syrup melts the lard too fast and leaves greasy masa. That is not the texture you want.

   If the piloncillo leaves grit at the bottom of the pan, strain the syrup. Piloncillo is honest sugar, not factory-white sugar, and sometimes it carries a little field with it.
2. 2

   Open the masa

   Put the fresh nixtamal masa in a wide clay bowl, wooden batea, or heavy mixing bowl. Break it apart with your fingers. Add half of the warm piloncillo syrup and knead until the masa loosens and smells cleanly of corn. It should feel soft and pliable, not sandy and not sticky like cake batter. If the masa came from a good tortillería, it will tell you what it needs.

3. 3

   Work in lard

   Add the room-temperature manteca de cerdo in spoonfuls, kneading after each addition until the fat disappears into the masa. This takes 8 to 10 minutes by hand. Do the work. La manteca es el sabor. The dough should become lighter, smoother, and able to hold a shallow fingerprint without cracking at the edges.

   Do not use melted lard for the main dough. Melted fat slicks the masa instead of enriching it. Room-temperature lard works into the corn and gives the condoche its tender bite.
4. 4

   Rest the dough

   Add the remaining piloncillo syrup a spoonful at a time until the dough is sweet, fragrant, and workable. You may not need every drop. If the masa still cracks, add warm water one tablespoon at a time. Fold in the drained raisins if your house uses them. Cover with a damp cotton cloth and rest for 30 minutes so the corn hydrates evenly.

5. 5

   Prepare the oven

   For a horno de barro, fire the oven with mesquite or oak until the walls turn pale from the heat, then rake out the coals and sweep the floor clean. For a home oven, heat a baking stone or heavy sheet pan at 475F for at least 45 minutes. The lesson is the same in both kitchens: hot floor, steady heat, no lazy oven.

   Do not use resinous pine in a clay oven. It perfumes the bread the wrong way. Ask the women who run the horno. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
6. 6

   Shape the condoches

   Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Press each one by hand into a thick round or oval, about 4 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick, with a shallow depression in the center so the middle bakes through. Do not chase perfect circles. Condoches are hand food, not machine food. Set them on soaked corn husks or a lightly greased charola lechera.

7. 7

   Bake until set

   Brush the tops lightly with melted manteca. Bake in the horno de barro for 14 to 18 minutes, or in the home oven for 18 to 25 minutes, until the tops look dry, the bottoms are toasted, and the edges are deep amber with a few darker spots. One condoche torn open should show a set, tender, golden corn crumb. If the outside is burning before the center sets, your oven is too aggressive. Move the tray farther from the heat.

8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Rest the condoches for 10 minutes before serving. The crumb finishes settling as they cool. Pile them on a barro rojo platter with a cotton servilleta and serve with café de olla or atole blanco for merienda. This is Aguascalientes on the table. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh nixtamal masa at Mercado Terán, a neighborhood tortillería, or any place where the masa smells like wet corn and cal, not sour flour. Masa harina is a compromise, not an upgrade. If you must use it, hydrate 4 cups masa harina with about 3 cups warm water, rest 30 minutes, then continue with the syrup and lard.
• •The fat is manteca de cerdo. Vegetable shortening makes a paler, waxier bread. Some hidrocálido panaderos use shortening for other pieces, but these condoches want pork lard. No me vengas con atajos.
• •Raisins are a family decision. Some homes in Aguascalientes put them in, some do not. If you use them, soak and drain them so they do not steal moisture from the masa.
• •Do not add chile guajillo, chile ancho, or salsa to this dough just because you think Mexican food needs chile. It doesn't. The defining flavors here are corn, piloncillo, canela, anise, and lard.

Advance Preparation

• •The piloncillo syrup can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Warm it gently before kneading it into the masa.
• •The dough can be mixed up to 12 hours ahead, covered, and refrigerated. Bring it back to room temperature and knead it briefly before shaping.
• •Baked condoches keep for 2 days wrapped in a cotton cloth. Reheat them on a dry comal until the edges regain their bite.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)