Mestiza de Jalpan de Serra

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl or stand mixer with dough hook
• •Rolling pin
• •Bench knife
• •Heavy baking sheet or clay baking tile
• •Clean cotton servilleta for resting and serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the yeast

   Stir the warm milk, yeast, and 1 tablespoon of the sugar in a large bowl. Let it stand 8 to 10 minutes, until the surface looks foamy and alive. If nothing happens, your yeast is dead. Start again. Bread does not forgive bad leavening.

2. 2

   Make the dough

   Add the bread flour, remaining sugar, eggs, 1/4 cup of the softened manteca de cerdo, and salt. Mix until a rough dough forms, then knead 8 to 10 minutes by hand, or 6 minutes in a stand mixer on low. The dough should be smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky, not wet. Manteca gives the crumb tenderness without making it taste like cake. La manteca es el sabor.

3. 3

   First rise

   Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour 15 minutes. In the Sierra Gorda, the panaderia reads the dough by touch, not by the clock. Press it gently. If the mark fills back slowly, it is ready.

4. 4

   Mix the piloncillo paste

   In a small bowl, combine the grated piloncillo, Mexican cinnamon, ground anise, all-purpose flour, and the remaining 1/4 cup softened manteca de cerdo. Work it together with your fingers until it forms a spreadable paste. Add the warm water only if the piloncillo is very dry. The paste should smear, not pour.

   Use piloncillo, not brown sugar. Brown sugar gives sweetness. Piloncillo gives cane depth, mineral darkness, and the flavor that belongs to pan de pueblo.
5. 5

   Roll and fill

   Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured table and pat it into a rectangle about 14 by 18 inches. Spread the piloncillo paste over the surface, leaving a small border. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter, then roll it gently to flatten the layers. Do not press so hard that the filling leaks out. You are building layers, not punishing the dough.

6. 6

   Shape the mestizas

   Cut the folded dough into 10 rectangles. Tuck the corners slightly underneath each piece and press the tops once with the heel of your hand so they sit low and broad. The pieces should look handmade, with uneven ridges and small streaks of piloncillo showing. Machine-perfect bread has no memory.

7. 7

   Second rise

   Set the mestizas on a parchment-lined baking sheet with space between them. Cover and let rise 35 to 45 minutes, until puffy but not doubled. Brush lightly with the egg and milk. Too much wash seals the top and fights the oven spring. A light hand is enough.

8. 8

   Bake dark-edged

   Bake at 375F for 24 to 28 minutes, rotating the tray once, until the tops are deep golden and the piloncillo at the edges has darkened to caramel. In a wood oven, the color comes faster and less evenly. In a home oven, wait for the edges. Pale mestiza is unfinished mestiza. Asi se hace y punto.

9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Let the mestizas cool at least 20 minutes before tearing one open. The piloncillo needs time to settle into the crumb. Serve with cafe de olla in a clay jarrito, or keep them wrapped in a clean servilleta for the next day's breakfast. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Look for piloncillo sold in cones at a Mexican mercado or a serious Latin grocer. If the cone is rock hard, grate it on the large holes of a box grater. Do not melt it into syrup for this bread. Syrup makes the layers heavy.
• •Manteca de cerdo should smell clean and faintly sweet, never rancid. Ask the carniceria if it is fresh-rendered. Supermarket hydrogenated lard works in an emergency, but fresh manteca gives a better crumb and cleaner flavor.
• •If you have access to a wood-fired oven, bake after the fierce heat has dropped, when the oven floor is around 375F to 400F. These are enriched breads, not bolillos. Too much heat burns the piloncillo before the center bakes.
• •This bread is not supposed to be chile-hot. Not all Mexican food is built around chile. Here the geography speaks through wheat, piloncillo, lard, cinnamon, and a mountain bakery's oven.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be mixed, kneaded, covered, and refrigerated overnight after the first 30 minutes of rising. Bring it back to room temperature until puffy before rolling and filling.
• •Baked mestizas keep well for 2 days wrapped in a cotton towel at room temperature. Rewarm in a low oven until the crust softens and the piloncillo streaks loosen.
• •The piloncillo paste can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Let it soften fully before spreading or it will tear the dough.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 115g)