Pan Amarillo Oaxaqueño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wooden artesa or large mixing bowl
• •Bench scraper
• •Heavy sheet pan lined with parchment
• •Pastry brush for the egg wash
• •Clean cotton servilleta for covering the rises

Instructions

1. 1

   Steep the azafrancillo

   Place the azafrancillo flowers in a small heatproof cup and pour 60 milliliters of hot tap water over them. Hot, not boiling. Let them steep for 15 minutes while you gather everything else. The water will turn a deep marigold yellow. This is the color of pan amarillo. Saffron is not a substitute. Turmeric is not a substitute. Azafrancillo, also called cártamo, is what the panaderas in the Valles Centrales have always used and it is sold by the gram in every market in Oaxaca.

   If you are buying azafrancillo outside Oaxaca, look for it in Mexican markets labeled cártamo. The dried orange-red flower threads should smell faintly grassy. If they smell like nothing, they are old.
2. 2

   Wake the yeast

   In a small bowl, combine the lukewarm milk, the yeast, and one tablespoon of the sugar from the measured amount. Stir once. Leave it for 10 minutes. It should bloom into a foamy cap. If it does not foam, your yeast is dead. Throw it out and start over with fresh yeast. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Build the dough

   In a large bowl or on a clean wooden artesa, combine the flour, the remaining sugar, and the salt. Make a well in the center. Pour in the yeast mixture, the egg yolks, the whole egg, and the strained azafrancillo water. Stir with your hand from the center outward, pulling in the flour from the walls of the well. Work it until you have a shaggy, deeply yellow dough. The yolks of huevo de rancho are what give this bread its color. Pale supermarket yolks will give you a pale bread. Find the orange-yolked eggs.

4. 4

   Knead in the manteca

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes, pushing with the heel of your hand and folding back. The dough will go from sticky to elastic. Now begin adding the softened manteca de cerdo, a tablespoon at a time, working each addition fully into the dough before the next. La manteca es el sabor and it is also what gives pan amarillo its tender, slightly crumbly bite. Butter is not the same. Vegetable shortening is not the same. Manteca.

   The dough will look broken when you first add the lard. Keep kneading. It comes back together. After all the manteca is in, knead another five minutes until the dough is smooth, soft, and slaps the table cleanly.
5. 5

   First rise

   Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a clean cotton servilleta. Let it rise in a warm corner of the kitchen for two to three hours, until doubled. Oaxacan kitchens are warm. If yours is cold, the dough will take longer. Do not rush it with high heat. The slow rise builds the flavor. Asi se hace y punto.

6. 6

   Shape the panes

   Punch the dough down gently. Divide into 12 equal pieces, about 90 grams each. Roll each piece into a tight, round bola, pulling the surface taut over your palm and pinching the seam underneath. Place them seam-side down on a sheet pan lined with parchment, spaced four fingers apart. They will spread.

7. 7

   Second rise

   Cover the shaped panes with a cotton cloth and let them rise again, one to one and a half hours, until they look puffy and the dough springs back slowly when poked. Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F) during the last 20 minutes of this rise. A wood-fired oven gives the best crust, but a home oven preheated thoroughly will do honest work.

8. 8

   Glaze and bake

   Brush each pan gently with the egg yolk wash. Be careful not to deflate them. Scatter ajonjolí over the tops. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the tops are deep golden and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. The egg wash should set into a glossy mahogany-yellow finish. Pull them out the moment the bottoms are firm. Overbaked pan amarillo turns dry and the whole point of this bread is its tender, faintly sweet crumb.

9. 9

   Cool and serve

   Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before tearing one open. Eat with café de olla, with chocolate de agua frothed in a jícara with a molinillo, or with atole de granillo if you can get the right corn. This is daily bread in Oaxaca, not Sunday bread. It belongs at the breakfast table and at the merienda. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Find huevos de rancho if you can. The yolks of factory eggs are pale yellow and they will give you pale bread. Mexican country eggs, or any pasture-raised orange-yolked egg, are what this dough was built around. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Azafrancillo is not saffron. It is cártamo, sold cheaply in every Oaxacan market and in good Mexican groceries elsewhere. If you cannot find it, do not substitute saffron, the flavor is wrong, or turmeric, the color is wrong. Wait until you can find the real thing. Some doors are worth knocking on.
• •This is not pan de yema and it is not pan de muerto. Do not put a cabecita on top. Do not crown it with sugar crystals. Pan amarillo is the daily bread. Plain top, glossy egg wash, a scatter of ajonjolí. That is the dress code.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made through the first rise, then deflated, covered tightly, and refrigerated overnight. Bring back to room temperature for one hour before shaping.
• •Pan amarillo is best the day it is baked. Day-old bread is excellent toasted on a comal and dipped into chocolate de agua. Do not refrigerate, it dries the crumb. Store wrapped in a cotton servilleta at room temperature for up to two days.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 85g)