Pan de Elote Yucateco con Elote Tierno

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •9-inch loaf pan or 9-inch square ceramic dish
• •High-powered blender
• •Sharp knife for cutting kernels off the cob
• •Wide mixing bowl and silicone spatula
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Banana leaf for lining the pan (optional but traditional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the corn

   This is the step that decides everything. The corn must be elote tierno, young white corn, the kind sold in Yucatan from August through November when the rains have come and gone. Press a thumbnail into a kernel. If it gives easily and a milky liquid runs out, you have what you need. If the kernel is hard and the liquid is thin, the corn is too mature and the bread will be dry. Do not make this with frozen corn or with the sweet yellow corn from a supermarket. Wait for the season. Mexican grandmothers cook with what the mercado is selling today.

   If you cannot find white elote tierno where you live, look for the youngest white corn at a Latino market and ask the vendor when it came in. The vendor will tell you. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
2. 2

   Cut and grind the kernels

   Stand each ear up in a wide bowl and run a sharp knife down the cob to release the kernels. After the kernels come off, scrape the cob with the back of the knife to release the milky liquid clinging to it. That liquid is the soul of the bread. Catch every drop. Transfer the kernels and their liquid to a blender and pulse, then blend on medium until you have a wet, slightly chunky pulp. Not a smooth puree. You want texture, small pieces of kernel suspended in the cream. About one minute, stopping to scrape the sides.

3. 3

   Build the base

   Pour the corn pulp into a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking between each. Then add the melted butter in a slow stream, whisking as it goes in. Add the sugar, the condensed milk, and the vanilla. Whisk until the mixture is uniform and the sugar has dissolved. The base should look pale yellow, glossy, and loose.

4. 4

   Fold in the dry

   In a separate bowl, whisk the masa harina, flour, polvo para hornear, and salt together. The masa harina is what makes this bread Yucatecan rather than American cornbread. It carries the flavor of nixtamalized corn and gives the loaf its dense, fudgy bite. Add the dry mix to the wet base in three additions, folding gently with a spatula. Stop the moment you no longer see streaks of flour. Overmixing builds gluten and you will lose the tender pudding-like center.

5. 5

   Prepare the pan

   Heat the oven to 350F. Take the softened butter and rub it across the inside of a 9-inch loaf pan or a 9-inch square ceramic dish. Be generous, especially in the corners. The high sugar and butter content of this batter will glue itself to a poorly greased pan. If you have a banana leaf, soften a piece over an open flame until it turns deep green and pliable, then line the pan with it. The leaf perfumes the bread the way the panaderas in Merida do it.

6. 6

   Pour and bake

   Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan once on the counter to settle the batter and pop any large air bubbles. Bake on the center rack for 55 to 65 minutes. The top will turn deep gold, almost mahogany at the edges, and the center will be set but still soft. A wooden skewer inserted in the middle should come out with a few moist crumbs, not clean. Clean means dry, and dry pan de elote is a failure.

7. 7

   Cool and slice

   Let the loaf cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before you turn it out. This bread is fragile when hot and it firms up as it cools. Run a knife around the edges, invert onto a rack, then flip right-side up onto a cutting board. Slice thick, about one inch. Serve at room temperature with cafe de olla or a glass of cold milk. In Merida you will see it sliced and topped with a thin slick of crema yucateca or a few shavings of queso de bola. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •The corn must be elote tierno. Not sweet corn, not field corn, not corn from a can or a bag in the freezer. If you cannot find white young corn in season, do not make this. The dish is named after the corn for a reason. Substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Scrape the cob after you cut the kernels. The milky liquid that comes off is what makes the crumb fudgy. Throw it away and you have made a drier, lesser bread.
• •Salted butter, not unsalted. The salt in the butter balances the condensed milk and the sugar. Unsalted butter and a pinch of salt is not the same thing.
• •If you can get a banana leaf, use it. Soften the leaf over an open flame until it turns deep green and pliable, then line the pan. The bread will pull away cleanly and carry a faint grassy perfume that is unmistakably yucateco.
• •In Merida you will see this served at breakfast with cafe de olla, or in the afternoon with a slice of queso de bola in its red wax rind shaved over the top. The Edam-style cheese the Dutch brought to the Peninsula through the henequen trade is not interchangeable with cheddar. If you cannot find queso de bola, leave it off.

Advance Preparation

• •Pan de elote is best the day it is baked, but it holds well wrapped in a clean cotton servilleta for two days at room temperature. The crumb stays moist because of the butter and the condensed milk.
• •The corn pulp can be ground one day ahead and refrigerated in a sealed container. Bring it back to room temperature before mixing the batter.
• •The baked loaf freezes well wrapped tightly in plastic and then foil for up to one month. Thaw at room temperature, then warm slices briefly in a low oven to bring back the soft center.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 140g)