Pan de Leche Yucateco con Azahar

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Stand mixer with dough hook (or strong forearms)
• •Molcajete or mortar for crushing the anise
• •Two heavy rimmed baking sheets
• •Parchment paper
• •Pastry brush for the egg wash
• •Bench scraper for dividing the dough
• •Cotton servilleta for covering the proofing dough

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the yeast

   Warm the milk to 110F. Stir in the teaspoon of sugar and the yeast. Let it sit for ten minutes, undisturbed. The surface should foam and smell yeasty. If nothing happens, your yeast is dead. Throw it out and start over. There is no negotiating with dead yeast.

2. 2

   Crush the anise

   Crush the anise seeds in a molcajete or with the back of a heavy spoon. Not to a powder. You want them broken open so the oils release. Whole seeds stay locked. Powder turns dusty. Broken seeds give you the perfume that defines a pan de azahar yucateco.

   Anis en grano is not star anise. Star anise is a different plant, much louder, and wrong for this bread. The Yucatán uses the small ridged seeds of Pimpinella anisum. If your spice jar says 'star anise,' it stays in the cupboard.
3. 3

   Build the dough

   In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, the half cup of sugar, salt, and the crushed anise. Add the foamed milk and yeast, the three whole eggs, the egg yolk, the agua de azahar, and the orange zest. Mix on low until a shaggy dough comes together, about three minutes. The azahar will perfume the kitchen immediately. That smell is the bread telling you it is from Yucatán.

4. 4

   Knead in the fats

   With the mixer running on medium-low, add the softened lard one spoonful at a time, waiting for each to incorporate before adding the next. Then do the same with the butter. The dough will look broken and greasy at first. Keep going. After eight to ten minutes of kneading it will pull together into a smooth, supple ball that slaps the sides of the bowl. La manteca es el sabor, and in this bread it is also the texture. Lard gives this pan the soft pull you cannot get with butter alone.

   If you are kneading by hand, plan for twenty minutes of work and oiled hands. The dough is rich and sticky until the gluten finally develops. Do not add more flour to make it easier. Dry pan de leche is sad pan de leche.
5. 5

   First rise

   Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a clean cotton servilleta. Let it rise in a warm spot until doubled, about one and a half to two hours. Yucatán is humid and warm, so the dough moves fast there. In a cooler kitchen, give it the time it needs. Bread is patient. The cook should be too.

6. 6

   Shape the panes

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into twelve equal pieces, about ninety grams each. Roll each piece between your cupped palm and the counter until it forms a tight, smooth ball with the seam tucked underneath. Place them on two parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving about two inches between each. They will grow into one another at the edges as they proof, the way panes de leche always do in a Mérida panadería, with the soft sides where they kissed their neighbors.

7. 7

   Second rise

   Cover the shaped panes with a cotton cloth. Let them proof until visibly puffed and almost touching, about forty-five minutes to one hour. Press one gently with a fingertip. The indentation should spring back slowly, not snap back. If it snaps, give them more time. If it stays sunken, you went too far, but bake them anyway. They will still be good, just denser.

8. 8

   Heat the horno

   Heat the oven to 350F with a rack in the center. If you have a baking stone, put it in to heat. In a panadería in Mérida the hornos are wood-fired stone, darkened from decades. Your oven is not that, but a hot stone will get you closer to the bottom heat those old hornos give.

9. 9

   Wash and finish

   Brush each pan gently with the egg wash. Do not flatten them, just glaze the surface. Sprinkle the tops generously with the finishing sugar. The sugar will caramelize into faint crackling patches across the crust as the bread bakes. That sweet crunch on top is what makes a pan de leche yucateco read different from a Mexico City concha or a bolillo.

10. 10

    Bake

    Bake for twenty-five to thirty minutes, rotating the trays halfway through, until the tops are deep gold and the bottoms sound hollow when you tap them. The kitchen will smell like anise, orange blossoms, and warm butter. That is the smell of Hanal Pixán mornings in Mérida. Cool the panes on a woven petate or wire rack for at least fifteen minutes before serving. Eat them warm with hot chocolate. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Agua de azahar is non-negotiable. It is sold in Mexican groceries, Middle Eastern markets, and most well-stocked supermarkets in the baking aisle. Do not substitute orange extract. Orange extract is candy. Azahar is perfume. They are not the same and the bread will know.
• •Anis en grano, the small ridged anise seed, is what you want. Not star anise. Not anise extract. The whole seed crushed in a molcajete releases the oils slowly into the dough and gives a perfume that is gentle, not medicinal.
• •Manteca de cerdo from a Mexican carnicería is the right lard. The shelf-stable cubes at supermarkets are hydrogenated and flavorless. If you cannot find real lard, render your own from pork fat. It takes one afternoon and the rendered manteca will last you months.
• •These panes are best eaten the day they are baked, warm, with a cup of thick Maya chocolate beaten with a molinillo. Day two they are still very good, lightly toasted. Day three, make capirotada and do not waste them.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made through the first rise, then refrigerated overnight. Bring back to room temperature for about an hour before shaping. The cold rise actually deepens the anise and azahar perfume.
• •Shaped panes can be frozen unbaked. Freeze on the tray, transfer to a bag, and bake from frozen with an extra ten minutes in the oven plus an extra hour of proof time at room temperature.
• •Baked panes freeze well for up to one month. Wrap individually in foil and reheat in a 300F oven for ten minutes to bring back the soft crumb.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)