Pan de Muerto Yucateco con Anís

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Stand mixer with dough hook
• •Heavy baking sheet
• •Cast iron comal or small skillet for toasting anise
• •Bench scraper
• •Pastry brush
• •Damp cotton servilleta yucateca for covering the dough

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the anise

   Heat a dry comal or small skillet over medium-low. Add the whole anise seeds and toast for about 90 seconds, shaking the pan, until you smell that warm licorice scent rise off the comal. That smell is the aceite essential waking up. The anise is what separates this bread from the central Mexico pan de muerto with orange zest alone. No me vengas con atajos. Slide the seeds onto a plate to stop the cooking.

   Yucatecan home cooks toast the anise whole and leave it whole in the dough. The seeds give little pops of flavor in the crumb. Do not grind them. Grinding turns the bread bitter and dusty.
2. 2

   Bloom the yeast

   Pour the warm milk into a small bowl. The milk should feel like bathwater on the inside of your wrist, not hot. Hotter than 115F and you kill the yeast. Stir in one tablespoon of the sugar and sprinkle the yeast across the top. Leave it for 8 to 10 minutes. It should foam and smell like fresh bread. If nothing happens, your yeast is dead and you start over. Bread does not forgive shortcuts here.

3. 3

   Build the dough

   In a stand mixer bowl with the dough hook, combine the flour, remaining sugar, salt, and the toasted anise seeds. Make a well in the center. Add the bloomed yeast mixture, the four whole eggs, the two yolks, the agua de azahar, and the orange zest. Mix on low until a shaggy dough forms, about 2 minutes. The agua de azahar is non-negotiable. In Yucatán the panaderías keep a glass bottle of it on the shelf next to the lard. You can find it in any Mexican mercado and in many Middle Eastern groceries. Substituting vanilla here makes the bread a different bread.

4. 4

   Knead in the lard

   With the mixer running on medium-low, add the softened manteca one tablespoon at a time. Wait until each addition is absorbed before adding the next. This takes 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will look broken and greasy at first, then it pulls together. La manteca es el sabor. Butter changes the crumb and dulls the anise. The dough is ready when it slaps the sides of the bowl cleanly and pulls into a smooth, slightly sticky ball that passes the windowpane test.

   Pinch off a small piece and stretch it between your fingers. If it stretches thin enough to see light through without tearing, the gluten is developed. If it tears, knead for two more minutes and test again.
5. 5

   First rise

   Lightly grease a large bowl with manteca. Turn the dough into the bowl, cover with a damp cotton servilleta, and set in a warm corner of the kitchen. Yucatán is humid and warm and the dough rises fast there. In a cooler kitchen it takes longer. Let it rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Do not rush this with a hot oven trick. Slow fermentation is what gives this bread its tender, almost cake-like crumb.

6. 6

   Shape the loaves

   Punch down the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two equal pieces. From each piece, pinch off about 80 grams of dough and set aside for the bones and the calavera. Shape the larger pieces into smooth round balls by pulling the dough underneath itself until the top is taut. If you are making the modern Mérida version with queso de bola, flatten each ball, scatter the cubed cheese in the center, and pull the dough back over to seal completely before reshaping into a round.

   The queso de bola filling is a twentieth-century innovation that became popular in Mérida bakeries. It is not the traditional bread of the cemetery altars but it is what you will find on most Hanal Pixán tables today. Edam, not cheddar. Cheddar melts wrong and tastes wrong. Así se hace y punto.
7. 7

   Form the bones and skull

   Take the reserved dough and divide it. For each loaf you need four thin ropes about 4 inches long for the huesos (bones), and one small ball for the calavera (skull) on top. Roll each rope with your palms, pinching small bumps along the length to form the knuckles of the bones. Press the four bones across the top of each loaf in a cross pattern. Press the small ball down firmly in the center where the bones meet. The cross of bones represents the four cardinal directions of the Maya cosmos. This is not decoration. This is the meaning of the bread.

8. 8

   Second rise

   Place the shaped loaves on a heavy baking sheet lined with parchment, leaving plenty of room between them. Cover loosely with the damp servilleta and let rise again until visibly puffy and almost doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. While they rise, set the oven to 350F so it is fully preheated when the bread goes in. A cold oven gives you a dense bread.

9. 9

   Wash and bake

   Brush each loaf gently and thoroughly with the egg yolk and milk wash. Get into the crevices around the bones. Bake on the middle rack for 30 to 35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. The loaves are done when they are deep golden brown, sound hollow when tapped underneath, and read 195F at the center. The kitchen will smell like anise, citrus blossom, and warm bread. That is the smell of Hanal Pixán in Mérida the last week of October.

10. 10

    Finish with pink sugar

    While the loaves are still warm but not blistering hot, brush the entire surface with the melted manteca. Then scatter the pink or red tinted sugar generously over the top, pressing lightly so it adheres. This is the Yucatán signature. The rest of Mexico finishes pan de muerto with white sugar or sesame. The Peninsula uses pink, sometimes deep rose, sometimes the red of achiote. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado de Lucas de Gálvez and they will tell you the color marks the bread as theirs. Let cool on a rack until the sugar sets, about 30 minutes, before slicing.

Chef Tips

• •Use real manteca de cerdo from a Mexican carnicería, ideally rendered fresh, not the hydrogenated bricks sold in supermarkets. The flavor and the crumb depend on it. If you can only find supermarket lard, use it but expect a duller bread. La manteca es el sabor.
• •Agua de azahar is not optional and it is not interchangeable with vanilla or orange extract. Look for it in any Mexican grocery in the baking aisle, or in Middle Eastern shops where it is sold for pastries. A bottle lasts a year and costs almost nothing.
• •Queso de bola is Edam in its red wax rind, the cheese that came into Yucatán through Dutch shipping. Do not substitute cheddar, gouda, or anything else. If you cannot find queso de bola, leave the filling out and make the older unfilled version. A bad substitution turns this into a different bread.
• •The pink sugar can be made by rubbing a few drops of red food coloring into granulated sugar with your fingertips until evenly tinted. Some panaderías in Mérida use beet powder for a more natural rose. Either is correct.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made through the first rise, then punched down and refrigerated overnight. Bring back to room temperature for one hour before shaping. The slow cold fermentation deepens the flavor.
• •Baked loaves keep at room temperature wrapped in a cotton cloth for 2 days, or sealed in plastic for 4 days. The pink sugar will dull slightly but the flavor holds.
• •Pan de muerto yucateco freezes well, unfilled, for up to one month. Wrap tightly in plastic and then foil. Thaw at room temperature and refresh in a 300F oven for 8 minutes before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 100g)