Pan de Mujer Sinaloense

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wooden kneading table or large wooden board
• •Heavy baking sheet, ideally darker metal that holds heat
• •Baking stone, if you have one, to mimic the floor of a horno de leña
• •Cast iron comal for toasting the anise seed
• •Small saucepan for melting the piloncillo and warming the honey wash
• •Pastry brush for the honey glaze

Instructions

1. 1

   Melt the piloncillo

   Combine the chopped piloncillo, the hot water, and the cinnamon stick in a small saucepan. Set it over low heat and stir until the piloncillo dissolves into a dark, syrupy liquid. This takes about ten minutes. Do not rush it. Piloncillo is unrefined and it will scorch if the heat is too high. When it is fully dissolved, pull it off the fire, fish out the cinnamon stick, and let the syrup cool to lukewarm. This is the sweetness and the color of the bread. Refined sugar will give you a paler, flatter result.

   If the piloncillo is rock-hard, wrap it in a towel and crack it with a rolling pin before you chop it. The vendors at the mercado in Culiacan know to grate it on a box grater, the same way you would grate hard cheese.
2. 2

   Wake the yeast

   Pour the warmed milk into a large mixing bowl. The milk should feel like a warm bath on your wrist, not hot. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface and let it sit for five minutes. It will start to foam. If it does not, your yeast is dead and you start over. Stir in the cooled piloncillo syrup. The mixture should be the color of dark tea.

3. 3

   Build the dough

   In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, the salt, and the toasted anise seed. The anise is what makes this pan recognize itself. Without it, you have generic sweet bread. With it, you have pan de mujer. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast-piloncillo mixture. Add the softened manteca de cerdo in small pinches around the well. La manteca es el sabor. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass.

4. 4

   Knead by hand

   Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured wooden table. Knead for ten to twelve minutes, pushing the dough away from you with the heel of your hand and folding it back over itself. The dough is enriched with lard and dark with piloncillo, so it will feel heavier than a bolillo dough. Keep working it. You want a smooth, elastic ball that springs back when you press it with a finger. If it sticks to the table, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Do not drown it.

   The women in Guasave and Mocorito who taught me this dough knead it on the same wooden table their mothers used. The wood absorbs a little flour over the years and works the dough differently than a stone or steel surface. If you have a wooden board, use it.
5. 5

   First rise

   Grease a clean bowl with a small spoonful of manteca and place the dough inside, turning it once to coat. Cover with a damp cloth and set in a warm corner of the kitchen, away from drafts. Let it rise until doubled in size, about an hour and a half. In Sinaloa the kitchens are warm and the dough rises fast. In a cooler kitchen, give it two hours. Asi se hace y punto.

6. 6

   Shape the panes

   Punch down the dough and turn it out onto the floured table. Divide it into twelve equal pieces, about three ounces each. Roll each piece into a tight ball under your cupped palm. The motion is the same one the panaderas use when they shape bolillos: the ball circles under your hand and tightens on itself. Press each ball gently to flatten it slightly into a round disc about three inches across and an inch thick. Place them on a heavy baking sheet greased with manteca, leaving two inches between each pane to allow for the second rise.

7. 7

   Second rise

   Cover the shaped panes loosely with a clean cloth and let them rise until puffed and pillowy, about 45 minutes. While they rise, fire up your oven. The traditional horno de leña runs hot and dry, the wood smoke perfumes the crust as the bread bakes. In your home oven, preheat to 375F and set the rack in the middle. If you have a baking stone, use it. It mimics the floor of the wood oven and gives the panes a better bottom crust.

8. 8

   Bake until dark and hollow

   Slide the tray into the oven. Bake for 28 to 35 minutes, rotating the tray once halfway through. The panes are ready when the tops are deep mahogany brown, the color of a piloncillo cone itself, and the bottoms sound hollow when you tap them. The piloncillo and the lard work together to give this bread a darker crust than you would expect from a yeast bread. Do not pull them when they look pale. They need the long bake to develop the flavor.

9. 9

   Brush with the honey wash

   While the panes bake, warm the honey and the two tablespoons of milk together in a small saucepan over low heat until the honey thins and the mixture is uniform. Pull the panes out of the oven and immediately brush the tops generously with the honey wash. The honey will sizzle on the hot crust and set into a glossy, sticky finish. This is the signature of pan de mujer: the dark crust, the glistening honey, the perfume of anise underneath. Roadside vendors in Mocorito brush them so the panes shine in the afternoon sun.

10. 10

    Cool and serve

    Slide the panes onto a wire rack to cool for at least twenty minutes before you tear into them. The crumb sets as the bread cools. Eat them warm with cafe de olla, or at room temperature the next morning with a glass of milk. The Sinaloense way is to break the pane in half with your hands, never a knife. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Buy piloncillo oscuro, the darker cone, not piloncillo claro. The molasses depth is what makes the bread taste like Sinaloa and not like generic brown sugar. If your tienda only carries the lighter cone, you can use it, but you will lose a layer of flavor. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •The manteca must be real pork lard, rendered from pork fat, not the white shortening sold in tubs at the supermarket. Ask the carniceros for manteca de cerdo casera, the home-rendered kind, or render your own from pork fatback. La manteca es el sabor.
• •Anise seed must be toasted on a dry comal for about thirty seconds, just until you smell it bloom. Skip the toast and the anise tastes flat. Toast too long and it turns bitter. Watch it like you would watch a chile guajillo.
• •If you cannot find honey from the Sierra Madre Occidental, use any raw, unfiltered honey with a strong floral character. Mesquite honey from northern Mexico is a good substitute. Generic clover honey from the supermarket will give you a bland finish.

Advance Preparation

• •The piloncillo syrup can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it back to lukewarm before adding to the yeast.
• •The dough can be made through the first rise, then punched down, wrapped tightly, and refrigerated overnight. The cold slow-fermentation actually deepens the flavor. Bring the dough back to room temperature for about an hour before shaping.
• •Baked panes keep well at room temperature wrapped in a clean cloth for two days. They will lose their gloss but the crumb stays tender. To revive, warm them in a 300F oven for five minutes and brush again with a thin honey wash.
• •The panes freeze well. Wrap individually in parchment and freeze in a sealed bag. Thaw at room temperature and refresh in a warm oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 115g)