Pan de Pulque de Tlacolula

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Long wooden artesa or large wide mixing bowl for kneading
• •Wide ceramic or glass bowl for the pulque starter
• •Clean cotton servilletas for covering the dough
• •Heavy baking sheet
• •Sharp paring knife or razor for scoring
• •Wire rack for cooling

Instructions

1. 1

   Wake the pulque

   Pour the pulque into a wide ceramic or glass bowl. Stir in the 2 tablespoons of grated piloncillo. The pulque should be fresh, slightly viscous, with the smell of yeast and wet earth. If it smells sour like vinegar or has gone watery, it is dead and will not leaven anything. Cover the bowl with a clean cotton cloth and leave it on the counter for 1 hour. You should see small bubbles rising from the bottom and a faint foam at the surface. That is the wild yeast and bacteria of the pulque waking up. This is your leavener. Pulque is not a substitute for yeast. It is the leavener. It is older than yeast in this country.

   Pulque natural, unflavored, is what you want. Not the curado de fresa, not the curado de avena. Those are flavored drinks. For bread you need the white, raw, slightly slimy pulque straight from the maguey. Outside Oaxaca and the central altiplano this is hard to find. Mexican grocers in larger cities sometimes carry it bottled or canned. Bottled pulque is a compromise, fresh is the recipe.
2. 2

   Build the masa madre

   In a large bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the bubbling pulque mixture. The result will look like a thick, shaggy paste. Cover with the cotton cloth and leave in a warm corner of the kitchen for 4 to 6 hours, until the surface is domed, full of holes, and smells unmistakably of fermentation. This is your masa madre, the wild starter that will lift the bread. Tlacolula bakers have been doing this for generations. No commercial yeast has ever crossed the threshold of a real pan de pulque.

3. 3

   Mix the dough

   Scrape the masa madre into a wide wooden artesa or your largest mixing bowl. Add the remaining 4 cups of flour, the 1/2 cup of grated piloncillo, the salt, the canela, the egg yolks, and the whole egg. Work the manteca in last, pressing it into the dough with your hands until it disappears. La manteca es el sabor and in this bread it is also what gives the crumb its tender, almost cake-like pull. Mix until a rough dough forms.

4. 4

   Knead by hand

   Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not rush this. The dough will start sticky and ragged. As you work it, the gluten develops and the dough becomes smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky to the touch. Push with the heel of your hand, fold, turn, repeat. The senoras of Tlacolula knead on long wooden artesas with their whole upper body. There is a rhythm to it. Find it.

   If the dough is too sticky, add flour one tablespoon at a time. If it feels dry and tight, wet your hands and keep kneading. The piloncillo and pulque make a dough that behaves differently from a plain wheat dough. Trust your hands.
5. 5

   First rise, slow and patient

   Place the kneaded dough in a clean bowl rubbed with a thin film of manteca. Cover with the cotton cloth. Leave in a warm corner of the kitchen for 4 to 6 hours, until doubled in size. Pulque is slower than commercial yeast. No me vengas con atajos. If your kitchen is cold, this rise can take 8 hours. Do not turn on the oven to speed it up. The slow ferment is where the slight sourness, the depth, the ancestral character comes from.

6. 6

   Shape the panes

   Punch the dough down gently. Turn it out onto a floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces for small panes, or 2 large pieces for round loaves. Shape each piece into a tight round by cupping your hand over it and rolling against the work surface until the surface is smooth and the seam closes underneath. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment, leaving room between each one. The Tlacolula form is a slightly flattened round with a cross or a sun pressed into the top with a knife.

7. 7

   Second rise

   Cover the shaped panes loosely with the cotton cloth. Leave to rise for 2 to 3 hours, until visibly puffed and soft to the touch. Press a finger gently into the side. The dough should spring back slowly, leaving a faint indent. If it springs back fast, give it more time. If the indent stays and does not recover, it has overproofed, bake immediately.

8. 8

   Score, wash, and bake

   Heat the oven to 375F (190C). With a sharp knife or a razor, score a shallow cross or sun pattern on the top of each pan. Brush each one with the egg yolk and milk wash. Scatter ajonjolí across the tops, pressing lightly so the seeds adhere. Bake for 28 to 35 minutes for small panes, or 40 to 45 for the large rounds, until the tops are deep amber, the bottoms sound hollow when tapped, and the kitchen smells like a Tlacolula panaderia at six in the morning. Cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before tearing into one. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Pulque natural is the only acceptable leavener for this bread. If you cannot find fresh pulque, look for canned or bottled pulque from a Mexican grocer. Bottled is a compromise, not an upgrade. If you absolutely cannot find pulque anywhere, this is not your bread to make. Make a pan de yema instead and come back to this when you find a source.
• •Piloncillo, not white sugar. The molasses depth of the unrefined cane sugar matches the earthy ferment of the pulque. White sugar will give you a flat-tasting dough.
• •The bread is best the day it is baked, torn open while still slightly warm, eaten with chocolate de agua frothed with a molinillo. It keeps for two days wrapped in a cotton servilleta and is excellent toasted on a comal on day three.
• •Do not knead this dough in a stand mixer if you have never made it by hand first. You need to feel how a pulque dough behaves before you let a machine do it for you. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo.

Advance Preparation

• •The pulque starter (masa madre) can be built the night before and refrigerated overnight after it has bubbled at room temperature for 4 hours. Bring it back to room temperature for 1 hour before mixing the dough.
• •The shaped panes can be retarded in the refrigerator overnight after the second rise begins. Let them finish proofing on the counter for 1 to 2 hours before baking.
• •Baked panes keep for 2 days wrapped in a cotton cloth at room temperature. They freeze well, double-wrapped, for up to 1 month. Refresh in a 325F oven for 8 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 128g)