Pan Negro de Chocolate Oaxaqueño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide wooden artesa or large mixing bowl
• •Box grater for the piloncillo
• •Stand mixer with dough hook (optional, hands work fine)
• •Two heavy baking sheets
• •Bench scraper for dividing the dough
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Molinillo and jícara for the chocolate de agua, if you are doing this properly

Instructions

1. 1

   Dissolve the piloncillo

   Warm the milk in a small saucepan over low heat until it is body temperature, no hotter. Add the grated piloncillo and the chopped Oaxacan chocolate. Stir until both melt completely. The mixture should look like dark coffee with a faint cinnamon perfume already coming off it. Take it off the heat and let it cool until it is warm to the back of your wrist. Hot milk kills yeast. La paciencia es parte de la receta.

   Grate the piloncillo on the large holes of a box grater. The cone is hard and chopping it with a knife is slow work. If yours is rock-hard, microwave it for 15 seconds first to soften it just enough to work.
2. 2

   Combine the dry ingredients

   In a wide artesa or a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cocoa, yeast, salt, canela, clove, and crushed anise. The whole wheat is what gives this bread its body and its name. Pan negro is not a chocolate cake. The dark color comes from the wheat, the cocoa, and the piloncillo working together. Sifting is unnecessary. The whisk does the job.

3. 3

   Build the dough

   Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the warm piloncillo-chocolate milk, the egg yolks, the whole egg, and the vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon, drawing the flour in from the edges, until you have a shaggy mass with no dry pockets. The dough will be sticky and dark. That is correct. Cover with a clean cloth and let it rest for 20 minutes. This rest hydrates the wheat and makes the kneading shorter.

4. 4

   Add the fats and knead

   Add the softened manteca and butter in three additions, working each one into the dough before adding the next. The dough will look broken and oily after each addition. Keep going. It comes back together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 12 to 15 minutes by hand, or 8 minutes in a stand mixer with the dough hook on medium-low. The finished dough is dark, smooth, slightly tacky to the touch, and pulls away from the bowl in a single piece. La manteca es el sabor and it is also what gives this bread its tender crumb. Skip it and you have a brick.

   Resist the urge to add more flour. A wet dough makes a tender bread. A dry dough makes a tough one. Trust the recipe and keep your hands moving.
5. 5

   First rise

   Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rise in a warm corner of the kitchen until it has doubled, about 90 minutes to 2 hours. Whole wheat dough rises slowly because the bran weighs it down. Do not rush it with a hot oven or a sunny windowsill. Slow ferment is what develops the flavor.

6. 6

   Shape the panes

   Punch the dough down gently and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 12 equal pieces, about 90 grams each. Round each piece into a tight ball by cupping your hand over it and rolling on the unfloured part of the table. The friction tightens the surface. Press each ball lightly to flatten into a thick disk about 7 centimeters across. This is the panadería shape, the everyday round, not the elaborate festival figure. For pan negro you want simplicity. The bread itself is the statement.

7. 7

   Second rise

   Arrange the disks on two parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 5 centimeters between each. Cover loosely with cloth and let them rise until visibly puffed and almost doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Press a finger gently into the side of one. The indentation should spring back slowly, not all the way. That is your signal that the dough is ready for the oven.

8. 8

   Bake

   Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F) while the panes finish rising. Brush each one gently with the egg wash and scatter ajonjolí across the tops. Bake for 28 to 35 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through, until the panes are very dark, the surface looks dry rather than wet, and the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it. Pan negro is supposed to be dark. Do not pull them early thinking they are burning. The cocoa and piloncillo make the surface look black before it actually is. Trust the timer and the hollow tap. Asi se hace y punto.

9. 9

   Cool and serve

   Cool the panes on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before tearing into one. The crumb sets as it cools and slicing too early gives you a gummy interior. Serve at room temperature with a jícara of chocolate de agua, frothed with a molinillo. The bread is meant to be torn, dunked, and eaten with hands that do not mind getting chocolate on them. That is how Oaxaca eats it. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Real piloncillo is non-negotiable. The cone of unrefined cane sugar carries molasses notes that brown sugar approximates poorly and white sugar not at all. If your only option is brown sugar, use dark muscovado and add a tablespoon of molasses. It is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Oaxacan chocolate de mesa, Mayordomo or La Soledad if you can find it, is gritty by design. The granular sugar and almonds in the tablet melt into the dough and leave behind tiny pockets of cinnamon and texture. American smooth baking chocolate gives you a different bread entirely.
• •Whole wheat flour benefits from age. If you bought it last week and it has been sitting in a warm pantry, the bran can taste bitter. Buy from a store that turns over its harina integral quickly, and refrigerate it once you bring it home.
• •Pan negro keeps for three days at room temperature in a cloth-lined basket. After that, slice and toast it on a comal with a little manteca. The toasted slice with chocolate de agua is, according to several panaderas I have asked, even better than the fresh one.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made through the first rise, then refrigerated overnight. Cold ferment deepens the flavor. Pull the dough out 45 minutes before shaping to take the chill off.
• •Baked panes freeze beautifully. Cool completely, wrap individually in plastic and then foil, freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature and refresh in a 160°C oven for 5 minutes.
• •The piloncillo-chocolate milk can be prepared up to a day ahead and refrigerated. Warm it back to body temperature before mixing into the dough.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)