Sourdough Pan de Muerto
Pan de muerto (“bread of the dead”) is arguably one of the most delicious enriched sweet breads you can make. It plays a central role in the Mexican holiday El Día de los Muertos (November 1-2) which honors the memory of family and friends who have passed.
- Prep time
- 1 hr
- Cook time
- 25 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- For three breads 6-7" in diameter
- Sweet Stiff Levain (127 grams) volume amounts are rough approximations
- 60 g all purpose flour (1/2 cup)
- 27 g water (2 Tbsp)
- 20 g sugar (2 Tbsp, scant)
- 20 g sourdough starter (2 Tbsp)
- Dough
- 500 g bread flour (4 cups)
- 150 g sugar (3/4 cup)
- 4 g salt (3/4 tsp)
- Zest of two oranges
- All of the levain from above
- 80-120 g warm milk, under 100°F (1/3 1/2 cup)
- 3 eggs
- 3 yolks
- 10-15 g orange blossom water (2-3 tsp)
- 113 g unsalted butter, cubed and room temperature (8 Tbsp)
- Topping
- 14 g butter, melted (1 Tbsp)
- approx 50 grams sugar (1/4 cup)
Instructions
- 1
Sweet Stiff Levain (night before)
- 2
Mix the ingredients in a small bowl and knead until fully incorporated. Place the dough in a straighwalled container, mark the level, cover and let rise overnight.
- 3
Dough Mixing (morning)
- 4
When the levain has at least doubled, prep the ingredients for the dough: set out the butter to warm up, get the eggs and yolks ready, zest the oranges, and warm the milk.
- 5
In the bowl of a stand mixer (by hand is fine too), combine the flour, sugar, salt, zest.
- 6
Tear the stiff levain into 5-6 pieces and drop them into the bowl.
- 7
Add the eggs, orange blossom water, and some of the milk (about 80 grams). Mix on low speed and then medium speed. Add the rest of the milk as needed to arrive at a sticky but cohesive texture.
- 8
Finally add the butter in three stages mixing thoroughly in between, about six minutes total. (If mixing by hand, this may take longer. Slapping and folding the dough is a good way to manage how sticky it is.) When mixing is done, the dough shouldn't break apart like cookie batter but it may not pass the windowpane test.
- 9
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl or straightwalled container, cover and let it rest about 15 minutes, then lift the dough out of the bowl, ball it up and place it back into the bowl, smooth and silky side up. If the dough is too weak or wet to do this, work a little more flour into it and then test again in 15 minutes.
- 10
Let the dough rise in a warm spot, ideally 80-85°F, until it has doubled in size. My dough needed 10 hours to do this.
- 11
Dough Shaping (early evening)
- 12
Place the doubled dough onto a lightly floured work surface, gently de-gas it and shape it into a rectangle.
- 13
Divide the dough in four even pieces. Three will become the buns and the fourth piece will be divided into the bone decorations.
- 14
Shape three of the pieces into balls and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- 15
Divide the fourth piece in seven smaller pieces.
- 16
Take one of these seven pieces, and divide and shape it into three very small balls.
- 17
Roll the other six pieces into tubes or "bones" long enough to drape over the buns. Before laying the bones on the buns, press-roll with your index finger three indents in each tube, creating four lumps. Then brush water on the buns in an X shape. Finally drape the "bones" onto the damp, adhesive lines.
- 18
When you've done this for all three breads, cover the baking sheet and let the dough rise for 2-6 hours more, depending on the ambient temperature. To prevent the bag-cover from resting on the dough and sticking to it, I place pint glasses on my baking sheet to hold the plastic up. My dough rose for two hours but had some bursting-tearing along the bones so it could have proofed longer.
- 19
Preheat your oven to 350°F and bake the breads for 25-30 minutes or until the internal temperature is over 190°F.
- 20
Once the breads have cooled, brush them with melted butter and then sprinkle with sugar.
- 21
Serve slices at room temperature or warmed in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
- 22
Store covered and the bread will stay soft for several days.