Mexican bun of the dead Pan de Muerto- Dortisimo.cz

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Mexican bun of the dead Pan de Muerto

Día de los Muertos is a similar holiday to our All Souls Day. It is also celebrated on November 2, but unlike our peaceful commemoration, Mexicans celebrate cheerfully. It's actually a "picnic" of the living and the dead. Families celebrate almost the entire night and thus meet their deceased. They believe that on November 1, the souls of dead children return to our world, and a day later, the souls of adults. In their honor, they build celebratory altars at home or in cemeteries with photos of the deceased, which they richly decorate. You will find flowers on them, most often they are Africans that ward off evil spirits, candles, small sugar skulls, foods that the deceased liked and, in the case of children, toys. The traditional bun of the dead, or Pan de Muerto, must also be present on the altars. It represents the body, the crossed pieces of dough then the bones, and on top is a small ball symbolizing the skull. Be sure to try baking this very fluffy and delicious baking miracle. It's seriously worth it.

Ingredients for the dough:

800 g plain flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cube of yeast
1/2 cup warm milk
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
150 g room temperature butter cut into small pieces
peel from one chemically untreated orange
2 tablespoons of orange blossom water
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Prepare the yeast. Crumble the yeast into a bowl and sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar. Rub and mix until the yeast is liquid. Add half of the measured amount of warm milk to it, add 1 tablespoon of flour in the same way, mix and leave to rise for about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, grate the orange peel. We are careful to use only the orange surface and not the white part underneath which is bitter.

3. Put flour, salt, sugar, yeast, eggs in a bowl or mixer and mix everything together. When we can no longer see the loose ingredients, gradually add the butter piece by piece. At first it is a very sticky and soft mass. Add orange blossom water and orange peel to it.

4. The dough is still very soft, so we may need to add flour, but be patient and continue kneading. You need to give the gluten time to activate. After more than half an hour of kneading, the dough comes together. It will still be soft but compact.

5. Lightly wipe a clean bowl with oil and place the dough in it, which we also lightly coat with oil so that it does not dry out. Cover with foil and leave to rise in a warm place for 75 minutes.

6. When the dough has doubled in volume, it is ready to make bread. Lightly sprinkle the work surface with flour. Using a spatula, turn it out onto a floured surface. We will divide it into 4 equal parts. We form a bun from three parts, which we place on baking sheets lined with baking paper.

7. Add a little flour to the fourth part of the dough, because we will make "bones" from it, so we need it a little stiffer. First, we separate three smaller pieces for the upper "skulls" and divide the remaining dough into 6 equal pieces. We form a roll from each part, which we thin in the middle. This will create two connected rollers, and then we will thin them again in the middle. As a result, it looks like 4 beads on a thread.

8. Paint the loaves with water using a brush, but only in the place where we will cross the dough symbolizing "bones". For us to stick to that place. We stick the prepared rollers crosswise on these moistened places. We place them from one edge of the bun to the opposite one and the other crosswise over it. Moisten the top again and add a ball of dough that represents a "skull". Let it rise again covered with a towel for over an hour.

9. Preheat the oven to 170°C and put the leavened bread into it. Bake for approx. 25-30 minutes until they are golden brown. Transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool a little. Brush them with melted butter while still warm and sprinkle with granulated sugar. shake off the excess sugar.