Pan de Muerto Recipe

Pan de Muerto & Skulls

Called ‘Day of the Dead Bread’ or ‘All Souls Bread’, this sweet bread gets its name from the Mexican holiday El dia de los Muertos, or “Day of the Dead”. A popular offering to the spirits, this sugary bread is also enjoyed by families on El Dia de Los Muertos. There are a few different recipes for this bread, but this one is my personal favorite.

Yields: 1 large round loaf

Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon of anise seed
2 packets of dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
5-6 cups flour

Directions
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, yeast, salt, anise seed and sugar.

2. In a small pan, heat the milk, butter and water almost to a boil. Once the liquid has nearly reached boiling point, stir it gradually into the dry mixture until thoroughly blended together.

3. Next, mix the eggs into this mixture, and gradually add the remainder of the flour until the dough is soft and tacky.

4. Knead the dough on a floured board for about ten minutes. Then place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover it to prevent drying. Keep dough in a warm environment.

5. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl in a warm environment. Cover it to prevent drying. Near sea level, the dough should rise for about 1-1/2 hours until it has doubled in size.

6. Remove the dough from the bowl and press it into a circular shape, adding additional molded or sculpted shapes of bones, or a skull, to the top. Let the sculpted bread rise for an additional hour.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden brown.

8. After baking, sprinkle lightly with confectioner’s sugar topped with colored sugar. You may also want to add a glaze (shown below), which will help hold the sugar in place.

Glaze Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons grated orange peel for zest

Directions
1. Mix sugar, orange juice and grated orange peel in a saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes.

2. Brush graze lightly over bread and sprinkle colored sugar on fresh glaze (optional).