Pan De Muertos Or All Souls Bread Recipes

PAN DE MUERTOS (MEXICAN BREAD OF THE DEAD)

Steps:

• Heat the milk and the butter together in a medium saucepan, until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and add them warm water. The mixture should be around 110 degrees F (43 degrees C).
• In a large bowl combine 1 cup of the flour, yeast, salt, anise seed and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat in the warm milk mixture then add the eggs and orange zest and beat until well combined. Stir in 1/2 cup of flour and continue adding more flour until the dough is soft.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
• Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This will take about 1 to 2 hours. Punch the dough down and shape it into a large round loaf with a round knob on top. Place dough onto a baking sheet, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until just about doubled in size.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven let cool slightly then brush with glaze.
• To make glaze: In a small saucepan combine the 1/4 cup sugar, orange juice and orange zest. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 2 minutes. Brush over top of bread while still warm. Sprinkle glazed bread with white sugar.

PAN DE MUERTOS OR ALL SOULS BREAD

Steps:

• Mix all dry ingredients together except the 3 - 4 1/2 cups of flour.
• In a small pan, heat the milk, the water, and the butter. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture.
• Beat well.
• Mix in the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of flour. Beat well.
• Put in the rest of the flour, little by little.
• Knead the mixture on a floured board for 9 - 10 minutes.
• Put the dough in a greased bowl and allow it to rise until it has doubled in size (about an hour and a half at sea level).
• Punch the dough down and reshape it with some "bone" shapes on top to decorate it.
• Let it rise another hour.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 40 minutes.
• After baking, sprinkle it with confectioner's sugar and colored sugar.
• Note the number of servings is hard to caculate because of the ability to mold into different shapes for each serving. I am taking a sheer guess and making it eight.