Pan de Muerto - Day of the Dead Bread

The Day of the Dead is a Mexican tradition inherited from the rituals that were once practiced by the Aztecs, Toltecas, Chichimecas and Mayan people. According to tradition, during the 1st and 2nd day of November, souls of the dead return to their homes on Earth to share with their living relatives the foods that were placed in their altars. The most common food placed in altars, or tombs, is the Pan de Muerto or Day of the Dead bread.

The Pan de Muerto is sweet bread flavored with anise seeds, orange peel and sugar. The bread is often shaped into a large round, to symbolize the tomb or grave, with a smaller round on top, which symbolizes the head of the dead relative, and the lateral decorations, symbolizes the bones. I'm not entirely sure why the breads are shaped like this, but lately some fancy bakeries have been shaping them into skulls and even animal shapes, for the dead family pets. You can decorate the breads with colored sugars or gel food coloring, if you want. The best part is that you get to eat the bread, and believe me it's surprisingly good, although I'm not a big anise fan.

My husband, Matt, made these lovely breads and we're putting them in the altar of my brother, Robert, and my uncle Manuel, my abuelito, Tomas, and Lindsey's mom, Barbara.

INGREDIENTS (makes 4 to 6 loaves)

Dough

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons anise seed
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons orange zest

Glaze

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoons white sugar, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

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.

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 4 to 6 round loaves with a round knob on top and smaller ropes going down laterally (see picture). Place dough onto a baking sheet, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until just about doubled in size.

Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for about 30 to 40 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.