Pan de Muerto from Muddy Fork Bakery
Our friends (and fabulous bakers!) Eric Schedler and Katie Zukof of Muddy Fork From & Bakery near Bloomington, Indiana, began their business out of their home in 2010. They started out very small and had many ups and downs, but persevered with their clear vision of baking great bread from great ingredients.
This includes stone-milling most of their flour in-house from whole grain berries grown on Janie’s Farm. They also use High-Protein Bread Flour from Janie’s Mill, which is featured in their recipe for Pan de Muertos, the traditional Mexican enriched bread for Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead holiday that goes from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. During this time, Mexican families honor their loved ones by leaving offerings (ofrendas) at their graves or at special altars made in honor of them at home.
There are many theories about the origin of Pan de Muertosd, but the decorations on top, made with the same dough as the main bread, may represent a skull and cross bones The bones are often arranged in a circle around the bread to illustrate the circle of life, which includes death.
Whatever the origins and meanings, Pan de Muertos is also a sweet gift to the living. Try it
Yield: 2 24-oz loaves
Ingredients:
Baker's Note: This recipe would also work well 2/3 sifted artisan or pizza flour and 1/3 High-protein flour.
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast into warm milk.
- Add beaten eggs and butter, then the rest of the ingredients and mix. Let ferment 2 hours at room temp and then overnight in the fridge.
- Divide into two 21-oz balls and eight 3/4-oz pieces.
- Make round loaves with the large pieces.
- Roll two of the 3/4-oz pieces into little balls. Then roll strands with the remaining pieces and dimple them with fingers so that they are knobby. Drape three strands over each loaf and top with the small ball.
- Proof until doubled.
- Bake at 380 degrees until the internal temp comes to 185 degrees, about 17 to 25 mins.
- Immediately brush with simple syrup and sprinkle with as much turbinado or coarse sugar as the loaf will hold.
Posted on November 01 2024