Pan Dulce

Mexico's beloved sweet bread tradition: dozens of varieties of yeasted wheat rolls and pastries shaped into shells, horns, spirals and flowers, each with a different topping of sugar paste, anise, or sesame. Pan dulce is the bread of Mexican bakeries (panaderías): bought by the bagful at the end of the day, eaten dunked into café de olla or hot chocolate at breakfast.

Origin: Mexico City & Guadalajara, Mexico

From the journey of Wheat.

Pan dulce, literally "sweet bread", was introduced to Mexico by Spanish colonists who brought their pastry traditions in the 16th century and were later refined by French pastry influence (including Mexican bakers who trained in France in the 19th century, during the French Intervention). The variety is staggering: conchas (shell-shaped with streusel top), polvorones (crumble cookies), cuernos (horn pastries), mantecadas (muffin-shaped), orejas (puff pastry ears). Every Mexican city has its signature styles. The panadería is a social institution; choosing your pan dulce with the metal tongs and round tray is a daily ritual for millions.

Ingredients

  • 500 g strong white bread flour
  • 100 g sugar
  • 7 g instant yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Eggs
  • 180 ml warm milk
  • 80 g butter, softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp anise seeds
  • 100 g plain flour (for sugar paste topping)
  • 80 g butter (for topping)
  • 100 g icing sugar (for topping)
  • 0.5 tsp vanilla

Method

  1. Combine flour, sugar, yeast, salt and anise seeds. Add eggs, warm milk and vanilla. Mix to a dough, knead 5 minutes.
  2. Incorporate softened butter gradually over 8 more minutes of kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover, prove 1.5 hours.
  3. Make the sugar paste topping: beat together butter, icing sugar, flour and vanilla until a firm paste forms. Divide into 12 and roll each into a ball.
  4. Shape the dough into 12 rolls. Place on lined sheets. Flatten a sugar paste ball on top of each. Using the back of a knife, score a crosshatch pattern into the paste.
  5. Prove 45 minutes until puffy. Bake at 180°C/350°F for 15–18 minutes until the tops are golden.
  6. Cool slightly before eating. Best fresh the day they are made.
The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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