Day of the Dead Bread

You’ve probably heard at some point about pan de muerto (or bread of the dead), a recipe that, every year as All Saints’ Day approaches, gains more popularity around the world. It’s an enriched bread recipe, tender and flavorful, with a very distinctive shape (because pieces of dough shaped like bones cross over the top).

Pan de Muerto is a traditional Mexican sweet bread that is baked during Día de los Muertos, an important celebration in Mexican culture. This bread is known for its distinctive shape, which symbolizes a skull and bones, and it’s often decorated with powdered sugar representing the earth and the tears shed for the departed. Although the decorations can vary, the most common form of Pan de Muerto consists of a ball on top that represents the skull and four "bones" that extend from the top toward the sides.

As for the flavor, Pan de Muerto is soft and slightly sweet. It’s usually flavored with ingredients like anise seeds and orange zest, which give it a distinctive taste. It’s a bread enjoyed both at breakfast and as an afternoon snack, often accompanied by a cup of hot chocolate or atole.

Pan de Muerto is an essential part of the offerings dedicated to the deceased during Día de los Muertos in Mexico. It’s a symbol of celebration and remembrance of loved ones who have passed away, and its preparation and consumption are a tradition deeply rooted in Mexican culture.

Origin of Pan de Muerto

Every year in Mexico, during Día de los Muertos, the country fills with vivid colors and festive celebrations. People dress in vibrant costumes, adorn their hair with flowers, and paint their faces to look like smiling skeletons. They gather to dance and parade in town squares and bake a bread that has become one of the most important and delicious Día de los Muertos traditions.

Pan de Muerto, known in Spanish as "pan de los muertos", is a sugar-sweetened bread baked to honor the departed. In homes across the country, pan de muerto is placed among bright orange marigolds and small sugar skulls on ofrendas, home altars built to commemorate loved ones who have passed away.

Pan de Muerto recipe (by hand and with mixer)

The Pan de Muerto recipe we’re sharing is soft and rich, made with a hand-kneaded enriched yeast dough (we also explain how to do it with a stand mixer) with delicate flavors of anise seed and orange. If you have any left (which doesn’t usually happen, because it’s delicious), you can toast a slice and spread it with salted butter—it’ll be more than enough to revive yesterday’s bread.

Ingredients

• ½ cup (120 gr) warm water (about 40°C)
• ⅓ cup (65 gr) granulated sugar + 3 tablespoons (36 gramos) + 1 teaspoon (4 gramos)
• 1 packet (6 gr) dry yeast (or 20 gr fresh yeast)
• 1 tbsp (10 gr) orange zest
• 3¼ cups (400 gr) bread flour
• 2½ tsp (7 gr) salt
• 2 tsp (4 gr) anise seeds
• 2 large eggs (100 gr), at room temperature
• 2 tsp (8 gr) vanilla extract
• 1 tsp (4 gr) orange blossom water
• 85 gr unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 15 gr unsalted butter, melted

Preparing pan de muerto

Preparation by hand:

1. In a medium bowl, mix ½ cup (120 gramos) warm water, 1 teaspoon (4 gramos) sugar, and the yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, place ⅓ cup (67 gramos) sugar; add the orange zest and rub the zest into the sugar until fragrant and well combined. Add 1½ cups (188 gramos) flour, the salt, and the anise seeds. Make a well in the center.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the yeast mixture, whisking until well combined after each addition. Add the vanilla and orange blossom water. Pour this into the well in the flour mixture. Stir until well combined. Add the remaining 1¾ cups (219 gramos) flour and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Knead by hand in the bowl until the dough comes together.

4. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Add 1 tablespoon (14 gramos) room-temperature butter and work it into the dough using the heel of your hand, pressing the dough outward and away from you; using a bench scraper, gather the dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining 5 tablespoons (70 gramos) room-temperature butter, 1 tablespoon (14 gramos) at a time, until the dough is smooth and elastic and begins to stick, 5 to 7 minutes.

5. On a clean surface, knead the dough by lifting it, slapping it onto the surface, and folding the dough in half; rotate the dough 90 degrees. Repeat the slap, fold, and rotate process until the dough passes the windowpane test, 10 to 12 minutes.

Preparation with stand mixer or KitchenAid:

1. In a medium bowl, mix ½ cup (120 gramos) warm water, 1 teaspoon (4 gramos) sugar, and the yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, place ⅓ cup (67 gramos) sugar; add the orange zest and rub it into the sugar until fragrant and well combined. Add 1½ cups (188 gramos) flour, the salt, and the anise seeds; using the paddle attachment, beat on low speed until combined.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the yeast mixture, beating until well combined after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and orange blossom water. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and beat on low speed until well combined. Add the remaining 1¾ cups (219 gramos) flour and beat until a shaggy dough forms and no dry flour remains.

4. Switch to the dough hook attachment. Beat on low speed until the dough becomes smooth, elastic, and slightly sticky, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the room-temperature butter, 1 tablespoon (14 gramos) at a time, beating until combined after each addition (5 to 6 minutes total). Continue beating until you have a smooth, elastic dough, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and shape into a smooth round.

Resting and shaping:

1. Lightly grease a large bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turn it to grease the top. Cover and let rest in a warm, draft-free place (24°C) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. Gently punch down the dough to deflate it slightly. Cover and let rest for 5 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and cut off roughly one quarter of the dough (about 200 gramos). Set it aside and cover the dough to prevent it from drying out.

4. Press the remaining dough into a 1.27-centimeter-thick disk. Lift the bottom edge of the dough and gently stretch the bottom third toward the center. Stretch the right side outward and fold it toward the center; repeat with the left side. Finish by folding the top third over the previous folds. Roll the dough away from you and, using both hands, shape a tight, smooth ball. Place it, seam side down, on the prepared sheet.

5. Divide the reserved dough into two halves (about 100 gramos each). Working with one portion at a time, shape a 16.5-centimeter-long rope. In the center of the rope (8.3 centímetros from each end), pinch the dough and roll it with your fingers to form 2 smaller ropes joined by a thin center. Measuring from the center, in each direction, mark 4.4 centímetros. Pinch and roll at each mark to create 4 connected sections. Shape each section into a ball. Repeat with the remaining reserved dough.

6. Place one shaped strip of dough over the top of the boule. Place the second shaped strip on the boule perpendicular to the first strip, crossing them in the center. Cover and let the dough rest in a warm, draft-free place (24°C) until almost doubled in size, 1 hour 20 minutes to 1½ hours.

Baking:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Brush the dough with egg wash.

3. Bake until golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 88°C, 35 to 40 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil after 15 to 20 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning. Remove from the sheet and let cool on a rack for 30 minutes.

4. Brush melted butter over the bread and sprinkle with the remaining 3 tablespoons (36 gramos) sugar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes on preparation:

• To perform the windowpane test and check proper gluten development in the dough, lightly flour your hands and take (without tearing) a small piece of dough. Slowly stretch the dough from the center. If the dough is ready, you’ll be able to stretch it until it’s thin and translucent like a window. If the dough tears, it isn’t ready yet. Knead for 1 minute and test again.
• To perform the finger poke test, gently press a well-floured finger about 1.27 centímetros into the surface of the dough. If your dough has proofed properly, you should see it spring back slightly but still show an indentation.
• If you bake the loaf ahead of time, don’t brush it with butter or sprinkle with sugar until you’re ready to serve, as the sugar will dissolve into the loaf if stored overnight.
• If you like, after applying the egg before baking you can add something extra on top, such as sliced almonds, pine nuts, chia seeds... It’s not traditional, but you see more and more variations of pan de muerto every day.

Notes on the ingredients:

• SALT: As a general rule, the ratio of salt to flour weight in breads is 1.8% to 2%. But it’s very important to weigh the salt because different salt crystals measure differently. Dough without enough salt can easily over-ferment. Salt also contributes to the bread’s color and improves overall flavor.
• GRANULATED SUGAR: Sugar serves as food for the yeast, which converts it into carbon dioxide and alcohol during fermentation. This helps tenderize the dough, creating a soft, pliable bread, and adds a touch of sweetness without being overly sweet. Sugar also contributes to the bread’s golden color, retains moisture during baking, and acts as a glossy finishing touch that’s sprinkled over the bread after it comes out of the oven.
• EGGS: Adding eggs to this dough not only adds richness, but also helps with leavening, as egg whites create steam that causes the dough to puff once it hits the oven’s heat.
• UNSALTED BUTTER: Butter adds decadence to enriched dough, creating a moist, tender bread. We use unsalted butter to control how much salt is added to the bread, as different brands of salted butter have different salt levels.
• BREAD FLOUR: It can be tempting to substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour, but you won’t get as pronounced an oven spring and the mixing time will be longer. Bread flour has a higher protein and gluten content, which allows bread dough to form a stable structure and rise higher. In this recipe, high-protein flour is essential to create a strong gluten network, with enough protein to develop gluten and handle the enrichment added to this dough. A high-protein flour, such as bread flour, provides enough structure to create a strong gluten network in an enriched dough.
• ANISE SEEDS, ORANGE ZEST, ORANGE BLOSSOM WATER, AND VANILLA EXTRACT: The combination of licorice-like anise seeds, vibrant orange zest, floral orange blossom water, and the subtle sweetness of vanilla extract brings the perfect depth and flavor to the bread.