Things You'll Need:
- 2 dry yeast packets
- 5 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon anise seed
- 1/2 cup water
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter
-
Step 1
Set aside 3-4 cups of flour from your ingredient list. This will be used later for the pan de muerto.
-
Step 2
Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix together. This should include 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the sugar, salt, anise seed and yeast.
-
Step 3
Use a pan to heat up the liquid ingredients, but save the eggs for later. Just heat the milk, water and butter. When you have heated these elements, pour the mix into a bowl with the dry ingredients from step 2. Beat this combination together aggressively.
-
Step 4
Add the eggs. When you have mixed together all of the ingredients, add four eggs and 1 1/2 more cups of flour. As you are beating this all together, gradually add the remaining flour. Make sure you mix all of these ingredients together well. This is key for a successful pan de muerto!
-
Step 5
Remove the mix of ingredients from the bowl. It should now resemble a soft blob. Place the blob on a flat tray or mixing board and knead it for about ten minutes. After kneading, put the pan de muerto in a bowl that has been pre-greased. Leave it alone for an hour and a half to two hours. The bread should rise during this time.
-
Step 6
Beat the bread. When your dough has risen, you have reached the fun part of making pan de muerto. You get to use the bread as a punching bag. Punch the bread back down from its risen state and re-shape as desired. Pan de Muerto for Dia de los Muertos can be a number of different shapes--bones, people or just plain circles. After you have created a shape, leave the bread alone again to rise for another 60-70 minutes.
-
Step 7
Bake your bread in an oven for about 40 minutes at a temperature of 350 degrees. This can vary depending on how you like your bread. When the bread has baked and cooled, add powdered and colored sugar to the top. Serve and celebrate!
