This pan de muerto is a variation of the bread served for the Mexican holiday known as Da de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which takes place on November 2. Additionally, you can mould the bread into other forms, such as animals and angels.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 large round loaf |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup butter or margarine
- ¼ cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 teaspoons anise seed
- 1 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
Instructions
- To make the bread: Heat milk and butter in a medium saucepan over low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat and add warm water. Mixture should be around 110 degrees F (43 degrees C).
- Combine 1 cup flour, sugar, anise seed, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Beat in warm milk mixture, then add eggs and orange zest; beat until well combined. Stir in 1/2 cup flour and continue adding more flour until dough is soft.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.
- Punch dough down and shape into a large round loaf with a round knob on top. Place dough onto a baking sheet; loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until just about doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool slightly before brushing with glaze.
- To make the glaze: Combine 1/4 cup sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 2 minutes. Brush glaze over top of warm bread. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 208 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 36 g |
| Cholesterol | 31 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 104 mg |
| Sugars | 11 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
easy and yummy. I actually brought the recipe down to 8, just to try it and it worked out wonderful. Loved the glaze and sugar topping, omitted the anise (I didn’t have any) but thought the orange added a nice flavor. Much like a cinnamon roll with a different flavor.
I made this for my Spanish class and everyone loved it. I had never maid bread before this. My teacher said it was the most authentic tasting one she had tried.
Great! it was my first time making bread so I didn’t do great, but the recipe itself is good!
We made this bread for my daughter’s Spanish class project. It was FANTASTIC! We love it and would make it again. I didn’t have, and we don’t particularly care for, anise seed, so I replaced the anise with 1/2 t vanilla. The bread came out tender, rich and sweet, with a nice citrus tang. It does have a pronounced orange flavor (especially without the anise) so make sure that’s okay with you. We made two bones across the top and a round dot of dough in the middle. It looked gorgeous with the glaze and sugar on top. Ours did take a little longer than the recipe said for both risings, and it cooked faster. I would check at 25 minutes and go from there.
This is yummy. 🙂 I recommend adding the active dry yeast to your warm milk and water to proof. I also cut the anise down to 1 tsp and that was plenty. In step 4 – cut a piece of dough off to roll out the ‘bones and tear drop’. I skipped the glaze and just brushed the cooked loaf with butter and sprinkled with sugar. Check your loaf at about 30 minutes. Mine was getting really brown at that point and was done.
I didn’t use enough anise seed so I think mine are less flavorful than usual. Overall delicious!
I love it
I like the flavor. I used pastry flour and had to add quite a bit more to get the right consistency when kneading it, probably a cup more of flour. I may not have let it rise enough during the first rise. I punched it sometime between hour 1 and 2. I also let it rise in a warm oven during the first rise, but the oven was quite cold by the second rise. Some things to troubleshoot the next time around. The flavor is very nice with the anise seed, which I didn’t think I’d like. The glaze really makes it.
Simple and easy to follow. Pls note you can use anise extract vs seeds!
I substituted vanilla extract for the anise the glaze recipe called for. I don’t like black licorice and I thought the souls I made this for would like vanilla better. The smells and tastes aren’t just for us right? I’m so happy I let the dough rise twice! I almost skipped that step! Thank goodness this site gave good directions! Thank you
I had a lot of fun making this! I really like that the yeast goes in with the dry ingredients. I have always had trouble starting yeast. The bread turned out perfectly and I put one on my Ofrenda.
Easy and simple to make. I enjoyed it so much a used this recipe to make 4 loaves.
Love this recipe. I halved the amount of anise seed as I’m gifting one of the loaves and not sure if they like anise flavor. I love this recipe, absolutely flavorful and makes a pretty loaf. I also divided a single recipe into 2 loaves and baked approx 30 min, to a inner temp of 205 deg.
My first attempt at this bread – a practice run before the holiday. I followed the recipe except that I used a blend of bread flour and all-purpose as suggested by another reviewer. I will bake for a few minutes less next time. At 35 minutes, I thought this was slightly too brown. Also, my top knob slid a bit, so I’ll make a better dent for it to sit in next time. I don’t care for licorice flavor, but the anise worked well with the orange.
I think my bread tastes very good. I did not follow the recipe to the letter but with that being said, I followed most of it. One problem that I noticed is that the ingredient measurements are in volumes. It would be better if they were in terms of mass like grams or oz. I did 120 grams per cup of flour. If I did not add a little more milk and water, I think it would have turned out a little dry.
Great tasting bread, with just a hint of sweetness. The anise adds some nice flavor. I “decorated” the bread with “bones” for an authentic look.
I used 1.5 teaspoons of anise seeds in the batter instead of vanilla and it was lightly flavored with anise. Actually my husband loved it!
This is delicious! It rose beautifully, is light and airy, and the orange flavor is clear but delicate. I made only two changes: I substituted Splenda for the sugar in the recipe itself (but not in the glaze), and I made it in my bread machine. It also makes great toast the next day. I will definitely make this again.
This was fantastic and so easy to make! It took about 30 minutes to bake, but took a really long time to rise – about 3.5 hours total. Not too sweet, it had the perfect amount of sugar!
I follow your recipe every year! It always comes out perfect! Thanks for the great share!
My husband just started living in the states with me and I could tell he missed home. I tried this recipe and although not entirely authentic, it tastes really good. He loved it!