Bread – My Slice of Mexico

Black Bread for the Day of the Dead

October 31, 2024November 1, 2024by Irene7 Comments

In recent years, many variations on pan de muerto, the traditional bread for Mexico's Day of the Dead,have been created, such as stuffing with sweet fillings, or adding flavourings like chocolate or mole, which also change the colour to brown. Another innovation, which has been trending for almost a decade now, is to add black edible agents, either to the dough, or to coat after baking. Activated charcoal or food colouring are popular choices, but the original method is to use dry corn husks (called totomoxtle , form totomochtli in Nahuatl) ... click on title for more

Bread, International Topics, Mexican Culture

Conchas – History and a Few Look-Alikes

May 30, 2020December 1, 2020by Irene9 Comments

Conchas are, undoubtedly, the most popular and best known pastry in the vast collection of Mexican sweet breads (pan dulce) … click on title for more

Bread, Mexican Cuisine

Homemade Buns – Bolillos and Teleras

April 2, 2020April 9, 2020by Irene31 Comments

For those lucky people who scored flour and a few envelopes of instant yeast before they disappeared from the store shelves, this is a basic recipe for homemade Mexican style buns … click on title for more

Bread, Regional Cuisine

Birotes – Guadalajara’s Mainstay Bread

February 3, 2020April 3, 2020by Irene16 Comments

Birotes salados are crusty buns with no flavourings or aromatics (other than salt in some cases), but with a unique chewy crumb, which are said to be possible to bake exclusively in the Mexican state of Jalisco and, even more specifically, the region around its capital city, Guadalajara … click on title for more

Celebrations, Desserts, Regional Cuisine

Pan de Yema – A Day of the Dead Bread from Oaxaca

October 31, 2019November 1, 2019by Irene17 Comments

All wheat-based bread in Mexico has a clear Spanish or French influence, and this particular one can be traced to Spanish recipes, but some families have been baking this bread in the Mexican state of Oaxaca for several generations. Pan de yema translates as “yolk bread”, an apt name since a batch contains several eggs and a few extra yolks, giving them their characteristic flaky texture and slightly yellow tone … click on title for more