Hojaldra Oaxaqueña

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy comal or cast iron skillet for toasting anise
• •Large mixing bowl or stand mixer with dough hook
• •Wooden artesa or large work surface for kneading and laminating
• •Sharp paring knife or razor blade for scoring
• •Two parchment-lined sheet pans
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Pastry brush for the egg wash

Instructions

1. 1

   Toast the anise

   Set a dry comal over medium-low heat. Scatter the anise seeds across the surface and toast them for about 90 seconds, shaking the pan, until the kitchen smells sweet and faintly licorice. Tip them onto a cutting board and crush them with the bottom of a heavy glass. Toasted anise is what gives Oaxacan hojaldra its perfume. Use the seeds raw and the bread will taste flat.

   If the anise turns dark or smells bitter, throw it out and start again. Burned spice is burned spice and there is no recovering from it in a sweet dough.
2. 2

   Mix the dough

   In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and crushed anise. Make a well in the center. Add the room-temperature manteca de cerdo, the three eggs, the warm milk, and the orange zest. Use your hand or a wooden spoon to draw the flour into the wet ingredients until a shaggy dough forms. The manteca should disappear into the flour as you go. La manteca es el sabor, and in this bread it is also the structure.

3. 3

   Knead until smooth

   Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10 to 12 minutes by hand, or 6 to 7 in a stand mixer with the dough hook on medium-low. The dough starts sticky and tightens as the gluten develops. It is ready when it pulls cleanly off the counter and feels soft like an earlobe. Do not add more flour than you need. A dry dough makes a dry hojaldra.

4. 4

   First rise

   Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp cotton servilleta, and rest in a warm corner of the kitchen for 90 minutes, until visibly puffed and roughly doubled. Oaxacan kitchens at altitude are warm and dry, and the dough rises confidently. In a cold kitchen, give it more time. The dough is ready, not the clock.

5. 5

   Laminate with manteca

   Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and press it flat. Roll it into a rectangle about 40 by 25 centimeters. Spread the softened laminating manteca evenly across the surface with the back of a spoon, leaving a thin border. Fold the dough into thirds like a letter. Turn it 90 degrees, roll it back out to the same rectangle, and fold into thirds again. This is what makes a hojaldra a hojaldra. The layers of manteca between the dough are why this bread is flakier than pan de manteca. Wrap the folded block in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

   If the manteca starts to melt and ooze out the sides, the dough is too warm. Refrigerate for 15 minutes between folds. The fat needs to stay distinct from the dough, not blend into it.
6. 6

   Shape the hojaldras

   Divide the rested dough into 12 equal pieces, about 90 grams each. Working with one piece at a time and keeping the others covered, roll each piece into a tight ball. Press the seam closed underneath and round it under your cupped palm against the counter until the surface is taut and smooth. Place the rounds on two parchment-lined sheet pans, leaving four fingers of space between them. They will spread.

7. 7

   Score the cross

   Dip a sharp paring knife or razor blade in flour. Score each round with a deep cross on top, about 1/2 centimeter deep, two clean strokes that meet in the center. The cross is the signature of the Oaxacan hojaldra. It is not decoration. It is what lets the bread open in the oven and shows the flaky layers underneath. Asi se hace y punto.

8. 8

   Final proof

   Cover the shaped rounds loosely with a cotton cloth and let them proof at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes, until they look softly inflated and a gentle press with a fingertip springs back slowly, leaving a faint dent. Underproofed hojaldras stay dense. Overproofed ones collapse in the oven. Watch the dough, not the timer.

9. 9

   Heat the oven and finish

   Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit) with a rack in the middle. Brush each hojaldra gently with the egg wash, working into but not flooding the scored cross. Sprinkle the tops with the finishing sugar. Scatter ajonjolí across the top if using. The Sánchez family in Miahuatlán uses sesame on theirs and the seed crackles in the oven heat.

10. 10

    Bake

    Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. The hojaldras are done when the tops are deep golden, the cross has opened cleanly, and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Pull them out the moment they are dark gold. A few extra minutes turns the manteca crumb dry. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. Eat with chocolate de agua, frothy from the molinillo. That is the pairing the bread was built for.

Chef Tips

• •Manteca de cerdo means real rendered pork lard, not the hydrogenated white block in the Mexican grocery aisle. Find a carniceria that renders its own, or render it yourself from pork fatback. The flavor of the bread depends on it. Vegetable shortening will give you a hojaldra-shaped object that does not taste like a hojaldra.
• •The anise must be toasted. Raw anise tastes medicinal in this dough. Thirty seconds too long and it tastes burned. Stand at the comal and pay attention. This is one of those small steps that decides whether the bread tastes Oaxacan or just sweet.
• •If the kitchen is hot, work fast and refrigerate between folds. The lamination only works if the manteca stays in distinct layers. A warm kitchen turns the fat into a smear and you lose the flake.
• •Eat them the day they are baked. Hojaldras stale fast because of the lamination. Day-old hojaldras get split and toasted on the comal with butter, or torn into a bowl of chocolate de agua. Nothing wasted.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough through the first rise can be made the night before and refrigerated. Bring it back to room temperature for 30 minutes before laminating with the manteca.
• •Shaped, scored hojaldras can be frozen on the sheet pan, then transferred to a bag. Thaw, proof, and bake from there. The cross stays clean.
• •Baked hojaldras keep for one day at room temperature wrapped in a cotton servilleta. Past that, split them and toast on the comal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 110g)