Pan de Carita de Miahuatlán

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Long wooden artesa or sturdy work table for kneading
• •Fine artist's brushes (00 and 0) for painting the cabecitas
• •Small clay or ceramic dishes for mixing the vegetable dyes
• •Heavy baking sheet lined with parchment
• •Molcajete or mortar for grinding the grana cochinilla
• •Molinillo and jícara for the chocolate de agua at the table

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the cabecita dough (two days ahead)

   On a clean surface, work the cup of flour, the tablespoon of manteca, and the half teaspoon of salt together with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add the cold water a little at a time and knead until you have a stiff, smooth dough that holds its shape. This is not bread dough. It should feel like clay. The cabecita is built to be sculpted, dried, and painted, not to rise. Wrap it tight and rest for 20 minutes before sculpting.

   If the dough cracks when you pinch it, it is too dry. Add water by the teaspoon. If it sticks to your hands, add flour by the tablespoon. Stiff and smooth, that is the test.
2. 2

   Sculpt the figures

   Pinch off pieces the size of a walnut. Shape each one into a face: an angel with wings tucked at the sides, a calavera with hollowed eye sockets and a wide grin, a Frida with thick joined eyebrows and flowers piled on her head. The Sánchez family in Miahuatlán has been pressing these for three generations. Whatever you sculpt, keep it flat on the back so it sits on the bread. About a quarter inch thick. Any thicker and the cabecita will not dry through.

3. 3

   Sun-dry for two days

   Lay the figures on a clean cotton cloth set on a wooden board. Place them in direct sun for two full days, bringing them inside at night so the dew does not soften them. They are ready when they sound hollow if you tap them and feel light in your hand. This is not a step you can rush with an oven. The slow drying is what gives the cabecita the chalky surface that holds the paint. The cabecita is not a substitute for the bone shape on a Mexico City pan de muerto. It is its own tradition. Asi se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Prepare the vegetable dyes

   On the second day, while the figures finish drying, prepare your paints. Steep the cempasúchil petals in two tablespoons of hot water for ten minutes, then strain. That is your yellow. Stir the grana cochinilla powder into a tablespoon of hot water for red. Thin the achiote paste with a teaspoon of warm water for orange. Steep the añil in a tablespoon of hot water for blue. Stir the carbón vegetal into a teaspoon of water for black. These are the same colors the panaderas of the Sierra Sur have used since long before commercial food coloring reached the highlands.

5. 5

   Paint the cabecitas

   With a fine brush, paint the dried figures. The angel takes a band of blue across the wings and red on the lips. The calavera gets black around the eye sockets and red roses on the forehead. Frida gets the joined eyebrow in carbón, a yellow flower crown, red lips. Let the paint dry completely, about thirty minutes. The painted figures will sit on top of the bread, not inside it.

   If the cabecita absorbs the paint and the color goes pale, paint a second coat after the first dries. The dyes intensify in the oven. What looks soft now will read clear once the bread is baked.
6. 6

   Mix the pan de yema

   In a large bowl, whisk the eight yemas with the sugar and salt until thick and pale yellow, about three minutes. Beat in the soft manteca, the pulque, the agua de azahar, the orange zest, and the anís en grano. Pulque is the leavener here, not flavoring. The wild yeasts in fresh pulque blanco are what give Oaxacan pan de yema its particular tang and the slow rise that develops the crumb. No me vengas con atajos. Add the four cups of flour gradually, mixing with your hand or a wooden spoon until the dough comes together.

7. 7

   Knead and first rise

   Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured artesa or work surface. Knead for ten to twelve minutes. The dough is rich and should feel like silk under your hands by the end, smooth and a little tacky but not sticky. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm spot until doubled. With pulque, this can take three to four hours. The rise is slow because the yeasts are wild. Patience is the recipe.

8. 8

   Shape the panes

   Punch down the dough and divide into eight equal pieces, about 130 grams each. Shape each piece into a tight round ball, tucking the seams under so the top is smooth. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment, spaced four inches apart. They will spread. Press a painted cabecita gently into the top of each pane, pushing just enough that the figure sets into the dough but the painted face stays clear of the surface.

9. 9

   Second rise

   Cover with a clean cloth and rest at room temperature until the dough looks puffed and a finger pressed into the side leaves a slow-filling dent. About one to one and a half hours. While they rise, heat your oven to 350F. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo. The second rise is what gives pan de yema its tender, pull-apart crumb.

10. 10

    Wash and bake

    Brush the exposed dough around each cabecita with the egg wash, careful not to drip onto the painted figure. Scatter ajonjolí generously around the base of each cabecita. Bake on the middle rack for 30 to 35 minutes. The bread is ready when the crust is deep golden brown, the sesame seeds have toasted to amber, and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. The painted cabecita will have set hard like ceramic on top. That is correct. It is meant to be admired more than eaten.

11. 11

    Cool and serve with chocolate

    Cool on a rack for at least twenty minutes. Pan de yema is served torn, not cut, alongside chocolate de agua frothed with a molinillo in a clay jícara. In Miahuatlán, this is the bread families set on the ofrenda for Día de Muertos and the bread they break in the morning during the days that follow. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Pulque blanco is the leavener. If you live where pulque is not available, fermented agave water from a Oaxacan or Tlaxcalan supplier is the closest substitute. Commercial yeast will give you bread, but it will not give you pan de yema. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Grana cochinilla can be bought as whole insects or as ground powder from Oaxacan markets and online suppliers that source from the Mixteca. The whole grana ground fresh in a molcajete gives a more saturated red. Do not substitute red food coloring. The point of this bread is the dye tradition.
• •Make the cabecitas in batches. Sculpt twelve or fifteen, paint them all, and you will have figures ready for the next bake. They keep indefinitely in a dry cupboard, sealed against humidity. The Sánchez family always has a tray of finished cabecitas waiting.
• •Pan de yema is not just for Día de Muertos. In Oaxaca it is breakfast bread, market bread, the bread you tear and dip into chocolate de agua any morning of the year. The painted cabecita version is for the season, but the pan de yema underneath is everyday.

Advance Preparation

• •The cabecitas must be made and sun-dried two days before baking. Allow at least 48 hours of dry weather. Painted cabecitas can be stored indefinitely in a sealed container away from humidity.
• •The vegetable dyes can be prepared the morning of baking and held at room temperature.
• •Pan de yema dough can be made the night before, given its first rise in the refrigerator overnight, and shaped the next morning. The slow cold ferment deepens the flavor.
• •Baked panes keep at room temperature for two days wrapped in a clean cotton servilleta. They stale quickly because of the egg richness, so eat them fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 140g)