Pan de Rancho Huasteco (Pan de Leña)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Horno de leña de barro or brick, or a baking stone or steel for a home oven
• •Large clay or ceramic bowl for fermenting the dough
• •Wooden table or broad board for kneading
• •Bench scraper
• •Pastry brush
• •Cloth-lined basket or hand-woven cotton servilleta for cooling and serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the levadura

   The night before baking, mix 1 cup harina de trigo, warm water, active dry yeast, and 1 tablespoon grated piloncillo in a deep bowl. Cover with a cloth and leave at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours. By morning it should smell gently fermented, not sour, with bubbles across the surface. This is the small patience that gives the bread its flavor.

2. 2

   Dissolve the piloncillo

   Warm the milk with the grated piloncillo just until the piloncillo melts. Do not boil it. Let it cool until it feels warm, not hot, against your wrist. Hot milk kills the yeast and then you will blame the recipe. The recipe did nothing wrong.

3. 3

   Mix the dough

   In a large bowl, combine the 5 cups harina de trigo, cane sugar, salt, Mexican canela, and crushed anise seed. Add the overnight levadura, the warm piloncillo milk, and the 2 eggs. Mix with your hand or a wooden spoon until the flour takes up the liquid and you have a rough, sticky dough. Let it rest for 20 minutes so the flour hydrates before you start fighting it.

4. 4

   Work in manteca

   Knead the dough on a lightly floured table for 5 minutes, then add the softened manteca de cerdo a spoonful at a time. The dough will look greasy and wrong before it comes together. Keep kneading. After 10 to 12 minutes it should turn smooth, elastic, and soft enough to press with one finger. La manteca es el sabor. Shortening gives you a dull bread. Use manteca.

   Add the manteca after the flour has absorbed water. If you add it too early, the fat coats the flour and the dough stays heavy.
5. 5

   Ferment the dough

   Place the dough in a bowl lightly greased with manteca. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours. Because this dough carries sugar, eggs, and lard, it will not race. It should look swollen and alive, and a finger pressed into it should leave a soft dent that slowly fills back in. The clock advises. The dough decides.

6. 6

   Shape the panes

   Turn the dough onto the table and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a tight round or short oval, tucking the edges underneath so the top stays smooth. Set them seam side down on lard-greased baking sheets or on floured wooden boards if you are baking in a horno de leña. Cover with a cloth and proof 60 to 90 minutes, until puffy and light to the touch.

7. 7

   Fire the horno

   While the panes proof, fire the horno de leña with dry hardwood until the interior walls turn pale and the floor holds strong heat. Rake out the coals and sweep the floor clean with a damp cloth tied to a pole. Toss a pinch of flour onto the oven floor. If it blackens immediately, wait. If it browns in a few seconds, the oven is ready. No pine, no treated wood. The bread tastes what the oven burns.

   For a home oven, place a baking stone or steel on the center rack, preheat to 425F for 45 minutes, then lower to 375F before baking. It is a compromise, not an upgrade, but it works.
8. 8

   Bake the bread

   Brush the tops with the beaten egg and milk varnish. Slash each round once or cut a shallow cross, just enough to guide the rise. Bake in the horno de leña for 18 to 25 minutes, turning once if the oven has a hot side. In a home oven, bake at 375F for 22 to 28 minutes. The crust should be deep golden with darker piloncillo edges, and the bottom should sound hollow when tapped.

9. 9

   Brush and cool

   Simmer the 1/4 cup grated piloncillo with 2 tablespoons water for 2 minutes, just until glossy. Brush a thin coat over the hot bread. Do not drown it. You want a molasses gleam, not a sticky candy shell. Cool the panes on a cloth-lined basket so the bottoms stay tender. Eat warm with cafe lechero or keep for the next morning. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh manteca de cerdo from a carnicería if you can. The shelf-stable white bricks of hydrogenated shortening are not the same thing. They give structure but no soul. La manteca es el sabor.
• •Good piloncillo smells like cane, molasses, and smoke. If it smells dusty or tastes flat, your bread will taste flat. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •The dough rises slowly because sugar, eggs, and lard slow the yeast. That is normal. Do not keep adding yeast like you are fixing a machine. Give it warmth and time.
• •A horno de leña is heated by stored heat, not an open flame. If flames are still licking the walls when you put the bread in, you are burning bread, not baking it.
• •If you use a home oven, preheat a baking stone hard and bake the loaves close together. You will not get the same clay-and-wood character, but you will get a good pan de rancho. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.

Advance Preparation

• •The levadura must be started 8 to 12 hours before mixing the final dough. This is the overnight fermentation that gives the bread its character.
• •The shaped panes can be refrigerated overnight after shaping. Let them come back to room temperature and finish proofing before baking.
• •Baked pan de rancho keeps two days wrapped in a cotton cloth. Refresh it on a dry comal or in a low oven until the crust softens and the piloncillo scent comes back.
• •The piloncillo brush can be made three days ahead and refrigerated. Warm it before brushing so it spreads thinly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 126g)