Panqué de Naranja Agria Yucateco

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •9x5-inch loaf pan
• •Parchment paper
• •Stand mixer or hand mixer
• •Microplane or fine grater for the zest
• •Small saucepan for the syrup
• •Wooden skewer
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the pan and oven

   Heat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line the bottom and long sides with a strip of parchment, leaving an overhang. Yucatecan panaderas grease and line because this is a butter-heavy batter and the crust browns deep. You want to lift it out clean.

2. 2

   Rub the zest into the sugar

   In a wide bowl, pour the granulated sugar over the grated naranja agria zest. Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips for a full minute. The sugar will turn pale yellow and smell sharp, floral, and a little bitter. That smell is the oil from the peel of the sour orange, and it is what makes this panqué Yucatecan and not the orange-zest version they make in Ciudad de México.

   Grate only the colored part of the peel. The white pith of naranja agria is bitter in a way that does not belong in this loaf. Stop the moment you see white.
3. 3

   Cream the butter and sugar

   Add the room-temperature butter to the zested sugar. Beat with a stand mixer or hand mixer on medium-high for 4 to 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl twice. The mixture should turn pale, almost ivory, and double in volume. Do not rush this. The air you beat in now is the lift of the loaf. Skip it and the crumb turns dense.

4. 4

   Add the eggs one at a time

   Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between each addition. Scrape down after the second and the fourth. The batter may look curdled when you add the third egg. That is normal. It will come back together when the flour goes in. Cold eggs split the emulsion. Warm eggs hold it. This is why the eggs must be at room temperature.

5. 5

   Whisk the dry, combine the wet

   Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl. In a measuring cup, stir together the 1/2 cup naranja agria juice, the milk, and the vanilla. The milk will curdle slightly when it meets the sour-orange juice. That is the acid doing its work, and it will give the crumb its tenderness.

6. 6

   Alternate dry and wet

   Add the flour mixture to the butter in three additions, alternating with the milk-and-juice mixture in two additions, starting and ending with the flour. Mix on low only until each addition disappears. Stop the mixer the second the last streak of flour vanishes. Overmixed batter builds gluten and gluten is the enemy of a fine panqué crumb. No me vengas con atajos: this is the step that separates a tender loaf from a tough one.

7. 7

   Bake the loaf

   Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Drag a knife down the center of the batter from end to end. That cut guides the classic split down the top of the loaf as it rises. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is deep gold, the split is dry, and a wooden skewer in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. The kitchen will smell like a Mérida panadería at mid-morning.

8. 8

   Make the sour-orange syrup

   While the loaf bakes, combine the 1/3 cup naranja agria juice, 1/3 cup sugar, and the strip of zest in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes more, until slightly syrupy and reduced by a third. Pull off the heat and let it sit with the zest. The zest steeps and the syrup deepens while the loaf finishes.

9. 9

   Soak the loaf in the syrup

   When the panqué comes out of the oven, leave it in the pan. Discard the zest strip from the syrup. Poke the top of the loaf all over with a wooden skewer, going almost to the bottom. Slowly spoon the warm syrup over the warm loaf, pausing to let each pour soak in. Use all of it. The loaf will drink it. This is the step that makes the crust glossy, the crumb damp at the edges, and the sour-orange flavor double in intensity.

10. 10

    Cool and unmold

    Let the panqué rest in the pan for 20 minutes. Lift it out by the parchment overhang and set it on a wire rack to cool completely, at least one hour. Slice thick. Serve with strong black coffee or a glass of cold milk. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Naranja agria is the recipe. If you cannot find it, try a Mexican mercado that stocks Yucatecan ingredients, or check Asian markets for bitter Seville orange, which is the same fruit under a different name. If you have to substitute, use two parts fresh lime juice to one part fresh sweet orange juice and add a strip of grapefruit zest to the syrup. It is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Room-temperature butter and eggs are not a suggestion. Cold ingredients split the emulsion and the crumb turns coarse. Pull them out an hour before you start.
• •Do not skip the syrup soak. The warm syrup poured over the warm loaf is what makes this panqué Yucatecan and not generic. It doubles the citrus and gives the crust the glossy lacquer you see in the panaderias of Mérida.
• •This loaf is better the second day. Wrap it tightly in plastic once cool and let it sit overnight. The syrup migrates through the crumb and the flavor settles.

Advance Preparation

• •The panqué keeps wrapped tightly at room temperature for 4 days. The crumb improves overnight as the syrup distributes.
• •It freezes well for up to 2 months, wrapped first in plastic and then in foil. Thaw at room temperature still wrapped so the moisture stays in the loaf.
• •The syrup can be made one day ahead and stored at room temperature. Warm it gently before pouring over the hot loaf.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 105g)