Pan Dulce y Dia de los Muertos

Published Nov 3, 2022, 7:00 AM

Dia de Los Muertos wouldn’t be the same without pan dulce. Our hosts explore the history of wheat and pan dulce, with a focus on the ubiquitous concha. Mexico City baker and instructor, Eliceo Lara, shares his childhood recipe for rebanadas. 

Eliceo Lara’s Rebanadas Recipe  

Instructions:  

  • Cut a loaf of bread into thick slices. Sourdough or brioche work great.  
  • Make a simple buttercream by incorporating 1/3 cup of room temperature butter and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar.    
  • Spread buttercream on your sliced bread.  
  • Separately, add a layer of regular granulated sugar to a flat plate.  
  • With the buttercream slide facing down, press your sliced bread to the sugar on the flat plate.  
  • When you lift it - the top of your bread (the side with buttercream) should be left with a thin crunchy layer of sweetness.  
  • That’s it! Enjoy with your coffee or tea in the morning.  

Want to take an online cooking class with Eliceo? Learn more here.  

Although stories vary. The Bread of the Dead has written meso America, when a type of bread using amarath, honey and human blood was offered to the gods for a successful harvest. Today's episode is all about the origins of band My name is Evil Longoria and I am and Welcome to Hungry for History, a podcast that explores our past and present through food. On every episode, we'll talk about the history of some of our favorite dishes, ingredients, and beverages. So make yourself at home, eh. I love By the way, I'm not I'm not a sweet person. You're not. I don't like cakes and cookies and cupcakes, and I'm not I'm not a sweet person. But Bandy specifically, the gona for me is my weakness. Really, I do love gonchest, but I have a sweet tooth. You you like sweets. I love sweets. If you offer me a taco or cookie, oh, you will take the cookie. Of the time, I'll take the taco if you You know, when there's chocolate on your bed in a hotel, my husband's like, oh my god, mind mind mine, and I'm like, have it zero desire for that? No, I'm with Peppe. You're gonna fight with him. Yeah, you'll fight for the chocolate, fight for the chocolate. I like bonuellos and concha's. That's what I grew up with. Gonas and buellos. I mean that's pretty much those two things. I didn't know that Mexico has over two thousand variations of It's crazy because even like the croissants are the guns, there's some what's the region where the British miners I think it's in sort of sort of central Mexico. There were British miners working in the oil industry and they were making cookies with molasses and ginger and cinnamon, gingerbread cookies, and that region has a cookie gingerbread. Yes, I know, it's gingerbrea. Yes, you know this guy. I know that cookie. Yeah, ginger bread. And I always said that, I go, this tastes like a gingerbread cookie, but it's a little more moist. It's not as crunchy because it's they used instead of molasses, So that's probably is a natural sugar. Yeah, it's from sugar cane. It's sugar. Yeah. I could eat that as a candy when I was little, and I just had so much of it in Mexico, in Mexico. But it's so good because it's so it's so natural it is, it's so good. What kind of there's so many different kinds of two thousand kinds and there must be more too. What what bundula did you grow up with? Probably gone chest. Also my grandmother, my dad's mom was from Yucatan and she was a baker, so she had a bakery in Novlato called bun and so she died when I was too but my dad used to make her bread and she used to make these breads caedes. It's like a sweet bread just with butter and egg, like an eggy bread. So I used to make this bread all the time. So we was that or my mom used to go to Alarado and buy or has, which is the French palmiers. Was it was gonchas, and it was counitos, which is like the croissant, and we always had them. My dad also always had like the biggest sweet tooth and he used to dip it in the hotot and he used to call it because he was from from Yokatan. And that's a big media thing. It's a big media thing, and and that active dipping is called choke in Mayan. So it was always like oh and and even today it's like, oh I have the gona with no, I'll usually have it with coffee. You took was amazed because when I was old enough to understand what the concha was, I just love the gona. What a big French influence. I mean it's it's British. It's brio, yeah, with a strul kind of topping that's scored exactly. It's like it's a fluffy butter brioche. Yeah. And it's called the cone champ because that little cookie cruss that you just met, it looks like it looks like a shell, like a little seashell, which that's what means. So where was in Mexico invented? Because to me it has such colonial roots, it's absolutely yeah, absolutely after the after the conquer bread is a direct consequence of the Spanish conquest. Right, it's sweet, it's breath and even like by fifty five, which is really early, right, conquest is one ordinance Verna Cortez. The conquer Cortez bread was sold at fixed prices um and so the native population didn't like bread. They found it, you know, bland and they preferred, you know, their their corn, but it really it took on and it's just legend. And in fifteen hundreds of Spanish viceroy dipped his breath, maybe his maybe his day old bread did it in hot chocolate in front of a crowd, and like a habit was born. Well, I feel like also the bread's super French influence. Absolutely. Do you think of the alas in Jalisco direct descendant of the baguette, I mean direct descendant, but they've improved upon it and and they've made a whole different you know, that's a really good break. But all of that brioche and all of the seems like a direct consequence of the French colonization and the French influence. The French influence absolutely, it was first, but the bakeries were already there, like sixteen hundreds. It was definitely already a culture, right, and some convents we're making flower and baking. And this is where a lot of Mexican cuisine really involved was in convents, especially sweets, you know. And then the Jewish influence with the Annis and the sad. But then, like you said, you know, as with the nineteenth century independence, we start seeing a wave of French colonists coming into Mexico. But even before them, we have Emperor Maximilian. This is this brief rule of Maximilian, and he introduced the sort of vanilkfor which was the the Mexican it's this little the Mexican wedding cookie, right, the little that is an Austrian you know cookie that then became Mexican. But with the French intervention we started seeing tons of bakers popping up. And then of course with the port video, the s who was the leader of Mexico for so many decades, and he was a total Francophile under his regime in the EU, I mean bakeries and owned by Spanish or French. Bakeries were owned by Spanish or French, because you couldn't really as an indigenous or Mexican you can really own a really yeah, you can't really own anything where came from. Yeah, exactly. But then the people that worked there, the artisans, I mean the owners were European, right, but the people that work there, we're using these European you know, the brioche became you know, the con and you the chech right, the gingerbread, the it's exactly a croissant. It's exactly croissant. It's just a slightly different. It's going to taste different because the flower is different, right, But it's just so inventive, like just so imaginative, all of these different all of these different I feel like. That's I feel like is where you see most of the colonial imprint. It's physically in front of you. After the break, we're going to keep this sweet talk going. You don't want to miss it. So we can't talk about Day of the Dead or mortals without talking about what's fund them. Is also basically a brioche bread. So the idea of this bread has roots in Mesoamerica right when you know, pre pre conquest, when they would make types of bread. Ammeranth ameranth is. It's a tiny little seed that's native to Mexico. Also sacred also, it's kind of like keenoa um, but it's it's a tiny little grain that if you heat it up at pops like popcorn, but it's teeny teeth exactly what you're talking about now, you know those these little little bars, the little bars with honey and sometimes you put a little blood in there to offer it to the gods, right, so in you know, for a successful harvest, you know, for a new year, grand new for rain, yeah, to a peace the gods for whatever reason. So this whole idea of like, you know, blood right, you associated with life and you also say to you with death right, and it's this sort of human kind of sacrifice that makes people kind of uncomfortable, but we see that this was sort of part of the of the culture. Sometimes it was human bloods, which it was animal bloods. Sometimes it was sometimes we just die. So of course with the conquest they were doing that with the body and blood of Christ. Right, it's the same thing. It's just more metaphorical when is more little, but it's essentially the same thing, and it's a way for people to understand the sort of cycle of life, you know and death and converting everybody to Christianity was one of the main you know missions you know, post conquest, and so there were certain celebrations around the time of Day of the Debts. So day is November one, and second right, the day for the kids and then the day for the for the adults, and people go it's a Coco the movie, which is so beautiful, put all the offerings on the altar of their favorite things, their favorite fool pardicula there you know there is but when did is pretty also early on with this with this festival. And I don't know if you've noticed, because you can only buy the like right around that did ring. The types super seasonal, and I had only ever seen growing up. The round bread right, and the circle. It's like a little to right like a brioche, but it has sad it has more flavors. The circle represents this the circle of life and death. And on the top of it has another little ball right like the little circle on top um, and that represents the skull, and then it has a crossbones and each section in between the skull and crossbones is the cardinal you know, directions. And one of them represents the god of the Sun. And then she thought that is the god of death and rebirth. And she but think is a super interesting god because they would like skin sacrificial victims, and the priest would wear this this skin. And so another section represents look, the god of rain, another one represents the god of darkness. So it's the super ritualistic bread you're offering it and the altars with the hot chocolate with the tequila with whatever. But it has such roots in indigenous ceremonies. But they also say it's the top also other than representing the bones, represents a grave. Oh, the top instead of the Okay, it's the bones and then the bread is the grave. Uh. And the bones represent the deceased one or like the bones are coming out of the grave. That's why it's like a little ball and is a tear drop. And I've heard that the sugar that sometimes it's sprinkled with sugar, that those are the tears. Have you eaten? Yeah? I get it every year. You do get it. I do get it every year. I don't really, I don't really any but I don't know offer it. I just eat it. But I know that you know, and I but I know a lot of people that that actually make altars in their home every year. And that's like a big you know, it's a big one. But didn't watch the big such a iconic bundle. It's so interesting. It's only around that because it's so good. It's soft and spongy, so delicious, so special, like you have to wait. I always get and I always get simp the merrigold flowers because this is the flower that they use so that a scent. It has a really strong scent. The merrygolds, the merrygolds, and it's so right that it's supposed to spirit light the way the spirit home. Yeah, like the spirit the road for the spirit home. Well, and yeah, because it's it's like a citrus infused essence of orange. The orange blossom bring back the sweet memories of loved ones. Well, you know, during the pandemic, I was a big croissant that's right. How I past sour though that was so so many years ago. I moved on to croissans, but I wanted to make so it's three days. Takes three days to make croissans. Yeah, three days. And the great thing is even when you suck it up, it tastes so good. Like it didn't rise the right way. It didn't like, it didn't proof well that day because it was cold in the kitchen, like so many things can go wrong at every stage. The butter didn't incorporate well, so you see the chunks. I'm like, damn it, but you bake it and it's heaven and it's gonna doesn't even matter. It's just heaven. But I wanted to make and I never did, and I should have. I could have just dipped it in sugar because they're they're similar. I feel like the guditos are a little dancer than the croissant and my rockers. They are right to me. It tastes like a day old Croissan. Yeah, yeah, the little harder. I took up on time making class. Did you online? There's this amazing baker in Mexico City that we're actually gonna talk to for this. He's going to send us a little message. Ladda and I took. I've taken a few classes. I took a rosca class roscar. Yes, that's my favorite holidays. I wasn't ever a fan of rosas, which is the cake also a Brioche base. It's all so British. Yeah, with the cookie crown looks like a wreath. It's a crown. It is a crown. Yeah, and you eat it for the three King, for the three King January six, January six, and you bake a baby Jesus inside of it. Yeah, were many? Yeah, apparently you put a few babies and what happens if you get the baby Jesus? You were supposed to throw a party on the other Candelaria, which is February twelve, and you throw a party and your host like, but I feel like after that January six, like never you never followed up. I've never heard anybody follow up. It's like the holidays are over. After January. I went to go buy Roca and literally the packaging was like six baby Jesus included. Like that was like a it's a selling that they didn't that's six chances, six chances. I was like, that is that is that's so funny. I you took a class time. I took a class last year to make I made This is the first year that I made it from actually one year many years ago. My mom and I and my dad made it. But it was basically a rock disaster. It could be easily yeah. But I also took a contact class with him. It was called contact class. So it was like a little Santa Claus shape off to show you pictures, basically the little conta instead of the concha. It was like a little Santa Claus face with the cookie. It was the cutest thing, but it was the brioche and it's and it's a process. You have to roll and talk and roll and talk and it took like three hours. You have to let it rise, and but it was biting into this. It was like buttery air. Like I was looking at these first of all, they were beautiful, the little Santa clauses, and they were so delicious. It was like a cloud, like I couldn't believe that I made this. I couldn't believe there was so delicious. By the way, I grew up with day old five day old conchas, Yeah, and I always thought conscious were hard because I was like, I love conscious and they were hard until I got to Mexico City with my husband and I had a hot by the way, this is my adult life, like this has just happened yesterday and it melted in my mouth and I was like, what is it like like but it's so soft and just melted there, like that's how you should eat them. I did. I've been my whole life eating five day old I think they too. Actually, but that gone that I've made from a class that I took, I was just like, what the hell is this? Like where have you been all my life? I need that recipe? Like puffee, what makes here with you? Nuts? Cinnamony? What makes it there's a flavor inside of the well. Sometimes the ones that I made are just simple, but sometimes they have like nis in it. That's what it is, and that's another contribution of Sephardic Jewish baker's right. So flower aside, there are a lot of bakers that were being hired from Spanish owned bakeries who were who were Jewish, who were you know, Safarti Jews and had fled the Spanish and quick visition and they brought their baking techniques and flavors with them. So the arrival of other products needed for bread baking laid the groundwork for an infinite number of breads um and this includes sugar cultivation, animal products such as lard and butter, and chicken eggs. That's made it possible to reproduce the sweet recipes of Arab and Jewish origin. So we owe things like anis seed and away a sad which is the orange blossom water, and also sesame seeds to them. But yeah, conchas man contas are really good. After the break, we are going to hear from Elisa Ladda, a friend, amazing baker, cooking instructor based in Mexico City, or who's also an amazing singer, Elisa Ladda will send us a message and he will be sharing a recipe with y'all. Welcome back to the show. Here is Mexico City baker extraordinaire Elisa Lara talking about band and his favorite childhood treat. My name is La. I am a baker from Mexico City. I've been banking now for many years, and I think I've spent maybe the last ten years of my life to teaching how to make pandu, which is my specialty of course, because there's nothing better than pandu in this world. I think the one bread that's been celebrated in many different ways, it's definitely conscious. Conscious, you know, is the most important bread in Mexico. You can find it everywhere from Tijuana to Cancun. The old school contrast, the bread is a little bit more acidic because of the long fermentation process. It's those contacts that remind you of the Mexican countryside. But in other places, in other bakeries, they're doing like really cool things. They're doing like different fusions with different techniques. You can find anything now from like chocolate, lavender contat or green tea matcha Conscious, Chike conscious um conscious with different feelings, conscious with like in a crazy different way of serving them, like mante Conscious. That is a fusion of mantecadas and conscious and it's served in a cupcake liner. What's my favorite band that's a very tough goal, but one that's very very meaningful to me, and it's one of my favorites ever since I was a kid is rebanadas grevanadas literally translates to slices, and it's a very very simple bread to make. You can just take any loaf of bread, except you would make a very simple butter cream. You would just have to use butter and powder sugar. You're just gonna mix those two and you're gonna do a thing layer of that butter cream on top of your bread. Then separately, you're going to take a little bit of regular granulated sugar and you're gonna put the bread with the side that has the butter cream is going to face the sugar, so it's gonna stick to it and it's gonna live a very thin, crunchy layer a like sweetness. And that's of course the basic recipe. That's your bread ray to go with, you know, like cathec one letter, it would be delicious. I'm really happy that I live in a moment of Mexican food history where there's so much experimentation happening. I like to call this the bandus Renaissance because everyone is doing like crazy cool things with bands, and I feel quite lucky to be here now and watch it and eat it. Of course, anybody listening to this episode who hasn't eaten a concha, I beg of you. March to the to the bakery right now and get an It's my favorite thing, a fresh one. Ask what time they come out of the yeah, yeah, and get them warm um. Sometimes they're also really good. When I have like a day or two old goncha, I'll slice them and toast them into Oh my god. Speaking of conchas in Novo Leona, I was going to say something else, but well, in Vera they put the nata in it, which is basically a heavy cream. That was amazing. But in in Monterrey they put a cream, cheese and jelly. They cut it open, they put a cream, cheese and jelly inside and put it on the grill and they grill it. It's a because Monterrey is all about so they grow even their desserts as the dessert. And then in Mexico they put beans. We've fried beans in Yeah, I've seen that. Yeah, so this is a very versatile. Yeah, that's kind of like this sweet and savory. Yeah, how have you tasted it? Because I can't bring myself to put beans in my your sweets sweets, even though I like, I'm a savory I'm a ummi kind of person like mix it all up. But now and you've got them. They make this um but it's basically like a puff pastry, but there's ham and cheese. It's like a like layers with ham and cheese, but then the top has a sugar crust. And there's also a huge Lebanese influence in desserts. Every time I go to the bakery, there's um, what's it called that layered flaky thing? Is it the little squares that are with honey? Yeah? Yeah, I love so much bava in Mexico. Oh really, yes, so much Lebanese influences. Well I'm so excited, So march over to your your Mexican bakery and get yourself a piece of it. Doesn't matter, what doesn't matter, which one doesn't matter? You know one thing that I was thinking because I was getting bundle to the other day, and it's different then, Like you could go to a restaurant, order a cafe and have your bund there or your bread there and it's amazing. But when you go to you take it home. So there's something about the that's so cozy because that's where you're eating it. And I love that aspect of It's super French. That's what you do in what you do in friends. Yeah, you grab your baggett and you go home. Yeah, you grab your croissant and you go home. Yeah, that's a super friend. It's a super French influence. Thanks everyone for listening, and don't forget to subscribe. Thank you by everyone. Hungry for History is an unbelievable entertainment production in partnership with I Hearts Michael Buda podcast Network. For more of your favorite shows, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. H

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