Pan de Muerto

Get ready for Día de Muertos (The Day of the Dead) with this yummy Pan de Muerto! Traditionally placed as an offering on gravesites, everyone loves to munch on this delicious chocolate bread alongside their loved ones!

Pan de Muerto

Difficulty: Medium • 8 Servings • Total Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Ingredients:

Bread

• 500 gr. flour
• 15 gr. dry yeast
• 4 eggs 
• 125 gr. sugar
• 250 gr. butter
• 2 tsp. orange blossom extract
• Pinch of salt
• Sugar for dusting
• Butter for brushing
• Optional: 
• 10 dried corn leaves 
• 6 cempasuchil flowers
• 1 drop orange food coloring

Filling

• 1 pumpkin
• 3 cups water
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 cups pastry cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine flour, yeast, salt and orange blossom extract in a stand mixer bowl. Using the bread hook, start mixing and add the eggs one at a time. Once all ingredients are well combined, add butter and sugar in small batches. If needed, add more water to the dough to soften it up. 
3. Grease a large sized bowl and place dough inside, making sure all of the surface is oiled. Cover dough with plastic wrap and proof until dough doubles in size. Once done, chill in refrigerator.
4. To make black sugar coating, place dried corn leaves on a tray and light them up until they are fully burnt. Use spatula to grind the ashes and add sugar to combine. Set aside.
5. To make orange sugar coating, pluck petals from flowers and dehydrate. Use hands to crush them and place in a jar with sugar and one drop of orange food coloring. Shake until sugar turns orange. Set aside.  
6. For the filling, cut pumpkin into small pieces and cook in a syrup made of water, brown sugar and cinnamon. Once pumpkin is cooked and tender, take pulp off and set on bowl. Add pastry cream and mix together with hand blender (use regular blender as alternative).
7. Once bread is fully fermented, divide into medium circles and three smaller dough pieces. Use two of the smaller pieces to make the bones by rolling it in between your fingers. Place the two bones in an ‘x’ form on top of the circle and the smaller piece in the center. 
8. Bake at 350º for 15 minutes until golden brown. Let them cool. 
9. Brush surface with butter and powder with the sugar (either black, orange or regular). Cut in half and fill with pumpkin cream.