Panes de Muertos
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup butter
5 cups flour
1/2 cup warm water
2 envelopes active dry yeast
. Add
2 eggs, beaten
3 teaspoons anise seed
Yield: 2 medium sized loaves
Prep Time: 3 1/2 hours
Difficulty:
Cost: $$$$
For Ages: 11+
Origin: Mexico
Bread of the D
Panes de Muertos
Bread of the Dead
In Mexico, even more than in Italy, November 2 is a great festival.
November 1, El Dia de los Todos Santos, or All Saints', is especially
for the angelitos, or souls of little children, while November 2, El
Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is a national holiday
dedicated to the adult dead. Ceremonies rarely confine themselves to a
single day. Certain villages celebrate the occasion from one to three
weeks, since some Indians reason that the souls must get a week's
vacation when they return to earth. Other Indians claim that because
of drinking to much pulque among themselves, souls often lose their
way and find it difficult to return on schedule to the Land of Shades.
Festival customs and beliefs vary widely from city to village and
hamlet to hamlet, since some Indians in spite of nominal conversion
to Catholicism still observe many old pagan rites.
The Day of the Dead is the time when everyone feasts, laughs, jokes,
and flirts with Death. Young girls present their sweethearts with
necktie pins fashioned like skeletons, with gleaming eyes and dangling
legs. In the shops there are all sorts of grotesque masks and
miniature skeletons with clay hands and feet that nimbly hop up
and down slender sticks. Poets and musicians rival each other in
writing macabre verses and singing of death.
On All Souls' in Mexico City and other large centers, crowds start
pouring into cemeteries before sunrise. Some come afoot, others in
conveyances. All are laden with candles, flowers, and food for the
dead. Now and then someone carries a toy for a child. The rich lay
flowers on the graves in areas reserved for the upper classes, and
then withdraw. But the poor decorate their graves, set up offerings,
and then remain to chat, eat, sing, and hold fiesta with their dead
and with each other. All kinds of special foods are prepared for the
departed. There are small cakes and candies made like crossbones, and
grinning skulls with glittering tinsel eyes. Children gleefully munch
chocolate hearses, miniature funeral wreaths, and gaily colored candy
coffins with skeletons that leap out at the twitch of a string.
While these gruesome sweets delight youthful palates, panes de
muertos, the bread of the dead, made with eggs and anise and baked in
human or animal shapes, are a more universal treat. Bakeshops do a
brisk business in these traditional breads. Sometimes they are modeled
like fat peons with fancy jackets and embroidered pants, or equally
fat women with arms akimbo and elaborately decorated fiesta skirts.
There are animals, too, all deftly fashioned.
The humble Mexican remembers his dead both at home and in the
cemeteries. Parents, believing that the di funtos chiquitos, the
little dead ones, return home on All Saints', shoot off fire crackers
so the noise will guide the child's soul to the right door. A path
strewn from the grave to the but with flower petals is an additional
aid to safe arrival. Once the small soul enters his own house, he
finds a candle burning in his honor, sweets to eat, and a toy for
entertainment.
For the adult dead who return on All Saints' Eve, there are even more
elaborate preparations. Families set up artistically arranged
ofrendas, or altars to the departed, on a new floor mat or a table
spread with colorful peasant linen. The altars vary greatly, but
usually they have special flowers for the dead and black or yellow
beeswax candles. Incense is burned, and there are fruits, chocolate,
bread, and many other foods, especially those the souls most enjoyed
when on earth. The Indians believe that their departed see, smell, and
taste, just as they did in the flesh. Once the spirits have a chance
to eat and drink, the living begin their feast.
Often men and boys make village rounds, stopping before the doors to
sing hymns in memory of the dead. Householders invite the singers to
enter and share the feast. Then they light the beeswax candles, one
after the other, and pronounce the names of the departed.
Panes de muertos will also appeal to American youngsters. The recipe
that follows is modified and adapted for use on many different
occasions. The sweet egg dough makes an excellent base for various
kinds of feast-day breads. Use it for Halloween, Christmas, or
children's parties by molding it into animal or human figures. Add
raisin eyes and colored frosting accents. For Easter, fashion droll
bunny faces with pink icing on the ears and staring chocolate-bit eyes.
DIRECTIONS
Scald milk, stir in sugar, salt, and butter, and
set aside to cool.
Place warm water in large bowl and sprinkle in
yeast, stirring to dissolve.
Add lukewarm milk mixture and beaten eggs.
Stir until blended the flour and anise
and beat thoroughly.
Turn on floured board and knead 10 minutes.
Place dough in greased covered pan, brush
over with melted butter and leave to rise
until double in bulk (about 1 hour).
Punch down dough, pulling sides toward center, and let rise 10 minutes.
Mold into desired shapes, brush with melted butter and
let rise until doubled (approximately 1 hour).
Bake in moderate oven (350° F.) for 15-20 minutes.
The above recipe makes two medium-sized loaves
of delicious bread.
Bake 45 minutes in a moderate oven (350° F.).
Frost and decorate for holiday occasions.
Recipe Source: Feast-Day Cakes from Many Lands
by Dorothy Gladys Spicer, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960
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