Day of the Dead Bread Recipe, Whats Cooking America (2024)

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Cook Time

40 mins

Total Time

40 mins

Author: What's Cooking America

Bread of the Dead:

• 1/2cupbutter
• 1/2cupwhole milk
• 1/2cupswater
• 5 to 5 1/2cups all-purposeflour,divided
• 2packages active-dryyeast
• 1teaspoonsalt
• 1tablespoons wholeanise seed
• 1/2cups granulatedsugar
• 4eggs
• 1/4cup granulatedsugar(for topping)

Orange Glaze:

• 1/2cup granulatedsugar
• 2tablespoonsorange zest,grated
• 1/3cuporange juice,fresh-squeezed
• Coloredsugar(optional)

Bread of the Dead Instructions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, place butter, milk, and water; warm through until very warm but not boiling, approximately 105 to 110 degrees F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup of flour, yeast, salt, anise seed, and sugar. Slowly beat in the warm milk mixture until well mixed. Add eggs, one (1) at a time, mixing through. Slowly add in another 1 cup of flour. Continue adding additional flour until the dough is soft but not sticky.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured board and knead for at least 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Form the dough into a large ball. Lightly grease a large bowl and place dough in it. Flip the dough so that the grease covers the top and bottom of the dough ball. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

4. Oven Bread Rising:Sometimes I use my oven for the rising. Turn the oven on for a minute or so, then turn it off again. This will warm the oven and make it a great environment for rising bread. If you ca no't comfortably press your hand against the inside of the oven door, the oven is too hot. Let it stand open to cool a bit.

5. Cool or Refrigerator Bread Rise:If I do not have the time to wait for the rise to finish or I know that I will be interrupted before the completed rise, I do a cool rise. A cool rise is when the dough is place in the refrigerator and left to rise slowly over night approximately 8 to 12 hours. I usually do this after the first rise and the dough has been shaped into a loaf.

6. After the dough has risen, punch the dough down and shape into two (2) round loaves. Traditionally these loaves are shaped into skulls. Strips of dough can also be formed into bones and arranged on top of the loaves. Let these loaves rise in a warm place until doubles, approximately 1 hour.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for approximately 40 minutes. When the bread is done it should sound “hollow” when thumped. A good check is to use an instantdigital thermometerto test your bread. Theinternal temperatureshould be between 200 and 210 degrees.

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8. Remove from oven and paint on the prepared Orange Glaze while the bread is still warm. Then sprinkle some granulated sugar over the top and sides of the bread.

9. Let bread cool to room temperature before serving. The bread is best eaten within a day of baking.

10. Makes 2 loaves.

    

Orange Glaze Instructions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, orange zest, and orange juice; bring just to a boil so the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat.