While Halloween is celebrated in the US, in Mexico this is the time to make pan de Muerto for Día de Muertos (“Day of the Dead”)–a holiday dedicated to honoring and celebrating friends and family who have died. It’s usually celebrated around the same time as Halloween, and there are many festivities around it (and food of course!).

Pan de Muerto is the most traditional thing that’s made for the holiday and in the weeks and even months leading up to it. It’s a sweet bread formed into a bun with cute little bone shapes on top to resemble a skeleton. Usually, the recipe calls for eggs, milk, and butter, but we made re recipe vegan of course! It’s still just as sweet and fluffy–and delicious eaten with hot chocolate or coffee!

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What is “Día de Muertos”?

“Day of the Dead” may sound like a creepy and depressing holiday, but it’s actually a joyful few days of festivities in Mexico. Family and friends come together to celebrate and honor loved ones who have passed by building home altars called ofrendas, decorating skulls (calaveras), and cooking delicious food and beverages to leave at the gravesites of the deceased. There’s always music and dancing, and often there will be parades and markets on the streets. There’s even ofrenda decorating competitions!

Vegan Sweet Bread

Instead of using butter, milk, and eggs, we made this recipe vegan by using non-dairy milk, coconut oil instead of butter, and agave syrup instead of cane sugar.

We wanted to avoid vegan butters here since their usually made with a mix of vegetable oils and stabilizers, and we wanted to be able to eat this bread and feel good about it! We found that the coconut oil we use instead actually works better than vegan butters for the spongy consistency that we want in this bread, so it’s a win-win!

And even though we don’t usually use cane sugar in our recipes (hence why we used agave syrup in the mix instead), we had to include it here for the topping. Simply put: it’s not pan de muerto without a sugar topping! Of course you can omit the sugar if you wish or use coconut sugar or another sugar of your choice.

 

Vegan Pan de Muerto (“Bread of the Dead“)

Makes 2 medium breads

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp cashew milk, divided (substitute almond or soy milk)

1 1/2 package | 11g dry active yeast

1 1/2 + 1/3 cups | 255g all-purpose flour

pinch of sea salt

1/4 cup + 1 tsp | 70g agave syrup

1/4 cup | 42g coconut oil

zest of 1 orange

2 1/2 tbsp | 25ml water

TOPPING

coconut oil, for brushing

1/2 cup | 100g cane sugar

1. Heat up the cashew milk in a small pot on the stove until just warm. Remove from heat. Mix yeast into a small bowl with half of the cashew milk. Set aside in a warm place for 10 min.

2. Add flour and salt to a standing mixer bowl (or large bowl if using a hand mixer instead). Stir to combine. Add the rest of the ingredients, including the other half of the milk and the yeast mixture.

3. Using the paddle attachment, start mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes or until a dough is formed. Change attachment to dough hook and mix on medium-high speed until dough becomes elastic (about 15 minutes. Check the elasticity by taking out small piece of dough and stretching it out with your fingers. It’s ready when you can stretch it out into a thin layer and it doesn’t break easily.

4. Take the dough out onto a flat surface and form a ball with your hands. Place it in a bowl that’s been greased with coconut oil and cover with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours, or until doubled in size.

5. Take dough out on to a flat surface and use your fingers to punch out the air. Divide the dough in half. From each half, cut 2 X 15g pieces (for the bones) and 1 X 10g piece (for the head). Roll the large pieces of dough that you have left into balls. Cover them with damp tea towels while you form the bones (be sure to always cover your dough when you’re not using it to keep it from drying out).

6. Roll the head pieces into small balls and set aside. Roll the bone pieces into sausages. Use your fingers to roll the sausages, making 3 indentations in each so that each sausage has 4 bumps in it.

7. Wet your hands and draw a cross over each large piece of dough. Place 2 bone pieces (2 sausages) over the dough where you drew the cross. They should overlap in the center with 2 of the indentation parts. Place 1 head piece in the center over them. Transfer the two breads to a lined baking sheet and set aside to rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size again.

8. Preheat oven to 365ºF. Place breads in the oven and cook for 18 minutes, or until nicely golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely.

9. Lightly brush the top of the breads with some coconut oil. Place cane sugar in a bowl. Hold one of the breads with one hand over a large bowl and use your hands to sprinkle sugar over it, letting any excess fall into the bowl. Shake it a little to remove excess. Set aside. Repeat with the other bread.

10. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

  

Did you make this recipe? tag us on Instagram @eatogether.co so that we can see your breads!

 

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