Discover the delicious tradition of Pan de Muertos! This enriched bread, perfect for Day of the Dead, can be made as a loaf or rolls. Enjoy its citrus tang and optional golden saffron hue.

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Pan de Muertos or Day of the Dead Bread, is a classic recipe for Dia de Muertos, Day of the Dead. It is traditionally baked as bread or rolls and is an important part of the Day of the Dead Celebration.

Day of the Dead Bread

I chose to make both the bread and rolls once I realized the bake coincided with a GBBO Bake-Along Bake for Festival Week, Festival Buns. It was meant to be, right? You know I make bread for the Bake-Along whenever I can, like this Cottage Loaf?? Oh Yeah!

How could I resist? I had already been working on a Day of the Dead Bread recipe. And knew it was also made as buns from my research on the festival.

This Day of the Dead Bread is traditionally made to be placed on the altars families set up to honor their loved ones who’ve passed on. The bread “bones” on top of the bread signify the skeletons of the departed.

Make Bread or Rolls!

Make Pan de Muertos, two ways. The first is a large loaf of bread. The other is to make individual rolls or buns with the dough. My recipe makes two loaves or 6 rolls.

You can make a sugar and orange juice glaze to put over the top. Or brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Or sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. I don’t think you can go wrong with your topping.

pan de muertos bread brushed with butter

Enriched Dough

It’s an enriched dough which means it uses eggs, milk, and sugar in the dough. Those can all slow the growth of yeast so make sure to check your yeast by mixing it was a little water and flour before you get started to make sure it’s active. All you need to see once you do that is a little bubbling and you’re good to go.

Shaping Pan de Muertos

The hardest part of the whole process of making Day of the Dead Bread is making the “bones” on top. You’ve got to divide the dough, roll it out, and then roll a few places very thin for the bones.

It’s NOT hard, it’s just not as easy rolling the rest of the rope. It helps if you use one finger to roll that and let the rest of the dough flop around. OR take your three middle fingers, spread them wide and roll the dough rope that way. It will create the thinner pieces of dough.

In my Pan de Muerto, I’ve added the zest of a lemon and an orange. I love the soft enriched dough with a citrus tang.

And to give it a little flair I also added a pinch of saffron threads to the milk when I was heating it. It makes the dough a lovely golden color. You don’t have to add saffron it’s totally optional.

Pan de Muertos

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Discover the delicious tradition of Pan de Muertos! This enriched bread, perfect for Day of the Dead, can be made as a loaf or rolls. Enjoy its citrus tang and optional golden saffron hue.

Course: Bread Recipes

Cuisine: Mexican Inspired

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 40

Additional Time: 1

Total Time: 1 55

Servings: loaves/6 rolls

Calories: 1757kcal

Author: Laura

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Ingredients

2 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
6 Tablespoons butter
zest of lemon
zest of orange
3 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
3-4 cups flour
3 Tablespoons butter for brushing on top optional
1/4 -1/2 cup sugar optional

Instructions

put the yeast, water, and 1/2 of flour together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, set aside to let it bubble
melt the butter and milk together, along with the half the lemon zest and half the orange zest and the saffron if using, once melted let cool a bit
when the yeast is bubbling add a cup of flour and start the mixer running
stir the sugar into the milk mix
add the eggs stir to combine
pour in the mixer bowl
add the salt
add roughly 1 1/2 cups flour for a total of 3 in the bowl and let the machine run
knead in 1/4 cup of flour at a time until a smooth dough forms, usually about 1/2 cup total, it can be more though
knead for another 5-8 minutes
then put the dough in a greased bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for 60 minutes or until it is doubled in size
when its doubled in size punch it down and let it rest for 10 minutes
line one or two baking trays with parchment paper
for loaves divide the dough in half break off roughly 1/3 of each portion
roll the large pieces into two round loves, set on baking pan and flatten slightly
take the reserved portion for one loaf, divide that in 4 parts, roll three out to be bones, rolling them thin in three places, make a ball out of the last piece
lay the three pieces across the top of the bread loaf as pictured and press your finger all the way through the bread
lay the ball on top
repeat with the remaining dough
for rolls divide the dough in six pieces and follow the directions for the loaves, dividing the rolls between two baking trays
cover and let them rise about 40 minutes or until they’re almost doubled
pre-heat the oven to 350˚
once the bread or rolls are ready to bake remove the covering and place in the pre-heated oven
bake bread for 35-45 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when you knock on the bottom
bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes
cool for ten minutes on the pan
melt 3 Tablespoons, zest in the rest of the orange and lemon
sprinkle with sugar if desired