You won’t find as many people in Mexico celebrating Halloween as you will find them celebrating Día de los Muertos.  Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, falls on November 1st and is known as All Souls Day. This is a day of joyous celebration when the souls of departed loved ones (human and animal alike) come back to the world of the living. Tradition states that they come back from all realms of the spirit world, both heaven and other places.

Celebration of Day of the Dead dates back to ancient Aztec traditions and by a strange, or should I say spooky, coincidence coincides with the Catholic Holy Days, All Souls Day, and All Saints Day. Day of the Dead is a happy celebration, not marked by tears. The Aztec Elders taught that tears would make the path back to the spirit world slippery and difficult. Food and drink is shares with the departed in a festive gathering.

As with most Holiday’s, Day of the Dead is marked with its own special food.  Pan de Muerto (or Bread of the Dead) is one of those.

Check out Linda's Bread Making Hints: Secrets to using the bread machine, About yeast in bread making, Sourdough Starter, Quick Breads, and more great Bread Recipes for your bread making.

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Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead)

2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups water
5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons whole anise seed
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs

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.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cups 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. 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 1-1/2 hours.

NOTE: 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 can'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.

After the dough has risen, punch the dough down and shape into two (2) 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.

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 instant digital thermometer to test your bread. The temperature should be between 200 and 210 degrees.)  Remove from oven and paint on glaze while the bread is still warm.

Makes 2 loaves.

Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1/3 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
Colored sugar (optional)

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. Using a pastry brush, brush the Glaze over the top of the bread loaves. Sprinkle with colored sugars if desired.