Kristen's blog of the dead comes back to life, if only for a moment, to bring you this giant brioche bun that I had no idea Mexicans had been eating to celebrate All Souls' Day every November 2. There's some serious dead bread catching up I've got to do!The brioche-like bread is baked in various shapes, but generally it is round and often shaped to suggest protruding bones, like this one here, which is pictured courtesy of the Carol Sarah Meixcan Bakery on Beaubien East. This one even had candied orange pieces in it, which I love. Very yummy stuff, this bread!
I called the baker when, during Halloween festivities, I read about this culinary tradition and decided to investigate locally. Problem was that Halloween this year fell on a weekend so by the time I could get through to the bakery it was already November 2. There was some telephone tag and it was well into the evening by the time I spoke with the baker, a friendly helpful man named Jorge. It was late, I was going out and he was past closing. But he kindly agreed to make a loaf to order, just for me. I had to wait though till November 3, which was the day after All Souls' Day. So the dead's celebration at my place this year was a bit sluggish and slow getting going. I suppose, though I don't know any cadavers, that this can happen.
To fiesta-up Dead Days, the Pan de Muerto is sometimes decorated with white frosting, not only to look like twisted bones, but also to make things look all pretty and sparkly. I was happy to hear that Jorge was willing to bake for me because I had read that he tends to use a granulated pink sugar sprinkled on top. Picking up my order, I didn't notice this at first, but without the bright flash on my camera, you can see a bit of pink sheen... Take a look!
By the way, Jorge convinced me to buy the yellow-packaged hot chocolate kit you see in the photos, an authentic Mexican cocoa accompaniment to this festive bread. The Ibarra brand is quite sweet - made mostly of sugar - but there is a nice cinnamon taste to it.
Well, Happy Belated All Souls' Day. I'm promising to do my best to mark the occasion in a more timely fashion next year. That'll be easy because memories of this tasty bread will keep me tantalized and ready to find some more, come late October 2010, the next time that this bread gets baked.
