Let’s all remember like Mexico: Día de los Muertos Part 1

Why Mexico now? In deciding on the country to bake this past weekend, it was clear it needed to be Mexico. Having taught French for many years now, I’m accustomed to being around and hearing all about Día de los Muertos from my department colleagues, i.e. Spanish educators. In fact, I think my French students are usually unhappy this time of year because they aren’t making masks of skulls and eating Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead); they forget they have Mardi Gras with masks and Galette des Rois (King Cake) with a hidden fève (lucky charm)!

As mentioned in the preview, this is the time of year for celebration and remembrance. Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a multi-day celebration on November 1^st and 2^nd in Mexico and many countries in Central and South America including islands in the Caribbean (primarily places where there is a strong Latino population). These two days honor friends and family members who have passed on by visiting graves and eating food once enjoyed by the non-living.

A little about Día de los Muertos: Day of the Dead is a cultural adaptation rooted in both the Aztec traditions of honoring the dead and the Catholic traditions of celebrating All Saints’ Day or All Souls’ Day with family reunions and feasts. While much resembles a mourning of death, it’s a joyful time to recognize those who have died. The decorations and costumes of skeleton, bones, and skull (which are not necessarily related to Halloween) represent the commonality of all humans after death; ultimately, all that physically remains is just skeleton and skull. Día de los Muertos costumes also include noise elements used to awaken the dead with the hopes of having the dead nearby during this time. Altars (not for worshiping), specifically created for dead loved ones that often include marigold flowers and personal items, are created in homes or at cemeteries to temporarily welcome their spirits.

Heads up!! Morbid thought… While talking of death, I hope the dishes to remember me are bread, bread, and more bread (something savory and something sweet). I’ll take soup, too since that’s my favorite dish (with bread) in the winter.

Bread is back with a vengeance. The title for the week includes “Part 1”. That’s right! This is a two-blog post week. One bake per post is probably enough, especially with other components. Today’s post focuses on the savory Día de los Muertos meal, all that you see in the first photo of the post.

Why the dishes? I chose authentic dishes common to Mexico and this time of year. Since I’ve made tortillas multiple times, tacos were not really what I had in mind. With fall as our current season including cooler days and even SNOW where I’m currently living, I really wanted soup. What goes better with soup than a traditional homemade white bread, the Mexican Bolillo. That wasn’t enough for me because I’ve wanted to make tamales for years. I can’t bake Mexico without including tamales if I’ve never made them, right?!

So, our first bread bake of the weekend… BOLILLO

Bolillo– aka Pan Francés (French bread but Mexican style): Bolillo means roll and is a simple white bread like a French baguette made into rolls (“Footballs!”, said my sports fan of a husband when he first saw them) and sliced and buttered, dunked into soups, or used to make tortas (sandwiches) or molletes (open-faced sandwiches with refried beans and cheese). The recipe I followed used an overnight starter. All in all, the recipe called for all-purpose flour, yeast, salt, water, and shortening. Thanks to 196 Flavors for the recipe.

Final comments on the bolillo… We enjoyed the bolillo. Given the familiar ingredients, we felt it could have been almost any bread I typically make. The difference for me, as the baker… no sugar required. BTW- Bread, in general, does not need sugar. Sugar allows yeast to grow and acts as a preservative to prolong freshness. Since I used a starter made the day before, the yeast had time to grow, thus taking the place of sugar. As we discovered, it was a hardy, crusty bread great buttered and/or dunked in the accompanying lentil soup. No need to buy it, just bake it!

Mexican Bolillo Recipe Click HERE!

The accompanying dishes…

Sopa de Lentejas (recipe linked to title) is a hearty, rather thick, lentil and carrot soup. The ingredients consist of lentils (cooked separately in water), onion, carrots, garlic, salt, and bay leaves cooked in chicken broth and a little tomato sauce. I cooked the soup in an enameled cast iron Dutch oven; you should never cook acid (like tomatoes) in some metal pots (like aluminum) as it causes a chemical reaction. Supposedly, stainless steel is OK. I’m still careful, though.

In the opening photo, you see the lentil soup topped with bananas, Mexican cheese crumble, and cilantro. Believe it or not, bananas (or plantains- depending on how you use them) are commonly served with lentil soup. In fact, some recipes call for plantains and pineapples cooked in the soup to add sweetness.

Now for the tamales…

Tamales Rojos de Pollo (recipe linked to title) is typically a dish of corn flour dough spread onto pliable corn husks topped with a meat and sauce and then folded to seal in the filling and the dough. Since we had pork last weekend in the Larb dish from Laos, I decided it was time for chicken. BTW- we don’t eat much meat, so two weekends of meat is very unusual for us. In general, we eat more of a Flexitarian diet (mostly plant-based foods with occasional meat and dairy). The recipe I chose had shredded chicken cooked with cumin, boiled carrots and potatoes then sauteéd, and Guajillo chile pepper salsa used both on the inside of the tamale and as a topping. I chose to spread a thin layer of corn flour dough for an equal dough to filling ratio.

Since this was my first tamale experience, I would change it slightly the next time.

What would I do differently?

• I read a suggestion to add enough liquid to the dough to be equivalent to peanut butter consistency, but I would actually make it a little thinner so it isn’t so dry.
• I would make a recipe and a half of Guajillo salsa for additional topping since it did not make enough for both (inside and out of the tamale).
• Mix the Guajillo salsa with the chicken, carrots, and potatoes instead of just layering the ingredients on top of the Masa.

*NEW* Tips Section from this past weekend’s bake:

• Careful in cooking tomato products in some metal dishes as there could be an unwanted chemical reaction; sometimes this reaction changes the flavor in foods. I prefer to use my enameled cast iron Dutch oven; stainless-steel pots are appropriate, too.

• Use a “meat only” cutting board on which to lay, slice, or shred meat; careful not to cross contaminate food. I have a bread board, fruit and veggie boards, and meat board. I don’t interchange them.

• Try using your KitchenAid mixer to knead bread. I still hand knead at times, but the mixer helps a lot in multitasking. You can start kneading with the mixer and then finish up by hand kneading the dough until you get the bounce back indention or “stained glass” look when you stretch the dough and hold it up the light.

• Keep a small bowl with warm water nearby for your hands when dealing with wet doughs like Masa Harina or sticky rice from the Laos weekend bake. Flour, of course, goes with bread doughs and a combination of flour and sugar for shaped cookie dough.

Final comments on the accompanying dishes… This weekend menu was truly just comfort food for us. Comfort food, of course, varies from person to person and culture to culture, but for us the timing of these dishes was just right (cooler weather, time for reflection, etc.). The food itself had lots of flavor and consisted of familiar ingredients (except for the chile peppers). While it was a busy weekend for me preparing and baking it all, I enjoyed the process and steps. Some of the recipes were not entirely complete, so I had to figure out some things as I went, but isn’t that the fun of baking and cooking? I’ve never made Mexican food without some sort of tomato salsa, guacamole, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, etc. You get my point? These condiments and sides in the way I’ve had them are very much Tex-Mex, but not all authentic Mexican meals include these items. I was pleased that I could enjoy Mexican food without the extra stuff including tons of cheese. The lentil soup was as expected, but the bananas on top were a complete surprise. The bananas added a nice sweetness to the dish, but a little goes a long way. I have to say, I doubted my tamale making abilities and felt incompetent as I was making them, but some how they turned out OK, good actually. Making tamales requires practice and a “feel” for it. I want to make those again because now I get it.

My takeaway on Mexico… With the approach of the holiday season for people all over the world, it’s a good time to reflect on the past. While I have been experimenting with bread dishes new to me over the past few weeks, it was nice to get back to the basics of bread baking. I thought a lot about my grandmother this past weekend who has passed on but was known in her town for her homemade yeast rolls. Día de los Muertos offered me the opportunity to start my “thanksgiving” early. Día de los Muertos, Thanksgiving, whatever you want to call it in any language or country, should be a time for reflection and remembering important people in our lives from our past and present. For me, it puts life in perspective and reminds me of what’s important. Tis the season!

Remember!! Mexico post #2 coming VERY soon!

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