Pan dulce is making inroads north of the border

“Como pan caliente” — “Like hot bread.” That’s what Mexicans say when something is so trendy it’s being snapped up as quickly as it’s made. And if the movement toward authentic cuisine continues, the next hottie could be bread itself: pan de dulce, or simply pan dulce.

These artisan breads, made in plain and sweet varieties, have been a part of the Mexican kitchen for centuries. But recently they’ve found their way onto restaurant tables.

“People are being educated,” said Ivan Calderon, co-founder of Taco Rosa, a Mexican restaurant in Newport Beach and Tustin, Calif. “We’re doing it at Taco Rosa on Sunday mornings and people are becoming more accustomed to it.”

Pan dulce is an acquired taste. Its name translates as “sweet bread” but it’s not nearly as sugary as American doughnuts, coffee cakes or danishes.

“There’s an education curve that goes with it,” says Nic Villareal, president and CEO of Taléo Mexican Grill in Irvine, Calif. “Pan dulce is a misnomer; it’s not really sweet.”

Traditionally made with lard but increasingly made with vegetable shortening and butter, pan dulce has more in common with French bakery products — not surprising, since this culinary tradition began in French colonial times.

The Spaniards brought wheat to the New World in the 1500s. In the early 19th century, the French brought cooking techniques from their boulangeries. (That’s where Mexican specialties such as flan and crepes got their start.)

Pan dulce is made, bought and sold just like baguettes, croissants and brioches; they all contain no preservatives and are best consumed within three to six hours. The techniques used to make them are passed down from baker to baker, generation to generation. The times of day at which they are served are surrounded by as much ritual as a morning cup of café au lait.

“El cielo huele una panadería” — “Heaven smells like a bakery.”

As a boy, Ivan Calderon awoke in a cloud of divine aroma every morning. He grew up in Mexico City right next to a panadería.

“The smell — it brings me back to family gatherings and joining in for a meal. As kids, you’re fighting for it. If you got there first you got to pick your favorite.”

At the Calderon house, as in many Mexican homes, pan dulce was eaten in the morning and evening.

“A lot of people have it first thing with a little orange juice and coffee. Most Latinos eat comida (the main meal of the day) at 2 or 3 p.m. Cena would be later and lighter, around 7. We would have hot chocolate, tamalitos (sweet tamales) and pan dulce.”

Pan dulce was also a heavenly wake-up call for José Acevedo, chef and kitchen manager at Taléo. He comes from Acambaro, Guanajuato. When he was a child, it wasn’t just the panaderos (bakers) who started early.

“You could smell it first thing in the morning and know that somebody was baking.” In his town even some home cooks had wood-burning ovens and he could buy bread from his neighbors.

“Seguro que el pan para la mañana” — “As sure as bread in the morning.”

Acambaro is renowned for its bread, especially the variety named after the town, acambaritas.

But home baking of pan dulce is uncommon. Peruse Mexican cookbooks and you’ll find few recipes for pan dulce. Mexican and Mexican-American families buy it daily, and anything that’s not consumed within 24 hours has to be tossed. It’s too complicated for home cooks. The yeast needs time and space to make the bread rise, and the dough must be worked by expert hands.

“Panaderos work seven days a week, eight to 10 hours a day. They start at 3 a.m.,” said Acevedo. “It takes one guy two hours to mix 40 pounds of dough by hand. Here you can throw it in a mixer and it’s ready in 15 minutes. But in Mexico they roll it and roll it, and mix it and beat it.”

And then there are the shapes and fancy decorations. Sculpting is an art form. “I’ve seen those guys make 30-45 pieces in one minute,” says Acevedo.

There are bolillos (miniature French loaves, also called pan de agua) and teleras (flat loaves that are often split and filled to make tortas, or Mexican sandwiches), semitas (egg bread flavored with anise seed) and conchas, a similar dough topped with sugar set on in a shell pattern.

Many types of pan dulce are named for their shapes: corbatas (neckties), cuernas (horns), yo-yo (two domes stuck together and rolled in coconut to look like a child’s toy). Piedras are hard and shaped like rocks, and marranitos are gingerbread pigs.

Some pan dulce change with the seasons. On el Día de Los Muertos, panaderos make breads topped with skulls and crossed bones. The Rosca de Reyes is a ringlike cake made for the feast of the Magi. Many panaderías sell capirotada, a bread pudding made from leftover bolillos, popular during Lent.

“Para el hombre, no hay mal pan” — “For man, there is no bad bread.”

There are many pan dulce to choose from, and everyone has his favorite. Shopping for the Sunday morning pan dulce can be a nightmare when you have a large family. And it’s a busy day for bakeries — occasionally they run out of popular items.

But when the bread is fresh, a few seconds of grouchiness from the person who didn’t get his or her first choice pass quickly. Nothing else seems to matter. It’s like indulging in a Krispy Kreme doughnut: pure magic when served warm.

Calderon felt so strongly about this that he even tried to develop dough that customers could refrigerate and bake at home. It wasn’t the same. “I did my research and testing but I never came up with the right formulas.”

One of the mysteries of pan dulce is that the perfect bread is in the eye (and taste buds) of the beholder. Pan dulce fans know that each baker does things a little differently, and they will drive out of their way to get the best.

Just as New York pizza lovers discuss the regional variations in water and San Francisco sourdough fans talk about wild yeasts, pan dulce devotees expound on the way altitude affects the taste of the bread — Mexico City and Puebla are lauded as ideal.

And the varieties continue to evolve. Some stay French, such as the bolillos and the orejas, which are simply French palmiers. But the demand for more American styles on this side of the border is apparent; cream cheese brownies and M&M cookies are beginning to appear next to the traditional reposteria cookies such as polvorones.

The learning curve will continue as the popularity of Mexican cuisine grows. Pan dulce has been popping up on grocery and convenience store shelves in the Southwest.

Bakeries such as Los Bagels — a multi-culti cafe in Northern California — are adding pan dulce to their repertoire. Panadería Taza, a wanna-be national franchise founded in Phoenix, might do for pan dulce what Dunkin did for doughnuts.

It’s all about getting foodies hooked and helping them know what to expect.

“When I first came here I couldn’t believe people ate bagels. Now I love them,” said Acevedo.

Home baking of pan dulce is uncommon, but not impossible. Here’s a recipe for Pan Dulce if you’re the adventurous type.

Make only what you’ll consume in a day. Without preservatives, these don’t keep.

PAN DULCE
Yield: 16 servings
1 tablespoon or one package dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3-1/2 cups flour
4 eggs, beaten and at room temperature
Topping (recipe follows.)
Mix 1 tablespoon of sugar and yeast into lukewarm water. Let it rest for about 10 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugar. Slowly add in eggs, salt, and the yeast in the water.
Add flour in, 1 cup at a time until incorporated. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.
Divide dough into 16 pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet with plenty of space between each dough ball. Press each ball slightly to flatten it. Let the dough rise for an hour. After the dough is on its way to rising, see to the topping.

TOPPING
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup flour
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
Food coloring (optional)
Mix all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
With your hands, divide the topping into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and roll it out on a floured surface until it is large enough to cover each piece of dough, about 5 inches in diameter.
Lightly press topping onto dough and use a knife to cut a pattern into the topping, but not into the dough. You can do something as simple as lines across the top, or a crisscross pattern. If you do nothing, the topping will create its own cracks, which is also interesting-looking.
After you add the topping, bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until bread is lightly golden.

Source: Chelsie Kenyon, About.com: Mexican Food