One of the things I love about living in the U.S. is that I am exposed to various cultures and I get learn new things.
Yes, with all the social media today, you can do so in any country today, but it is still different in the U.S. where there are actually people living here that are from other countries and bring their own culture and food!
I knew a bit about a Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead, but it was only a few days ago I found out that they enjoy a certain type of bread to celebrate it.
The shape definitely got my attention first.
It’s a unique one.
I did a little reading, and this is what I learned…
The round shape represents the circle of life and death, the crossed two pieces are bones and tears, and the ball on top is the skull of the deceased.
It’s so intriguing!
The Day of the Dead is celebrated on November 1 and 2, and you are supposed to enjoy this bread during the week leading up to it, so I was pressured to make it this weekend.
And I’m glad I did.
I looked at various recipes, and the main flavor used by almost all was orange.
I also saw anise being used in many recipes.
I did use orange, but I decided to go without anise because simply because I didn’t have it at hand.
Instead, I added the almond flavor.
They turned out amazing!!
They are so light and soft, and extremely flavorful, while not being oversweetened.
I absolutely loved it.
I saw some pan de muerto that had some kind of cream sandwiched, and I wanted to try it myself.
I sweetened my homemade vegan cream cheese with sugar, and then flavored with a little almond extract.
This was so good.
I used this recipe (English) as a base and veganized it.
https://theothersideofthetortilla.com/2020/10/pan-de-muerto-recipe/
Here are what I did differently….
-I used egg replacer for the egg
-I used coconut oil for the butter
-I used bread flour and all-purpose flour, half and half, simply because I didn’t have enough bread flour (I loved how it turned out, so I may do this again next time too.)
-I used orange zest and juice instead of orange blossom water
-I used soy milk for the whole milk
-I used almond extract for the vanilla extract
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