Manteconchas! A cross between a mantecada and a concha! It’s really just a concha baked in a cupcake pan, lol! But it’s the trend right now and I was feeling up for the challenge. I have prepared traditional size conchas quite a few times. It was one of my earliest recipes as a professional food blogger. All I know is that I have come a long way since that day. Have you tried baking pan dulce(Mexican sweet bread) at home? This was just my second attempt at preparing these and let me tell you, the first batch was not pretty, ha, ha, ha!! Just keep in mind that the home cooks version will not be exactly as the large commercial panaderia(bakery).
In my attempts to free up space on my phone, I actually accidentley deleted some of the great pictures I had of the second attempt at baking these delicious manteconchas! But, knowing me, there will be a third time soon.
Manteconchas-Pan Dulce
You favorite pan dulce, conchas, baked to resemble a cupcake!
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Servings: 14 Manteconchas
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
- 1/2 Tbsp. agave nectar or honey
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup organic cane sugar
- 1/2 tsp. of salt
- 1 Tbsp. fresh ground Mexican canela cinnamon, optional
- 1/2 tsp ground anise optional
- 3 large egg yolks
- 5 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature
- Zest of 1 large orange optional
For Topping
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup vegetable shortening or butter to start
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- Food coloring gel
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
Directions
- In a large cup, combine the warm water, yeast and agave. Stir to combine and let sit for 10 minutes.
- In the bowl of the standmixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Stir to combine.
- After 10 minutes, while the mixer is on low speed, add the eggs, yeast/water mix and soft butter. Continue mixing at med/low speed, scraping down the sides every two minutes, until dough forms and pulls away from the sides.
- Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and knead, adding a little flour, for 2 -3 minutes. Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover and let dough proof in a warm for 90 minutes to 2 hours.
- While dough proofs, prepare the topping for the manteconchas. In a bowl combine the flour and powdered sugar. Gradually mix in the shortening until a paste forms. If it feels too sticky, add just a little more flour, working in really well. Work in the vanilla.
- If preparing multi colored toppings, divide equally. Each manteconcha topping should weigh about 30 grams. Use as much or as little food coloring gel until you reach the desired color you like. Place in glass bowls and cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.
- After dough has proofed and doubled in size, transfer again onto lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough for 1 minute. Using a scale, weigh each dough ball to about 52 grams and place into a standard cupcake paper cup and then place in cupcake pan. Cover with a light kitchen towel and let proof for 1 hour.
- When it gets close to time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. If preparing topping with 3 colors, you will need 10 grams of each color rolled like a short cigar. Use your hands to form or gently flatten using a plastic lined tortilla press. Don’t press out too thin. It should cover the top surface of the proofed bread dough ready in the paper cups. it should not hang over the sides.
- Using a small sharp knife or concha press(mold), score the topping carefully to resemble lines on a concha(seashell). Top with sprinkles, if using. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until bread showing is light golden brown in color. Internal temperature of bread should be 190 degrees F.
Notes
The one major thing I changed on this concha recipe from my previous recipes is the ingredients for the concha topping. I saw this formula on a You Tube video some time ago and finally remembered to use it, I like it better than the old recipe!!
Tried this recipe?Mention @pinaenlacocina or tag #pinaenlacocina!
As you can see, I still need a little more practice with getting the topping just right. Nowadays people use a plastic mold to give their conchas that signature look on top. I am still using a knife and find it a bit more challenging, but satisfying.
As I stated on the recipe, adding the Mexican canela(cinnamon), anise and orange zest are totally optional, but this is how I love it! The flavors remind so much of La Panaderia!
This is pretty much how the dough comes out looking from the standmixer. I let it do all the work at a low speed, scraping down the sides every so often.
This dough you can clearly see the anise seeds and cinnamon
Invest in a small digital scale for your kitchen!
I should have looked for another cupcake pan, so I prepared two exlarge manteconchas! The smaller dough ball worked better though.
Look for the food coloring gels in the cake isle of the grocery store and also at the craft stores.
If you are going to make your toppings with multiple colors, make sure you roll and shape your colors first and have them ready.
To prepare the more traditional full size conchas, follow the recipe as written. When you get ready to shape the dough balls, divide into 8-10 equal balls and follow instructions to finish the recipe. Of course you will need a larger size disc for a topping. After adding the green, white and red disc, a add a small piece of the brown topping to the middle and press gently with my fingers. I use my tortilla press many times to get a perfect circle. I believe that I scored the topping too deep on this concha. There is a chance the topping could slide while it bakes.
For the chocolate colored topping, you simply mix in unsweetened cocoa powder into the already mixed paste.
Since I was a little girl I was fascinated by the miniature Mexican trinkets!
I found this image of the Mexican flag in an antique store. It was part of a promotional giveaway by that cigarette company.
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I noticed the oven temperature is not listed. Many recipes have different temperatures. Or list to lower temperature at last half of baking. Thank you
Oven temperature should be 350 degrees preheated. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I will fix it.
Rosalie, the oven temperature was actually listed, I just checked.
The dough was too dense and not fluffy at all.. any suggestions on why? Did I knead too much, not enough, more yeast?
The results will never be like what you buy in a Mexican bakery Diana. To achieve a lighter or fluffier bread, the dough has to be worked for a very long time with minimal flour added. It’s a process that could require up to 30 minutes of working the dough by hand repeatedly. Not many people have patience for that. Adding more yeast wouldn’t change the texture, in my opinion. I do agree that the bread is more dense than that of the commercial Mexican bakery.
Could you do a recipe where it’s more like the Panaderias? I’ve looked everywhere for a recipe that would give me that style of bread but unfortunately I’m yet to find one.
Unfortunately Tanya, the panaderia uses special mixes and ingredients made for commercial bakeries. It’s difficult to re-create the exact same bread as a bakery at home.
I often find that with recipes I find online, too! To make this dough lighter and fluffier I added about 1/4-1/3 cup of warm milk. Working the dough for quite a bit after this is key.
Thank you for that tip Jailine!