It is October, the afternoons are sunny, the wind blows strongly, the city is painted with orange and purple and smells like dead bread. The 2025 season is officially inaugurated, despite the fact that some bakeries – especially those of supermarket – insist on starting the sale of this venerated bread in July. Yes, in July! Making dead bread only during these few weeks is not arbitrariness as Amelia Ramírez explains, five and two: “Traditions and seasonal flavors have a time because precisely some citrus necessary for the recipe are autumn.” The main thing is that this is a very important ceremonial bread in the rites around the Day of the Dead, a celebration that according to each community has its boom from October 28 to November 2.
The bakeries most attached to the festive calendar begin to sell it at the beginning of October. Five and two is one of them. The dead bread is the flag of a Panero marathon that ends with the thread of kings. Every year they strive to improve what is done or created special editions such as Mariana Aguilar, partner of Ramírez. “We start the tests in mid -August. I would not say that it is a very elaborate bread, only the ingredients are very thoughtful. For example, putting sesame is very typical in breads from other sides, but it is very chilango that is caramelized. And as people ask, we also decided Colima ”.
For purists, the classic with citrus zest – Naranja, mandarin and lemon – and thyme, sprinkled with mascabered sugar or caramelized sesame, an unexpected touch that makes the crust. And if you prefer somewhat less sweet, in five and two leave some bread without a deck.
When I mention “classic” I mean the most popular version: circular as bun, sugary and adorned with bones and a ball – representing the skull -, although throughout the country there are many other breads used as an offering or that are consumed the days prior to the celebration of the Day of the Dead. If you want to explore, turn to Patisserie Dominique. The French Dominique Fritz decided to pay tribute to the Zapotec people with a very original brioche bread soaked with rose water and adorned with crystallized rose petals. “We call it a flower from an orchid that only blooms this season in Pátzcuaro. It is pink and in the center, if you see it, it seems that it has a calaca,” says Fritz.
With the same objective of recreating some traditional breads from other states, chef Elena Reygadas de Bakery Rosetta is baking Ánimas, a bread with a ghost or angel, which actually simulates a person wrapped in a blanket. Reygadas explains that “it is less sweet. It is physically like Michoacán, they sprinkle it with pink sugar and we put sesame and dusty in the crust.” This recipe based on an Oaxacan yolk bread has changed, has anise, piloncillo and pulque; It is ideal to sink it into a hot chocolate.
Reygadas has explored the varieties of dead bread “because it is undoubtedly my favorite ritual of Mexico. I love it, it is a very lively, very old tradition, and obviously it has evolved and adapting. It seems incredible to me that it has endured so much time. It connects us so much with who we are, with our roots, with what we believe. Mexico To honor their dear dead and everyone, he also created a bread with Amaranth, one of the most important seeds in Mexican cuisine. It has a soft toasted flavor that contrasts with the lumpy texture that the amaranth gives to the deck, it is a proven of the flavors that can still be explored in these loaves.
The food in Mexico sometimes gives unexpected turns. We are chefs – and diners – experimental, so it was impossible to prevent someone from filling the dead breads one day. The first attempts were shy, the versions split in half appeared with a ration of cream mounted, such as the class of the Swiss bakery. Then some thought that there are no limits to the craving: fruits, peanut cream, pumpkin sweet, jams, nutella, ice cream … a very long and sometimes questionable list because the “classic” dead bread is made with flour, egg, butter and sugar, and with some elements such as orange watery, orange zest – perhaps some other citrus – and almost always anise. When leaving the oven it is covered with melted butter and sprinkled with sugar. And it is very likely that the filling changes the taste of bread. In addition, it is obvious that you are not going to put a bread with vanilla ice cream on the altar, when your loved one is visiting on November 2 that will be a blender.
All these inventions were made for the living, not for the dead. If you are one of those sweet tooth, try the rich versions of Odette. His chef Odette Olavarri every year Innova, this season he prepared one stuffed with cajeta and pepy plate cream, however, some of his creations arrived to stay like the bread stuffed with chocolate ganache with hazelnuts.
My last advice is that you go to your trusted bakery or the one that you want the most, and you try all the breads you can in this month, because the dead bread was created to honor the life of those who are no longer here, but we miss, and in passing it is a sweet way to celebrate that we are still alive.
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