Conchas/Mexican Sweet Bread. Soft inside and crunchy outside, these shell shaped buns with a shell pattern on the top are perfect with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee! Conchas are a soft and sweet Mexican bread with a white topping that resembles the surface of a seashell. This is where the concha gets its name, since “concha” means “shell” in Spanish.
These babies were a labor of love. I started developing the recipe for back in August, and because they need a good amount of attention, I only got to test them a few times. There are a few things I learned, and I’m happy to share. You can have Conchas/Mexican Sweet Bread using 16 ingredients and 9 steps. Here is how you cook that.
Ingredients of Conchas/Mexican Sweet Bread
- You need of For Bread :.
- It’s 75 gr of warm milk.
- Prepare 15 gr of dry active yeast.
- You need 500 gr of bread flour.
- It’s 100 gr of granulated sugar.
- It’s 30 gr of whole milk powder.
- You need 5 of large eggs.
- It’s 7 gr of salt.
- It’s 125 gr of unsalted butter.
- Prepare of For Filling :.
- You need 24 cubes of salted butter (about 5 grams each).
- It’s of For Topping :.
- Prepare 2/3 cup (135 grams) of granulated sugar.
- Prepare 1/2 cup (113 gr) of unsalted butter (room temperature).
- Prepare 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- It’s 1 cup (130 gr) of all purpose flour.
These sweet and fluffy Conchas are one of the most popular types of pan dulce in Mexican bakeries! To this day, someone always brings a bag of assorted Mexican sweet breads from a local bakery on Sundays for dessert and at least half of the bread in there is conchas. Invest some time making these sweet, streusel-topped Mexican breakfast buns and the results will be well worth it. A favorite treat from Mexican bakeries, now you can bake your own.
Conchas/Mexican Sweet Bread step by step
- Add 1 tbsp of sugar and yeast into the warm milk. Mix well then let stand until frothy (about 5 minutes)..
- Add the flour, the remaining sugar, powdered milk, eggs and yeast mixture into a heavy duty mixer bowl with dough hook. Knead until everything is well blended. Add salt. Knead until the dough comes together. Add butter. Knead until smooth and elastic (if the dough is being stretched it will not get torn and look transparant)..
- Put the dough in a greased big bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled..
- While waiting for the dough to proof, make the topping Put the sugar, butter and vanilla extract into a mixer bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Stir in flour and mix until a thick dough forms. Divide dough into as many flavor as you want. Add flavor or food colors. Knead until well mixed. Cover pieces with plastic wrap and put in the fridge until ready for use..
- When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. At this point, take the topping out of the fridge. Divide the dough into 24 even pieces. Fill each dough with one cube salted butter and shape each piece into a ball (make sure to pinch the dough really well so the filling will not leak). Place the dough buns on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten each of them a little bit..
- Devide the topping into 24 pieces. Sprinkle flour onto work surface lightly. Roll out each pieces into a round shape as same as the diameter of the bun surface..
- Transfer the topping rounds to the buns using an offset spatula. If the paste doesn’t want to stick naturally, use a pastry brush to apply dots of water on the underside before applying to the buns. Score lines into the topping to resemble the ridges on a seashell by using a small knife with a pointing tip. Allow the buns to rise on the baking sheet until doubled in size..
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake the buns for 10 minutes or until lightly brown.
- Store the leftovers in an airtight container..
Concha: A sweet bread roll covered in a cookie crust, it’s traditionally flavored with either vanilla or chocolate — though conchas are Everyday Shapes. Many Mexican sweet breads are shaped like their ingredients — so even if you don’t recognize the name, the visual of the pastry might give you. Prep time is also part of the rise time. Sweet Bread literally translates to pan dulce in Spanish. While concha in English translates to seashell.