Concha

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gstrong white flour
• 7 ginstant yeast
• 100 gsugar
• 1 tspsalt
• 3eggs
• 120 mlwarm milk
• 100 gbutter, softened
• 1 tspvanilla extract

Topping

• 100 gbutter, softened
• 100 gicing sugar
• 130 gplain flour
• 1 tspvanilla extract
• 1 tbspcocoa, for the brown ones

Directions

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt, then add the eggs, warm milk and vanilla and knead for 8 minutes.
2. Work in the softened butter a piece at a time and knead for 8 minutes more, until the dough is smooth and pulls cleanly away from the bowl.
3. Cover and prove for about 1 hour 30 minutes, until doubled.
4. For the topping, beat the butter with the icing sugar, then work in the flour and vanilla to make a soft pliable paste, about the consistency of marzipan.
5. Divide the topping and work cocoa into half of it if you want both kinds.
6. Divide the dough into 12 and shape each piece into a tight ball, sealing the base well.
7. Roll or press portions of topping into thin discs and lay one over each ball, pressing it gently down the sides so it covers the top two thirds.
8. Score the shell pattern through the topping with a knife or a concha cutter, cutting through the paste but not down into the dough.
9. Score before the second prove, never after. As the bun rises the cuts open out into the shell pattern, whereas cuts made afterwards simply close up and vanish in the oven.
10. Prove for 1 hour uncovered, which also lets the topping dry a little.
11. Bake at 180°C (355°F) for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden underneath and the topping is set but still pale.
12. Cool on a rack and eat the same day, dunked in hot chocolate or café con leche.

Technique

• The topping should crack into plates as it bakes. If yours stayed smooth, it was rolled too thick or scored too shallow.
• It is the best known of the pan dulces, and French bakers reshaped Mexican sweet breads after the nineteenth-century French intervention.
• They stale fast. This is a bread to eat the morning it is baked, which is exactly how it is sold.

Substitutions

• Vegetable shortening in place of butter in the topping, which is what many panaderías use and which cracks more readily.
• Milk powder whisked into the milk for a richer crumb.

Variations

• Chocolate topping, made with cocoa worked into the paste.
• Split and filled with beans or cream, sold as a torta de concha.
• Made small, as conchitas.

History

The best known pan dulce, its sugar crust scored like a shell; French bakers reshaped Mexican sweet breads after the 19th-century French intervention.

Frequently asked questions

What is Concha?

Concha is a bread & pastry from Mexico: shell-patterned sweet bun, pan dulce breakfast favorite. The best known pan dulce, its sugar crust scored like a shell; French bakers reshaped Mexican sweet breads after the 19th-century French intervention.

How long does Concha take to make?

Concha takes 40 min plus 2 hr 30 min rising of preparation and 18 min of cooking. The recipe makes 12 buns. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Concha?

Yes, within limits. Vegetable shortening in place of butter in the topping, which is what many panaderías use and which cracks more readily. Milk powder whisked into the milk for a richer crumb.

What is the most important thing to get right in Concha?

Score before the second prove, never after. As the bun rises the cuts open out into the shell pattern, whereas cuts made afterwards simply close up and vanish in the oven.