Pan bon

Ingredients

The dough

• 700 gplain flour
• 150 gsugar
• 100 gbutter, softened
• 2eggs
• 250 mlwarm milk
• or coconut milk
• 10 gdried yeast
• 1 teaspoonsalt

The spices

• 2 teaspoonsground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoonground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoonground ginger
• 1 teaspoonvanilla
• grated zest of 1 orange

The fruit and cheese

• 150 graisins
• 100 gmixed candied fruit
• chopped
• 150 ghard white cheese
• grated or in small cubes

To glaze

• 1egg, beaten
• or honey warmed with water
• extra cheese and fruit, to top

Directions

1. Warm all of the milk very gently. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar into it. Let it stand there for ten minutes. The yeast should foam visibly. Use warm rather than hot milk. Hot milk kills the yeast outright.
2. Put the flour in a large bowl. Add the sugar, salt and spices. Add the grated orange zest to them. Stir them together thoroughly. The bread should be clearly spiced. Add the yeast milk, eggs and butter. Bring it together into a soft dough. It should be soft and slightly sticky.
3. Knead it for about ten minutes. It becomes smooth as the gluten develops. Keep kneading through the sticky stage. Butter coats the flour and slows gluten. That means it takes longer to come together. Put the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover it and leave it somewhere warm. Give it a good two full hours. Work in the raisins and candied fruit. Flatten the dough and scatter fruit over it.
4. Fold it over and press them in. Repeat that process a few times. Work most of the cheese in as well. Keep some of it back for the top. Both of them are done in Limon. Divide the dough into two pieces. Shape each into a round or an oval loaf. Set the loaves on a lined tray.
5. Cover them and leave them to rise. Give them about one full hour. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees. Brush the loaves with beaten egg. Brush it gently so as not to deflate it. Scatter the reserved cheese over the top. Press pieces of candied fruit into it.
6. Press them in firmly so they hold. Baking it takes about forty minutes. Bake it for about forty minutes. A large enriched loaf takes real time. Cover it with foil if it darkens early. Judging it takes a careful check. Check both of them if you are unsure. Lift it out onto a wire cooling rack.
7. Let it cool right down before slicing. The crumb sets firm as it cools. Cut it into good thick slices. Serve extra cheese alongside if you like. It keeps four days in a sealed tin.

Technique

• Jamaican workers came to Costa Rica in the eighteen hundreds to build the Atlantic railway, many staying on the banana plantations and settling on the Caribbean coast. That labour migration was often harsh, with difficult and dangerous conditions and many deaths building the railway, and the atlas records that rather than glossing it. The community built a lasting culture in Limón whose food, music and English creole persist, and pan bon is part of it — a genuine Costa Rican bread now, related to the Jamaican Easter bun.
• Sweet spiced bread served with salty cheese sounds unlikely to many people, but the salt cuts the sweetness exactly and it is a genuine old pairing. Use a hard salty white cheese that softens without melting away entirely, and note that many people add still more cheese to a slice, which is entirely traditional.
• Add the fruit and cheese after the first rise rather than into the dough: fruit worked in earlier tears the gluten and interferes with the rise. Flatten the dough, scatter it over, fold and press, repeating a few times to distribute it without overworking.

Substitutions

• Coconut milk stands in for dairy milk in the dough and is used on the coast.
• Cubed cheese leaves pockets in the crumb where grated distributes more evenly; both are done in Limón and cubes give a more striking result.

Variations

• Fat and sugar slow the yeast, so an enriched dough proves more slowly — give the first rise about two hours and judge by size rather than a clock.
• Bake at a moderate one hundred and eighty degrees, since sweet dough browns fast as the sugar caramelises and needs to cook through first; cover it with foil if it darkens early.
• The cheese and fruit pressed into the top are what the bread is recognised by rather than a plain glaze.

History

An Afro-Caribbean bread of Limon brought by Jamaican railway and banana workers; it is eaten at Easter and Christmas.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pan bon?

Pan bon is a bread & pastry from Costa Rica: sweet spiced bun topped with cheese and fruit, from the Caribbean coast. An Afro-Caribbean bread of Limon brought by Jamaican railway and banana workers; it is eaten at Easter and Christmas.

How long does Pan bon take to make?

Pan bon takes 40 minutes plus rising of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes 2 loaves. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Pan bon?

Yes, within limits. Coconut milk stands in for dairy milk in the dough and is used on the coast. Cubed cheese leaves pockets in the crumb where grated distributes more evenly; both are done in Limón and cubes give a more striking result.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pan bon?

Warm all of the milk very gently. Stir the yeast and a spoon of sugar into it. Let it stand there for ten minutes. The yeast should foam visibly. Use warm rather than hot milk. Hot milk kills the yeast outright.