Pan Dulce (Pan de Muerto)

Steps

1. Proof10 min
   milk at 100–110°F / 38–43°C
   • instant yeast
   • milk
   • sugar
   warm milk + yeast + a pinch of the sugar, until the surface freckles with foam — milk hot enough to feel hot on the wrist has already killed part of the culture, and an enriched dough has no spare leavening power to lose
2. Mix5 min
   no butter yet
   • flour
   • eggs
   • butter
   • orange
   • anise seed
   flour + remaining sugar + salt + orange zest + crushed anise seed + eggs + the foamed milk, to a shaggy, sticky mass; it should look too wet to handle and will tighten as the flour hydrates
3. Knead10 min
   by hand or dough hook, medium
   the lean dough alone until it pulls smooth and clears the bowl — gluten strands have to be built while the flour is still bare, because fat added early coats the protein and the network never forms
4. Knead8 min
   butter added a cube at a time
   • orange blossom water
   + softened butter + orange blossom water, letting each addition disappear before the next; the dough will break into a slick, curdled-looking mess partway through and then come back glossy — that recovery is the sign the fat is inside the gluten rather than smeared over it. Keep the orange blossom water to a teaspoon; past that it reads as perfume, not bread
5. Proof110 min
   warm, covered, until doubled
   the dough rises noticeably slower than a lean loaf: the sugar competes with the yeast for water osmotically and the fat weighs the crumb down, so judge by the doubling, not the clock
6. Prep15 min
   lightly floured surface
   pinch off a quarter of the dough and reserve it, then round the rest tightly into a ball on a lined sheet. From the reserve, roll two ropes by rocking three fingers along them so the rope thins between the presses and swells under them — that spacing is the knuckle pattern; a rope rolled with a flat palm bakes out featureless. Lay the ropes over the loaf as a cross and set a small dough ball at the crown
7. Proof80 min
   warm, uncovered at the end
   second rise until puffed and slack to a fingertip; the bone strips must stay lightly attached at the ends or they lift off the dome as the loaf expands
8. Bake28 min
   350°F / 175°C
   until deep gold and 190°F / 88°C at the center. Egg, milk and sugar all brown well before the crumb is set, so tent with foil the moment the dome darkens rather than pulling the loaf early
9. Glaze4 min
   loaf still warm, not hot
   brush the whole surface with melted butter and roll or spoon over the granulated sugar. Warm makes the sugar cling in a crackling layer; oven-hot dissolves it into syrup that slides off, and fully cold leaves it loose on the plate