Pan Dulce is a wonderful thing and if you’ve ever wanted a foolproof easy recipe to make these amazing Mexican buns, I’ve got exactly what you’ve been looking for! The best pan dulce are made from a brioche dough and the no-knead brioche recipe came out better than expected, creating these delicious buns.
Spending the early part of my childhood in Texas one of my fondest memories was of Pan Dulce, and if anything could transport me magically through time it would be those sweet rolls. My grandmother would often have them on hand or send me to Alejandro’s on the corner, and if I was lucky he would still have a few left….sigh
It’s been years since I had even thought of those wonderful rolls, and when I saw the recipe for them in Nick Malgieri’s latest cookbook bake!, I knew I just had to make them. The task of making the fresh dough was the only thing keeping me from those incredible buns, then I happened to be going through my Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day, and saw the recipe for brioche dough!
Making this dough took a leap of faith, since other than the artisan bread, I had never baked using yeast before. If you read my last post, Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Buns then you know how good that dough turned out.
I made these buns 3 times and they came out perfectly each time. The last batch I made was from fresh dough that had not been refrigerated and they were perfect! I did make them a little too big, and I would advise using no more than 2 ounces of dough for each bun, they make a perfect size to serve with coffee or traditionally hot chocolate!
If you enjoyed this recipe you may also like these:
- Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Rolls (no-knead)
- Apple Butter Sticky Bun Recipe
- Homemade Artisan Bread
- Artisan No-Knead Bread
Pan Dulce
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
- 1 ½ Tbsp granulated yeast (2 packets)
- 1 ½ Tbsp coarse sea salt or kosher salt
- 8 eggs lightly beaten
- ½ cup honey
- 1 ½ Cups unsalted butter , melted (3 sticks)
- 7 ½ cups all purpose flour
Topping for Pan Duice
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter , softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp cocoa powder , sifted after measuring
Instructions
- Mix the yeast, salt, water in the bowl of your mixer, mix well
- Add in eggs, honey and melted butter, and continue to mix until well blended
- Add in flour and using your dough hook, incorporate all the flour, mix just enough so that all the flour is mixed in.
- The dough may look loose and wetter than you think it should be, it may also look like it has lumps, that’s ok.
- Transfer dough to another bowl, cover with a towel and allow to sit and rise for two hours.
- Chill dough for at least 2 hours, before making the rolls*
Topping
- In the bowl of your mixer cream butter using the paddle attachment
- Add in confectioners sugar and flour and continue to mix until creamy.
- Add in vanilla and increase speed to whip into mixture.
- Scrape down bowl and remove half of the mixture. Mixture should have the consistency of a soft dough.
- Add cocoa powder to remaining dough and mix well.
- roll doughs on floured surface making logs of each flavor topping.
- roll logs in plastic wrap and set aside
- cut out twelve 2 oz pieces of dough, using floured hands roll each piece into a ball, by pulling the dough down and around, pulling it tight at the bottom.
- Place dough ball on baking sheet and continue the process until all are done.
- cover with a towel and allow to rise for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- After the rolls have puffed slightly* take each cylinder of the topping and slice into six equal pieces.
- Flatten the pieces out with your hand until they are as big as the roll top.
- Place each piece on a roll, and flatten the buns out some
- use a knife blade side up, and mark the topping on each bun by making 3-4 lines in the dough with the knife(don’t cut the topping, just leave deep impressions)
- make any type of cross patterns that you like.
- Cover the buns and allow to rise for another 20 minutes
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the roll is a nice deep golden brown.
Princesita Parungao
Hi, Chef Dennis,
Tried your recipe cuz one of my grandsons requested me to make pan dulce for his Spanish class dia de los muertos presentation/exhibit. It didn’t disappoint! In fact his dad requested me to bake some more so he could bring some to his co- workers today! That made me feel good!
Thank you for this easy to follow recipe.
Princesita
Chef Dennis Littley
You are very welcome and I’m happy to hear your grandson enjoyed my recipe. That same dough makes some of the best cinnamon buns I’ve ever had, you can find the recipe on my site.
caroluski
I made these today. I know its been more than a year since you posted these but I only comment after I’ve tried and I was very impressed with the results. These were a staple
at our house growing up and still are and when I sent a pic of my results to the family
They were in awe and couldn’t believe I had made them. Thankyou yet again Chef D
Chef D
I’m so happy to hear that you made those delicious buns… they were a big part of me growing up in Texas, I do love them. The dough is incredible and so easy to make, I don’t know if you tried using it for the sticky buns, but OMG they are amazing!
Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed them!
Dennis
A Brionez
I’ve got the dough rising and I can’t wait to taste test! Question: in the topping instructions it says to add vanilla, but I don’t see vanilla in the ingredients? I assume 1 tsp is sufficient? Thanks!
Chef D
Thanks so much for letting me know, yes 1 tsp will be great! Let me know how they turn out, mine brought back so many childhood memories!
Apu
Great site! Just ran into Ito this evening! Love the posts and recipes. Do stop by my blog sometime: Annarasa – essence of food.
Apu @ Annarasa
Michelle @ delishiono
Those buns look delicious! I do have a question about how the texture is on these. I haven’t had conchas but I do love the Asian-style buns that resemble them (pineapple buns) which resemble these.
Chef D
they have a very nice light texture, soft not chewy, while not falling apart. being that I made them from brioche dough I think their lighter than most. I’m not familiar with the Asian style buns but they do sound very good!
Kimby
Chef Dennis, I did a double-take when I saw this photo! We used to eat at a truck stop (near Laredo) that had an in-house bakery. I could never decide between these two, so I’d get both. 🙂 I couldn’t remember what they were called, so THANK YOU for recreating a very happy food memory.