Eva Chapa
By Joseph Sorrentino, writing from Mexico
At the very end of October, stalls filled with pan de muerto—bread of the dead—spring up in markets all around Mexico. The bread is made only a few days before Day of the Dead and actually refers to three types of bread.
Torta de muerto is probably the most familiar. Its round base represents a skull and the narrow strips on top, bones. This bread is often decorated with colored sprinkles or dusted with sugar. The galeta looks like a large donut and is covered with sugar that’s dyed red. According to Javier Juárez, a local historian in San Gregorio Atlapulco, this bread symbolizes the skulls of Aztec sacrificial victims. The hole in the middle represents the hole in skulls through which a stick was placed before they were hung on a wall called a Tzompantli. The red sugar is their blood. The alamar is pretzel-shaped and, according to Juárez, its shape mimics the designs found on the traditional clothing of a charro, a Mexican cowboy.
Eva Chapa has set up her stall in San Gregorio’s market for 20 years, selling the breads she makes in her small home kitchen. She uses recipes recipes handed down through her family for generations, recipes she regards as special. “They are only used for pan de muerto,” she said.
But not all of the breads are made in home kitchens.
The Tecalco family bakery is in the back of their home and it’s obviously a very popular one. They begin making their breads on October 24th and stop on November 1st. During that time, they use almost 4,400 pounds of flour and 20,000 eggs. The room that houses the work table and oven is a model of frenetic efficiency.
Six men line the work table, first pouring a bucket of eggs into the flour that’s set in front of them. They use a special flour for pan de muerto. “We do not use this flour for other breads,” said Ludwig Tecalco. “It has a different flavor.”
Once the eggs have been incorporated and the dough is a sticky mass, the real work begins. And work it is. Workers pound the dough, looking like heavyweights launching body blows to an opponent’s mid-section. The dough’s worked for about an hour and a half, the men taking turns punching it. After that, it’s left to rise for 2 hours, then shaped. It sits for another 1.5 hours and, finally, baked. Javier Romero Gutierrez is in charge of the oven, turning pans of the bread every few minutes until they’re a golden brown. Start to finish, it’s about a five hour operation.
The Tecalcos use a gas oven but smaller bakers prefer to use wood. “We use a wood stove because it is more traditional,” said Violeta Guzmán whose family bakes bread in Santa Ana Tlacotenco. “Also, it gives the bread a better flavor.”
Although the shapes of the pan de muerto don’t vary between families and bakeries, the flavors do. Some bakers add orange juice to the breads, others anise or vanilla. Nuts are sometimes added and customers may ask for other special ingredients. Most of the breads are sweet.
Although markets in Mexico are filled with stalls selling pan de muerto in late October, by the end of the day on November 2nd, the stalls are packed up and the breads disappear until the next year. “We only sell pan de muerto at this time of year because we respect the traditions of our ancestors,” said Augustín Melo.