Pan de Muertos

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon anise seed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 4 additional cups all-purpose flour (approximately)

  Optional glaze:

• 1/4 cup orange juice (no pulp)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Instructions:

Scald the milk (put it in a small pan and heat it on low until bubbles form, but don't boil, stirring constantly). Then add the stick of butter and let it sit, cooling, while doing the next portion. Mix together 1 1/2 cups of flour, the yeast, the salt, the anise, and the sugar in a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and then slowly add the scalded milk mix to the eggs, beating constantly.

You may want to check the liquid mixture's temperature and make sure it's no lower than 110º F, because if it is colder the yeast will not activate! (If you need to heat it up because the milk has cooled too much or because your eggs were too cold, do NOT just cook the pan because the eggs will solidify; put it in a heatproof bowl and cook the bowl over another pan full of boiling water.) Finally, beat the egg mix into the flour mix. Once it's uniform, start adding the additional flour, one cup at a time. After about two cups you'll have to start working with your hands. Go easy on the last cup, working it in, until a soft dough forms. Once that happens, knead it for ten minutes. Oil the dough's surface with some melted butter or vegetable oil and put a damp tea towel or a sheet of plastic wrap over it (not tightly), and put it in a warm place to rise. It will double in about an hour and a half.

Punch the dough down and form it into a ball. From underneath the ball, pull a large chunk of dough to form the decorations with. For a traditional loaf, you'll want a large knob at the top and then three or four ribbons of dough to criss-cross underneath it, like bones. See picture above or do searches to see what others have done for decorations if you're curious. Put the loaf onto a baking sheet and put it back in the warm spot to rise, this time 45 minutes to an hour, covered. Bake at 350º F for 40 minutes. (Variation: You can also make three small loaves and bake them at 400º F for 20 minutes.)

If you want to glaze it as they traditionally do for the Mexican Day of the Dead, wait until the bread is still warm but cool enough to touch comfortably. Boil the orange juice and sugar until the sugar has dissolved, then use a pastry brush to brush the glaze onto the outside. (Don't go overboard or it may become soggy. You don't want that.) Serve it with fun treats and Chocolate de Mexicanos!