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 tablespoon granulated yeast (2 packets)
- 1 ½ tablespoon 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 tablespoon unsalted butter , softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon 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.
sweetsugarbelle
This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cool! Pan Dulce is very popular here because of my proximity to Mexico. I have ALWAYS wondered how they made the topping! I was so excited to tell my husband! Great post, Dennis!
raquel @ Erecipe
Hi Chef, love to try this pan dulce… I never tried this before and I hope I could get the same taste. I
Elin
Piggy Chef…. I made this before and I love this Mexican bun . My version , the bun is the fluffy Asian type of dough whereby it more airy and light. You reminded me how long ago since I last made this:). I shall try your version and by the way , can I reduce the nos of egg to just 4 ? :p thanks so much for the recipe. And btw I am thinking of getting the book artisan bread in 5 minutes , do u think it is a good book to add to my collection of bread books by Peter Reinhart ?? and that lastest book by Nick Malgieri ‘bake’ would you recommend me to get them both? So much to ask you 🙂
Have a nice day
Lynne
These look phenomenal – I’m going to have to give the recipe a try.
Eva
I’ve never had this type of bun before, but it looks like something I would LOVE (not that I need another fattening thing to LOVE ;-)). Our friends from Illinois adore Mexican food, perhaps when we see them next time, I shall try my hand at these. Are they a breakfast bun?
Chef D
I don’t think there just for breakfast, these buns are served with hot chocolate traditionally, but go well with coffee, or just about anything!
RavieNomNoms
Chef you are amazing!!! I have never seen this before so I am a newbie but man does it look fantastic! You make it look and sound so easy!
Jen
I so wish I was your next door neighbor right about now!
Tina@flourtrader
I have always thought that there is a trick to getting these buns just right. Where I worked some people brought these in from bakeries and some were like big crackers and some were pretty tasty.
Based on your picture, yours look like they have a wonderful texture-well done.
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen
I’ve never heard of these before, thanks for the introduction.
Lilly
Wow you’ve made some pretty buns! I love the topping =)
Meagan @ Scarletta Bakes
Love, love, love this, Chef Dennis! I am hoping to get a concha cutter for my birthday, but in the interim, I really like the way that you scored yours – they look so pretty! Thanks for sharing!!
Kathy - Panini Happy
Oh wow, I love pan dulce! I haven’t had it in forever, but you’re sure making me want to make some now. 🙂
Amanda
How stinkin cool!!! These look and sound amazing!
Alpana
This is something new for me…….looks so tempting…..Bookamarked.
Mi Vida en un Dulce
Pan Dulce…!!! Something that I really like is the sweet breads. Thanks for sharing this.