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The Bakery 100 · make it at home

Conchas

3 hr 30 min, 40 min hands-on · 12 conchas

Mexico's pan dulce: a soft enriched bun under a sweet, shell-patterned crust.

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The real one

You need

• Dough: 500 g all-purpose flour (4 cups)
• 100 g sugar (1/2 cup)
• 7 g instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 180 ml whole milk, warm (3/4 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 90 g soft unsalted butter (6 tbsp)
• Topping: 100 g all-purpose flour (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp)
• 100 g powdered sugar (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp)
• 80 g soft butter or vegetable shortening (6 tbsp)
• 1 tsp vanilla; 1 tbsp cocoa for chocolate ones

How to make it

1. Dough (15 min plus 1 hr 30 min): Knead flour, sugar, yeast, salt, cinnamon, milk, eggs and vanilla for 5 minutes, then knead in the butter until smooth and soft, about 8 minutes. Cover and rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
2. Topping (5 min): Mix flour, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla into a smooth paste. Split it and knead cocoa into half for chocolate conchas.
3. Shape (15 min): Divide the dough into 12 balls (about 80 g each) and set them on lined trays. Press each slightly flat.
4. Top (10 min): Roll a walnut of topping into a ball, flatten it between plastic wrap into a 9 cm disc and lay it on a bun. Score it with a concha cutter or a knife in curved lines like a shell.
5. Proof (45 min): Proof until puffy, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Bake (18 to 20 min): Bake at 180C (350F) 18 to 20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden; the topping should stay pale.

Tips

• Score the topping, not the dough underneath.
• For a guava roll, roll the dough out, spread with guava paste and cream cheese, roll up and slice.

Chef Amazing's own home version of concha, in our words; not any bakery's recipe.