Concha (Pan dulce)
Photo: Janeefun · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Concha (Spanish for shell) emerged in Mexico after French and Spanish pastry techniques arrived through colonial-era and Porfiriato-era European bakers. La Vasconia on Tacuba 73 in the Centro Historico, founded 1870, is widely held as the oldest pan dulce bakery in Mexico City; its conchas, orejas and trenza de higo are the local benchmark. The shell-shaped pasta crust is scored with a special crimper called a pan dulce sello. Pasteleria Ideal (Calle 16 de Septiembre, 1927) and Panaderia Rosetta (chef Elena Reygadas, 2010) hold the modern canon for sweet bread in the city.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 12Hands-on 45 minTotal 4 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • For the dough: 500g strong bread flour
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 10g instant yeast
  • 250ml warm whole milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 100g unsalted butter softened
  • For the topping (pasta de concha): 100g icing sugar
  • 100g plain flour
  • 100g unsalted butter softened
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • pinch salt
  • For chocolate variant: replace 15g flour with 15g cocoa powder in the topping
  • Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk

Method

  1. Whisk flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a stand mixer. Add warm milk and eggs; knead with dough hook 5 minutes.
  2. Add softened butter 30g at a time, kneading until each is absorbed before the next. The dough is sticky but elastic; knead 10 minutes total.
  3. Cover, rise 90 minutes in a warm place until doubled.
  4. Make the topping: cream butter, icing sugar, vanilla and salt. Stir in flour to a smooth, claylike paste. Divide into 12 balls.
  5. Knock back the dough, divide into 12 pieces. Shape each into a tight ball, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  6. Roll each topping ball between sheets of parchment to a 10cm disc. Drape one over each dough ball, pressing gently to adhere.
  7. Press a concha cutter (or score with the back of a knife in a shell or web pattern) firmly into the topping. The scoring opens up as the bread proves and bakes.
  8. Cover loosely; prove 45 minutes more.
  9. Bake at 180C (160C fan) for 18 to 20 minutes until the topping has cracked open along the score and the underside is golden.
  10. Cool on a rack 20 minutes before eating; the topping crisps as it cools. Tear and dunk in hot chocolate.

Tip from the editors. Score the shell pattern before the second prove; cutting after proving collapses the dough. The cuts open up as the bread expands.

Where to eat concha (pan dulce)

Concha (Pan dulce) in Mexico City

Panaderia Rosetta ★ 4.8

$ BakeryMexican pan dulce and laminated pastriesRoma NorteWalk-in only

Panaderia Rosetta in Mexico City is Elena Reygadas' Roma Norte bakery on Colima since 2012, the bakery counter where the rose-guava roll and the concha drive.

Worth the queueRol de guayaba (guava rose roll)

Directions

Pasteleria Ideal ★ 4.4

$ BakeryMexican pan dulce and celebration cakesCentro HistoricoWalk-in only

Pasteleria Ideal in Mexico City is the 1927 Centro Historico bakery on Uruguay Street, the two-floor cake hall where conchas, oreja and the kilometre-long.

Worth the queueRosca de reyes (Three Kings cake)

Directions

Pasteleria Suiza ★ 4.3

$ BakeryClassic Mexican-Swiss pastriesCondesaWalk-in only

Pasteleria Suiza in Mexico City is the 1942 Condesa bakery facing Parque Espana, the Spanish-Catalan-Swiss bake shop now in its third generation that put out.

Worth the queuePan de muerto

Directions

La Panera Coyoacan ★ 4.4

$ BakeryArtisanal breads, viennoiserie and Mexican pan dulceCoyoacanWalk-in only

La Panera Coyoacan in Mexico City is the Del Carmen artisan bakery and cafe on Londres just off Plaza Hidalgo, a sit-down room with house-baked breads.

Worth the queueChocolate concha

Directions

Pancracia Panaderia Artesanal ★ 4.5

$ BakeryArtisan sourdough, croissants and conchasRoma NorteWalk-in only

Pancracia Panaderia Artesanal in Mexico City is the Roma Norte takeaway bakery on the corner of Orizaba and Chiapas, a small counter that puts out sourdough.

Worth the queueVigilante (small double-butter croissant)

Directions

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