Frida Kahlo’s Dead Man’s Bread

After this project, I must say I have a new appreciation for the effort that goes into taking appealing photos of bread.  I have a great cookbook called Frida’s Fiestas written by Frida Kahlo’s stepdaughter (from Diego Rivera) that’s full of colorful photos, recipes and stories about the artist.

As you can imagine, The Day of The Dead is a big portion of this book, so I’ve been really looking forward to featuring one of the recipes from that section for Dead Man’s Bread.

I’ve been working on this recipe for a week now – my first batch of bread was disappointingly heavy and dry – but I was so intent on making this work that I went through a few revolutions of the recipe and came up with a final result that is really delightful. It’s a sweet, filling bread that I think is a great alternative to cupcakes and candy or even pastries.  It’s absolutely fabulous with cider, coffee or tea.

I’ve also tried various versions of these photos – some inside, some outside.  Some with props, some on white, on cutting boards – you name it.  I think at the end of the day the shots of the dough are the most interesting – they look like odd little sculptures.  The design on the top is meant to remind of bones – they also look like snakes to me.

Dead Man’s Bread (adapted from Frida Kahlo’s recipe)

• 7 cups bread flour, sifted
• 2 cups sugar, plus additional for dusting
• 1 cup butter
• 2 packages active dry yeast dissolved in 5 tbsp warm milk
• 6 large eggs
• 3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Mound the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.

Place the sugar, butter, yeast, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla in the well.  Work into a dough and knead until the dough pulls away from the bowl.  Knead a bit more on a counter top to ensure full integration of ingredients.

If the dough is too soft, knead in more flour. Shape into a ball and place in an oiled bowl.  Let stand in a warm place for 2 and a half hours, or until doubled (which depending on the type of yeast you use could be several hours).

Shape the dough into balls the size of a peach. Decorate the tops with strips of dough to look like bones. Place the rolls on greased baking sheets and dust with sugar.  Let rise in a warm place for about one and a half hours, or until doubled in bulk.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree (F) oven for 30 minutes or until the bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

Tagged as: baking, Food, halloween, holiday, mexican, recipes