Mexican Conchas

When I was little (maybe 8 or 10) there was a Sesame Street episode about a girl who went to her Tio's bakery and made pan dulce. Her favorite was the concha and I thought it looked delicious! Since then I have always wanted to eat a concha but didn't know where to buy one. For the first time I actually made some and they did not disappoint!

I got the delicious recipe from Nicole Reyna's wonderful blog Flan & Apple Pie.

I'll re-post her recipe (giving her full credit!)

Some of my personal notes from making these are as follows:
1. Make this dough the night before! Sometimes I don't read all the instructions until the day I want to make something and then realize I should have made it the night before.
2. I found it hard to use a tortilla press when forming the sugar tops. I just patted them out in my hand and made the shell marks with the back of a butter knife.
3. Follow ALL the steps. While mixing the dough the ingredients go in a totally different order than I was use too but I followed it exactly and they turned out great.
4. She says to mix about 1 minute after adding things but with the sugar I mixed longer until I couldn't hear the granules just being pushed around the bowl.

I hope you have so much fun making AND eating these conchas!

*All the pictures are of my own conchas. Here is the actual Sesame Street episode that inspired me many years ago!

Dough (Makes 16 conchas)

3 ¾ – 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour

1 1/8 tsp (7 g) salt

2 ¾ tsp (12 g) bread machine (not active dry) yeast

1 cup whole milk

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract (add to the milk)

2 eggs

1/3 cup (90 g) granulated sugar

6 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

2 TBSP (30 g) pork lard or vegetable shortening

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together flour, salt, and yeast for 1 minute on medium speed.

Add 1 egg and half of the milk/vanilla and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the remaining egg and milk/vanilla and mix on medium speed for an additional minute.

Add the sugar and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Finally, add the softened butter and lard/shortening and mix on medium-high speed for 5-7 minutes.

The dough will be rather sticky and difficult to work with. Refrain from adding any flour as it will dry out the dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and gather the dough to the center to form a ball.

Pour about 2 tsp of vegetable oil (I used avocado oil.) in a clean, large bowl. Rub the oil around the bottom and sides of the bowl. Carefully gather the concha dough and place it in the oiled bowl. Flip the dough over so that the oiled side is facing up. The entire ball of dough should be covered with a thin layer of oil. This will prevent the dough from drying out.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap in place in the refrigerator to rise. Leave in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.

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Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Lightly flour your work surface and place the ball of dough in the middle. Punch it down.

Divide the dough into 16 equal portions. Each ball will weigh approximately 60-65 g.

Take a small ball of dough in one hand and place on a lightly floured surface. Cup your hand over the dough and using a circular motion, roll the dough into a smooth ball. [You can watch this video clip to see what I’m talking about.] Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet seam side down. Repeat with remaining dough. You will need to use two baking sheets. Place 8 conchas on one and 8 on another. They conchas expand quite a bit during rising and baking, so be sure to leave enough room in between each one.

Let the conchas rise for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Sugar Topping (Makes about 14 servings)

3/4 cup (100 g) all-purpose flour

1 cup (100 g) powdered sugar

6 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

1 TBSP vegetable shortening

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp baking powder

5-7 drops of pink food coloring (I used Americolor gel paste.)

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 TBSP butter

While the conchas are rising, create the sugar topping. Place the first 6 ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the ingredients form a ball of soft dough.

Divide the sugar topping into two balls. One ball will remain vanilla; you can set this to the side. Divide the remaining ball of topping into two. Place one of these balls back into the stand mixer and add 5-7 drops of pink food coloring. Mix on medium speed until the color is completely incorporated. Remove the ball of pink dough and place to the side. Place the remaining ball of topping into the mixer. Add 1 tsp of cocoa powder. Mix on medium speed until the cocoa is completely incorporated.

Divide the ball of vanilla topping into 8 equal parts. Divide the ball of pink topping into 4 equal parts, and divide the ball of chocolate topping into 4 equal parts. You will have 16 balls of topping total. Using a tortilla press and two pieces of plastic grocery bag (or using your hands), flatten each ball of sugar topping into a 2.5-3” disc. Lightly flour a concha cutter and press into the flattened topping. Press hard enough to make a mark, but don’t cut through the topping! If you don’t have a concha cutter, you can use a knife to make the shell marks.

Melt 2 TBSP of butter in the microwave. Lightly brush the butter on top of each concha. Carefully place the stamped topping on the buttered concha. Do NOT press down or you will deflate the concha. Repeat with the remaining topping and conchas.**

Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 20-22 minutes. Remove and let cool on a cooling rack.