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Dessert

Pan De Muerto

A vegan version of the traditional Mexican sweet bread, made with tofu, vegan margarine, and whole wheat flour.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Tofu and soy milk share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 47 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Pan De Muerto

Oven375 °F
Time30–40 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Mix yeast with warm water and let sit for five minutes.

  2. Stir in melted Earth Balance, pureed tofu, sugar, orange blossom or rose water, zest, salt, and 1 ½ cups of each flour.

  3. Add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, alternating whole wheat and unbleached, until dough forms a sticky ball.

  4. Turn dough onto lightly floured board and knead for about 10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

  5. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean cloth.

  6. Allow to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.

  7. Punch dough down and knead a couple of times.

Shape and rise

  1. Lightly oil baking sheets (two pizza pans) and form dough into two round loaves.

  2. Optionally break off dough and roll into long snakes or strips to form skull or bone shapes to arrange on top of loaves.

  3. Let loaves rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour on pans.

Bake and serve

  1. Preheat oven to 375 °F.

  2. Brush loaves with 1 Tbsp soy milk.

  3. Bake loaves for 30–40 minutes.

  4. Remove loaves from oven, brush with extra melted Earth Balance. Immediately sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.

  5. Serve warm with small cups of hot chocolate for dipping.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

911Calories
31 gProtein
26 gFat
142 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 11 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Soy Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Tofu100g firm76
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Rosenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tofu + soy milktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together47 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Flour + soy milktop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together203 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Wheat + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Soy milk + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together60 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Whole wheat flour
Adds a nutty flavor and structure while the unbleached flour builds gluten for a chewy crumb.
Unbleached flour
Forms gluten through kneading, giving the dough elasticity and structure to rise.
Active dry yeast
Ferments sugars to produce carbon dioxide, which makes the dough rise and become airy.
Medium firm tofu
Adds moisture and body to the dough, helping it stay soft and tender in place of eggs.
Vegan margarine
Adds fat for a tender crumb and richness, and helps the loaves brown.
Brown sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness, moisture and caramel flavor to the crust.

The step that matters

Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Kneading develops gluten, which traps the gas yeast produces. Adding too much flour while kneading makes the dough stiff and dense, so add only as much as needed to stop sticking.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, tofu, wheat, flour, soy milk, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, tofu, wheat, flour, soy milk, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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