One of the defining characteristics of the Mexican sweet bread (sweet breads) is their game. These pastries are not loud and restrained, but joyful and abundant, often colorful, boldly flavored and dubbed with pun-filled names. And while color shells (named for their decorative shell-like pattern) may be the most popular pan dulce, or kiss (two “kissing” sandwich cookies, hence their name) could be more cheeky, perhaps no baked good embodies this delightful playfulness better than the soft, swirly moustache.
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Named after the Spanish word for moustache, fanatics are like a cross between a laminated croissant and a soft, fluffy crescent roll. And despite their impressive results, they come together without the stress-inducing rolling process required of most breakfast pastries. Instead, they are made from an enriched product, as danish dough that is folded to create layers that yield a flaky, buttery pastry without you need to make a block of butter, wrap it in dried dough and roll it carefully, fold it and refrigerate. In some ways, the process of making bigots is like a slightly more complicated cookie, only on a much longer time frame. And although it's a baking project, most of the time required is just idle time in the fridge.
our Mustache recipes comes from Mexican-born pastry chef and cookbook author Fany Gerson, who says “it's straightforward and hard to mess up. You just need a little patience!” To make this pastry, Fany has you mix flour, sugar, yeast and salt together, then add cold butter, cut into pieces. Like pie or cookie dough, the cold butter is broken into the flour mixture until it is the size of a pea and the mixture resembles coarse flour. This step is crucial: Keeping the butter cold and intact here is what guarantees melting in the finished pastries. As the dough bakes, the pieces of butter melt in the heat of the oven and the small amount of water in the butter evaporates; this leaves little air pockets in the middle of the dough and creates separate, distinct layers.
After adding an egg and some milk and letting the dough chill for a few hours, the dough undergoes a series of letter folds. to build even more layers of butter. It then goes into the fridge for an overnight rest before it's time to roll, cut and shape – perfect for breakfast baking time. This process is closely related to croissants, with the dough cut and stretched into long, thin triangles and tightly rolled to form a crescent shape.
Once baked, the pastries are a delightful hybrid of soft and crispy. As Fany describes, they should have visible layers, but still be soft and spongy, without the overwhelming frosting of a croissant. “It's crunchy, it's pillowier (than a puff pastry) and I think the texture always surprises people,” she says.
And of course, part of the whimsy of fanatics is their endless flavor combinations. Fresh from the oven, each mustache is brushed with melted butter, then dusted with a mixture of granulated sugar. You can keep things simple and classic by using just plain sugar, but the real fun is playing around with all kinds of different flavor options. Fany likes a chocolate version made by adding cocoa powder to sugar; you can also flavor the sugar by mixing it with a pinch of cayenne or cinnamon. Or try a citrus twist by pulsing sugar with lime zest in a food processor, extracting a fragrant, slightly colored coating. Dried fruit powders it would also make particularly appealing iterations that would be at home after any panadería occasion. (See options in at the bottom of the recipe page and at Fany's instructional video.)
Photography by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne
The most important thing to do fanatics? Enjoy the process. As Fany recommends, “Put on some Latin music and just have fun.” That's what pan dulce is all about, after all.
For more recipes, check out our feature all about pan dulce.
Cover photo by Rick Holbrook; food styling by Kaitlin Wayne.
