Eggless Conchas de Colores Naturales - Eggless Baking Group

It has been a while since I did any of the Eggless baking group Challenges. This month, something came over me and I started baking within a week of Gayathri’s announcement. I owe this enthusiasm to new batch of yeast that I had purchased and my bakes are turning out great!

For this month’s challenge, Gayathri chose the Conchas de Colores Naturales. The moment I saw the pics in the announcement post, I wanted to make these beautiful bakes.

Conchas are Mexican Sweet Breads.These belong to the Pan Dulce variety and they get this name from the shell-like shape.In Mexico such types of breads are served for breakfast/ late supper and along with hot chocolate / coffee/ milk and it is dipped in the beverage for a better taste.

The original recipe uses natural ingredients for coloring the outer shell. I used cocoa powder and a few drops of food color.

I used:

Adapted from here and here

For the starter :

All purpose flour / Maida- 1 cup
Instant yeast- 2 teaspoons
Warm Milk-3/4 cup

For the dough:

All purpose flour /Maida- 2 1/4 cups – 2 1/2 cups
Egg replacer powder- 1 tablespoon mixed in 3 tablespoons of water
Butter- 3 tablespoons
Powdered sugar-1/2 cup
Vanilla essence- 2 teaspoons

For the cookie topping:

All purpose flour- 1 cup
Powdered sugar- 1 cup
Softened butter- 1/2 cup
Salt- a pinch

Cocoa powder and other food colors as needed.

For the starter :

Combine milk and yeast in a bowl and add the flour. Mix well .Cover and set aside till frothy/ bubbly/ double in volume.

Meanwhile prepare the topping

In a bowl take the flour, sugar and butter and make a dough out of it. If it is too crumbly add a few drops[yes, drops] of milk. Divide into small portions and mix in the food color and cocoa to each portion and refrigerate for half and hour so that it is easy to work with later.

Once the starter is ready, add all the other ingredients for the dough and knead to a smooth but a little sticky dough.Start with 2 1/4 cups of flour and then if it is too sticky add another 1/4 cup,spoon by spoon and not at one go.

Keep in an oiled vessel,covered till it doubles in volumes approx 1 1/2 hours.

Once the dough has doubled, take it out from the bowl and punch it down to remove the air. Make golf sized balls.

Also take out the topping from the fridge and divide them into equal portions as the dough.

Roll out the cookie dough into a circle and lift it carefully off the board[see notes below] and place it on top of the dough..Press it gently and cover the sides to seal it.

Using a sharp knife score lines / patterns on the cookie topping but not too deep

Place the balls on a greased / a tray lined with parchment sheet for 30 minutes. The cookie topping will crack/ break in some places. But don’t worry. The conchas will still look pretty.

Bake in a pre heated oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes or till the top hardens a bit and the dough part turns a little brown.

Cool on a wire rack and serve

Note:

While rolling out the cookie dough topping, dust the work surface with flour and then roll out. Use a spatula to remove the rolled out dough .Some of mine cracked when I tried to peel it off the surface.But a quick motion with a spatula did the job!
In the final stage, keep the dough balls covered while the rest are being covered with the cookie dough.Else the dough will become dry.
Don’t use too much flour in the beginning to knead the dough.Too much flour will not give the right texture to the buns.