Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click on the link and make a purchase.
Conchas are a Mexican bread, a sweet bread (Pan Dulce) that are served at panaderías. This concha bread is a soft, enriched dough that has a lovely buttery and sweet flavor.
Let’s talk about Mexican conchas which are also known as pan dulce!
Sweet Bread literally translates to pan dulce in Spanish. While concha in English translates to seashell. Makes sense given that conchas look like seashells!
When I moved back to California after I graduated college, I realized I literally knew nothing about Mexican food. I, of course, had eaten a good amount of Mexican food when I lived in the OC as a little kid. But I don’t think I understood what I was eating. I also don’t think we ate a huge variety of Mexican food. And to be honest, my mom cooked most of the meals we ate. We weren’t a super “go-out-to-eat” type of family. That woman was on a budget!
When I finally moved back to Los Angeles, after college, I started to really understand and learn the different varieties of Mexican food and it was cool. I learned the differences between food from Baja, Mexico City, Colima, the Yucatan and Oaxaca. And my actual trips to Mexico have been even more educational.
One of my favorite places I went to in Mexico City was a panadería where they served the warmest, freshest conchas with the crispiest tops.
The Anatomy of Conchas/Pan Dulce
If you’ve never had a concha/pan dulce, they consist of this: on the bottom there is a brioche-like dough that’s rolled into rounds. The top is a streusel-like shell that is mixed until it’s super smooth, and then patted into a thin round and draped over the dough. Next, a concha-shaped cutter is pressed into the top. Since I don’t own one, I used a knife to score it. The slats won’t be perfect but once the concha/pan dulce is baked up, you won’t be able to notice. Then, the dough is baked after a quick rise.
The top is crunchy and crisp, the bottom half, fluffy and soft. They’re typically eaten at breakfast time with a mug of hot chocolate or coffee.
The Origins of Conchas and Pan Dulce
While conchas/pan dulce are for sure Mexican, their origins go back to Europe. Many panaderias were influenced by the French, who migrated there for who knows why, bringing their doughs and techniques to Mexico. Mexican chefs adapted these doughs and created many of the goods you see in panaderias today.
I love learning about history in food. It’s truly fascinating, especially in Latin America. A few weeks ago, I bought a few books (they’re on their way to me), that will teach me a thing or two about our food history.
I’ll share more info when I learn it! In the mean time, let’s make some Mexican pan dulce/conchas!
And of course, pair it with a few cups of fancy hot chocolate!
More Cozy Mexican Recipes
Conchas Recipe (Pan Dulce – Sweet Bread)
Ingredients
Concha Dough:
- 3 tablespoons warm water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk (you can also use regular whole milk)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
Streusel Topping:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- Food Coloring Gel
Instructions
To Make the Concha Dough:
- To the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the hook attachment (you can also do this in a large bowl and knead it by hand!), add the warm water. Pour the active dry yeast on top and mix in into the water. Allow to stand until foamy, about 5 to 7 minutes. If it doesn’t get foamy then you’ll need to do it again.
- When the active dry yeast is foamy, pour in the vegetable oil, melted butter, granulated sugar, evaporated milk, salt, vanilla, ground cinnamon and eggs. Break up the eggs with the back of a spatula and allow the dough hook to mix it up a bit, about 30 seconds.
- Next, pour the flour in all at once and run the machine for about 5 minutes on medium speed, until the dough is soft and smooth. If you’re doing this by hand, once the dough comes together, you’ll want to dump it out onto your floured counter and knead it for about 10 minutes, until it’s nice and smooth.
- Rub a large bowl with oil or spray it with cooking spray and place the dough in the center of the bowl. Cover it with a clean kitchen towel and allow it to rise for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.
To Make the Streusel-Topping:
- In the bowl of stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (you could also mix this by hand if you don’t have a mixer), add the butter, sugar, flour and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Divide the dough in two. To one part of the topping, add a drop of food coloring gel. To the other topping, add the cocoa powder and knead until it’s cohesive.
To Assemble the Conchas:
- Once the dough has risen, divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Or better yet, weigh them into balls of 100g. Form the balls of dough into rounds. Repeat until you’ve worked through all of the dough.
- Take about 2 tablespoons of the topping and rollout using our palms, flatting it into a thin round. Drape it over the round of dough, patting down lightly. Using a knife, cut grooves in the topping like a clam shell. You can also do other types of cuts like criss cross, circles, etc. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool. Serve with hot chocolate or coffee.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you make these conchas, let me know on Instagram!
Looking for more Latin-inspired recipes? Here are some other favorites:
Hi! I have made these twice and each time they won’t rise fully in the oven. The bread comes out denser and wet, but rises before I bake. Is it the all purpose flour that is causing this?
Thank you! Kelli
hmm i don’t understand. so it’s coming out dense but rises before you bake it?
Best concha recipe ever! Wouldnt chage a thing, except leaving the dough to rise for 2-3 hours and adding different colored food dye!
First try was with instant yeast and the dough did not rise at all. Tossed it and tried again with dry active yeast. It took much longer than expected to bloom the yeast (in part because my house tends to be cold) but I also added a half teaspoon of sugar to feed the yeast and then it foamed up as expected. I needed to add extra flour (I live in a humid area) but the dough eventually came together and I did get a good rise this time. The topping was initially like sand and would not hold any shape. I added a couple extra tablespoons of vegetable shortening to the toping mixture and that worked out great. I didn’t have any trouble with the topping slipping off. The end result was delicious!
The French Influence in Mexican cuisine stems from the occupation of Mexico by the French Empire in the 1860, where the Emperador Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Loren brought his chefs, who left their colonial mark in Mexico’s cuisine with bolillos (pan frances), and from which conchas’ recopies were derived.
Love this recipe! I was wondering, could you substitute bread flour for all purpose flour?
hi kat! awesome. bread flour has a different hydration level so i wouldn’t say that it’s a 1:1 substitute. you’d have to add more liquid and more butter so it’s not dry!
The recipe was extremely easy to follow but my dough would not rise the entire hour nor the 30 minutes and not even in the oven. Yes the yeast was active we just went to the store the morning I made them. I redid the recipe 3 times and the same thing happened. I decided to try to do it even tho it wasn’t rising hoping for it to rise in the oven….it didn’t. The dough was also very dry all 3 times but didn’t fall apart, but after cooking they were super hard. I only got 6 Conchas out of the entire recipe. Perhaps it was the fact that I used instant but still really disappointed
hi bella, sorry this recipe gave you trouble. not sure what was going on. the only thing i can think is that it wasn’t warm enough in your kitchen for it to rise.
hi Adrianna!
Currently, I’m in the process of using your recipe. Would you say (in your experience) that there’s a difference between using confectioners sugar for the topping instead of granulated sugar?
I made a different recipe for conchas before using this one and that one called for confectioners sugar whereas yours calls for granulated for the topping. I’m currently just testing out multiple recipes to see what works best for me. thanks for any feedback, and thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Hello,
I made the Conchas and they were delicious. The next day they became a bit crumbly and the topping was breaking.
Can we use instant yeast instead? And would it be one packet or a different amount?
yes i’ve included instructions in the notes part as to how to use instant yeast. it will be the same amount.
Love this recipe but how can I keep r p the topping from spreading too much and falling of the concha?
I made this and my topping was super sticky and didn’t turn out. What did I do wrong? I followed the recipe ☹
hi marquee! sorry about that can you send me a photo on IG Dm?
I live in Wisconsin and make this recipe at home; never had a problem with it. I made it for the first time in Texas in a house without air conditioning and can tell you that the topping holds up MUCH better at a cooler temperature. At home, I use plastic wrap to flatten the topping instead of using my hands or a rolling pin.