![Hearty Bean Nachos With Spicy Salsa](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/11/04/dining/29nachosrex2/merlin_179172954_f28f94f2-a915-4df4-8605-441f8d1ab276-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Conchas
![Conchas](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/03/23/dining/21conchasrex1/merlin_203820735_814f6458-aa1b-4232-9c23-313907dcd691-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1½ hours, plus rising time
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 4cups/520 grams all-purpose flour (or bread flour, see Tip), plus more for dusting
- 7tablespoons/87 grams granulated sugar
- 2teaspoons coarse kosher salt (Morton)
- 1tablespoon instant yeast
- ¾cup/175 grams whole milk, at room temperature
- 4large eggs, at room temperature
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- 13tablespoons/185 grams unsalted butter, diced and brought to room temperature, plus more for greasing
- 1½cups/180 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1½cups/184 grams all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1cup/180 grams vegetable shortening
- 1tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1½cups/180 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1½cups/184 grams all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1cup/180 grams vegetable shortening
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2tablespoons instant espresso coffee combined with 2 teaspoons boiling water
- 1½cups/180 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1⅓cups/170 grams all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1cup/180 grams vegetable shortening
- ¼cup/22 grams cocoa powder combined with 3 tablespoons boiling water
For the Dough
For the Vanilla Topping (for 15 Buns)
For the Café Con Leche Topping (for 15 Buns)
For the Cocoa Topping (for 15 Buns)
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the dough: Whisk the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the milk, eggs and vanilla. Mix on the lowest speed to combine without the flour splattering out of the bowl, about 20 seconds. (If needed, use a spatula to push the flour mixture toward the hook.) Raise speed to medium-high and mix until the dough slaps and pulls away from the sides of the bowl and starts to form a smooth, elastic ball around the hook, 10 to 15 minutes. Stay close to your mixer because it will start jumping all over your counter.
- Step 2
Reduce speed to low and add the butter gradually, in 3 to 4 additions. Once all butter is added, increase speed to medium-high. Continue mixing until the dough is again pulling away from the sides of the bowl, loudly slapping it and gathering into a very soft, elastic, silky and shiny mass that hugs the dough hook, 8 to 12 minutes. Again, stay close to your mixer because it will jump. The moment you stop beating the dough, it will relax into the bowl again.
- Step 3
Transfer the dough to a large buttered bowl. To activate the gluten further, stretch and fold the dough: Using one or both of your hands, reach down between the greased side of the bowl and the dough, and lift the dough up out of the bowl and fold the dough over itself. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat the process three more times. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, place it in the refrigerator for the first rise and let it chill anywhere from 4 hours to 24 hours.
- Step 4
Cover three 13-by-18-inch rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Cover a small area of your countertop with a light layer of flour. Bring the dough out of the refrigerator and, using your hands or a bench scraper, cut it into 15 pieces, each about 76 grams, which is about a ⅓-cup scoop. One by one, pat each piece of dough into a flat shape on the floured surface, then draw the edges into the center, working your way around, pinching the dough together into the center of what should now be a ball. Turn the ball over, cup it with your hand and move it in circles, rolling it over the counter for a few seconds to make a neater round. Repeat with the remaining conchas and place 5 equally spaced balls on each of the 3 prepared baking sheets. Make sure there is a bit of flour on the counter before pressing each piece of dough, as the dough is very sticky.
- Step 5
Make your preferred topping (see Tip): Combine all the ingredients for the selected topping flavor in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed until the ingredients begin to combine, about 20 to 30 seconds. Raise the speed to medium and mix to form a glossy and smooth mixture, about 2 minutes.
- Step 6
Fill a small bowl halfway with warm water to wet your hands while you work to divide and shape the topping. Portion the topping with a soup spoon to create 15 portions that are about 30 grams each. Wet your hands thoroughly and roll one portion of the topping into a ball. Set the ball in one palm and, using the other hand, pat it out into a 3½-inch round, as if you were patting a thick tortilla. (The topping is very sticky and soft, like a thick frosting, so you should moisten your hands as needed.) Place the round disk over a concha and slide your fingers around the edges of the topping, pressing it lightly around the rim to gently adhere to the bun. The topping should not go all the way down to the parchment paper, but be at least about ¼ inch from it. Repeat to top the remaining conchas, keeping your hands wet throughout.
- Step 7
To make a shell pattern, dip a concha mold into flour to coat and very gently press the mold on the topping from one side to the other in a rolling motion, doing so swiftly and with determination as you move from side to side. (Dipping the mold in flour prevents it from sticking to the topping and prevents the topping from peeling away from the dough.) The mold should make a shell-shaped mark on the concha topping, merely indenting it without breaking through to the dough. If you don’t have a concha mold, you can make the shape with a dinner knife by dipping it in flour and marking each concha with curves, lines or squares, but avoiding piercing through to the dough.
- Step 8
Cover the conchas with clean kitchen towels and set in a warm, draft-free area of your kitchen until they puff considerably, anywhere from 1½ to 2 hours. (They don’t need to double in size.) At this point, the shaped toppings may have spread slightly, opening a bit more into the indented shapes.
- Step 9
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the conchas until golden brown and even more puffed, about 20 to 22 minutes. (If all three sheet pans don’t fit in the oven at once, you can simply bake the third batch after you’ve baked the first two.) Remove from the oven.
- Step 10
Let rest for a few minutes before serving. Conchas are best the day they are baked, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Bread flour will yield buns with a more defined and slightly taller round shape, a more doughy and chewy texture, and a slightly less sweet taste.
- Each of the three toppings yields enough to cover the full recipe of 15 conchas, but if you would like to try multiple flavor profiles, you can simply divide each topping by two or three. Due to the smaller amount, you’ll need to blend the ingredients using a hand mixer, or simply in a bowl with a spatula.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I haven't made this yet, but wanted to express my admiration for how nicely-detailed these instructions are, right down to explaining pan sizes/bun layout/portion weights etc. (I do hope a video will be uploaded at some point, due to how intricate the shaping steps are). Also, I don't understand how this recipe only has 3 stars, yet not a single review in text. Reminder: we can ask questions/opine Without assigning star ratings - doing otherwise renders the ratings meaningless.
Depending on where you live, find Concha’s in a Mexican grocery or Panaderia, easy. Make the dough in your bread maker up to the point of cooking. Take out and proceed (after putting the bread maker on a chair) to make the concha’s on the tiny counter. Bake!
Can these be frozen, cooked or uncooked?
Only thing I will change from this recipe is the fat used on the topping, had used many to try over the years and by get the best topping uses lard, it is crunchier and as the days pass the texture is retrained the longest
I made these with the bread flour option. They were absolutely delicious & I found the recipe very easy to follow, nicely detailed. My tips are to be patient (it took a while for all of that butter to get incorporated into the dough) and turn that mixer up as the recipe prescribes. Sure, Kitchen Aid says don’t do that, but I’ve been beating stiff doughs with it on medium-high for years now, with no ill effect. Topping went in the oven pretty, came out less so. Oh well. Still yummy.
So I actually made these. My KitchenAid manual clearly states that dough should never go above setting 2 or thereabouts… . I did not want to risk killing the motor so kneaded on low for about 5-10 minutes longer than specified before and after the butter was added. 15 hour rise, three flavors for topping. Most of my conchas were not nearly as pretty as I hoped (need to work on scoring?), but they otherwise turned out well, if huge. The bread is super rich — richer than brioche even.
These were so delicious. I used avocado oil for the topping and so the texture was slightly different than a traditional concha. However, they were very, very delicious.
Why did my dough come out like a batter instead of dough it’s too soft to do anything with it ? I followed the recipe to the exact amounts
Loved the dough. I didn't use vegetable shortening for the topping. I used butter and it did melt a little, but it was still really good. The topping was crunchy and didn't crumble off like the store bought conchas. I really liked this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Today I baked the conchas after resting the dough in the refrigerator overnight. The oven temperature is way too high and the baking time is way too long based on the temperature, causing the bottoms to burn and to dry out the inside. I remedied this by placing another baking sheet under the one that the conchas were on & turned the temperature to between 350 and 340 F, baking just until light golden. The texture was perfect once these adjustments were made.
I live in Mexico, so I know what a great concha is. THIS is a great concha. My kids and I made matcha conchas and they were fantastic.
Do you use the same amount of matcha powder as they call for cocoa powder? I found another recipe by Irving Quiroz where he bakes them at around 325 F for 18 to 25 minutes. Wondering if that might help prevent burning the bottom while the top browns?
I just finished making these, I followed the recipe using grams which was really helpful. The end product lacked flavor though. It wasn’t sweet at all. The first tray I baked it for 20 mins and it was overdone. The next tray I baked for 17 mins and was perfect. Just wish it was sweeter and maybe add some anise for flavor.
Conchas are similar to a Parker House roll or brioche in sweetness and crumb. They have just enough butter and egg to make for a flavorful dough, but are not as sweet as a doughnut or an American scone. These breads are often eaten as the evening meal, often used to dunk in some hot chocolate or coffee. Anise is used in several pan dulces, but not conchas.
I followed the recipe for the breads and added 1 TBSP of instant coffee to the cocoa topping recipe as well as 1 additional TBSP of water. The pan dulces turned out extremely soft and fluffy and perfectly complemented the crunchy topping. It was a heavenly experience to eat one still warm from the oven with a cup of coffee. I baked 10/15 of the conchas today and will see how the remaining 5 fare tomorrow after being refrigerated after assembly. Ms. Jinich's notes are impeccable.
Will you share how the refridgerated rolls turned out?
These came out incredible! I recently lost my neighborhood panadería, but there was a joy in making these at home. Any advice on ensuring the topping sticks, and doesn't flake off while baking, is welcome.
I probably flattened mine a bit smaller than Ms. Jinich suggested and only a little flaked off while still providing a lot of coverage. Next time I might even try refrigerating the topping dough for a bit before rolling them out, as I suspect my warm kitchen might have loosened things up a bit more than intended.
I made these with the bread flour option. They were absolutely delicious & I found the recipe very easy to follow, nicely detailed. My tips are to be patient (it took a while for all of that butter to get incorporated into the dough) and turn that mixer up as the recipe prescribes. Sure, Kitchen Aid says don’t do that, but I’ve been beating stiff doughs with it on medium-high for years now, with no ill effect. Topping went in the oven pretty, came out less so. Oh well. Still yummy.
Only thing I will change from this recipe is the fat used on the topping, had used many to try over the years and by get the best topping uses lard, it is crunchier and as the days pass the texture is retrained the longest
Time: 1st Rise: 4-24 hours. 2nd Rise: 1 1/2 to 2 hours. You can divide the dough into smaller increments. For 24 Buns ~1140g (~47.5g), topping ~450g(~18.75g).
I was disappointed in the flavor, particularly since this is so labor intensive. Think it could have been a tad sweeter.
What should folks do who don’t have a stand mixer? Would an electric hand mixer work here on low?
Very nice recipe. I wouldn't invest in single-use devices like concha molds, but these would work well even as simple rolls. A slightly less sweet, 1700s English cousin of this recipe is the Sally Lunn (kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/little-sally-lunns-recipe) The sweet-brioche family of breads is pretty forgiving: decades ago, I mistakenly bought an El Cheapo bread maker. Sally Lunn loaf (from the recipe booklet) was the only decent thing it made.
You don't need to invest in a mold, you can simply score the topping with a knife. But if you want a roll, then make rolls. The allure of the conchas is the combination of the topping with the bread. A concha is not a concha without the topping!
Delightfully delicious - incredibly light and rich and tasty.
Advertisement