Pan De Muerto (Day Of The Dead Bread)

• 1/4 cup (114 g) whole milk
• 3 cups (361 g) bread flour
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (5 g) instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon (4 g) fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon (8 g) anise seeds
• zest of 1 orange
• 2 large (113 g) eggs
• egg wash, as needed for finishing
• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade or simple syrup (optional, for finishing)
• 1/2 cup (99 g) vanilla sugar, or as needed for finishing

1. Heat the milk with a few blasts in the microwave until it reads about 85-95u0b0 F on a thermometer.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, mix the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, anise seed, orange zest, warm milk, and eggs on low speed for 3 minutes. (Read the full article to see how you can do it without a mixer.)
3. Raise speed to medium and mix for 4 minutes more. Transfer the dough to a medium greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1-1 1/2 hours. It won't quite double in size.
4. Remove 5 ounces (about 1/8 of the total dough) from the dough. Divide this piece into five 1 ounce pieces.
5. Roll the remaining large piece of dough gently into a round. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Press your thumb gently into the center of the loaf to make a deep indentation in the surface.
6. Roll one of the 1 ounce pieces into a round and place it inside the indentation. You can use a little water to brush onto the dough ball to help it adhere.
7. Take the remaining 1 ounce pieces of dough and roll each into long ropes that are thicker at the ends than in the center. The idea is to make them kind of look like bones (but no need to go crazy-it will look cool no matter what).
8. Brush each of the dough "bones" lightly with water and arrange in a circle around the dough ball on top. The pieces should wrap around the sides of the bread.
9. Cover the dough with lightly greased plastic wrap and let it rise for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until noticeably larger and puffy. Towards the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 350u0b0 F.
10. Remove the plastic wrap and egg wash the loaf all over. Bake the loaf until golden brown, 35-45 minutes. The internal temperature of the loaf should read at least 190u0b0F on a thermometer.
11. While the loaf is still warm, toss the vanilla sugar evenly over the outside. If you do it while the loaf is warm, it will adhere easily. If you have trouble, you can brush the loaf lightly with 2 tablespoons of orange jam or simple syrup, then sprinkle again to make sure it has something to stick to.
12. Let the loaf cool completely before slicing and serving.

milk, bread flour, sugar, yeast, salt, anise seeds, eggs, egg wash, orange marmalade, vanilla sugar

Taken from food52.com/recipes/73510-pan-de-muerto-day-of-the-dead-bread (may not work)