Easy Homemade Pumpkin Shaped Conchas

Name: Easy Homemade Pumpkin Shaped Conchas
Prep time: 3 h 42 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 4 h
Ingredients: 250 g bread flour; 63 g granulated sugar; 4 g instant dry yeast; 2 g salt; 58 g butter (room temperature); 50 ml eggs (room temperature); 4 g vanilla extract; 67 ml milk (warm); 58 g butter (room temperature); 70 g granulated sugar; 65 g all purpose flour; dash vanilla extract; 2 g pumpkin spice (optional); 3-4 drops orange food coloring; 8 small pieces of cinnamon sticks(for the stems)

Watch a prerecorded live tutorial for these conchas here: https://www.girlsnitelive.com/product/pumpkin-shaped-conchas-replay/

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My homemade pumpkin shaped conchas are super soft, fluffy, and full of pumpkin spice flavor. Your family and friends won’t believe you made them from scratch! Pair them with a pumpkin spiced latte and you’ll have the best sweet treat this holiday season.

A short introduction to conchas

Conchas are a staple of Mexican cuisine, found throughout their bakeries. Here in the United States you can find them in the Hispanic foods isle at your nearest grocery store. If you visit a Latin-American store you will find them as the stars of the show in the bakery section.

Conchas are known as sweet bread because unlike typical bread doughs that only consist of flour, water, yeast and salt; their dough consists of flour, yeast, salt, sugar, butter, and milk. Conchas are topped with a streusel topping made from butter, flour, sugar, flavorings and spices. This topping is placed on top of the dough before baking and scored to form a seashell (or concha) design, hence the name. The topping can be easily scored using bread stamps or a sharp blade/knife.

Perfect for fall season

Conchas are enjoyed at any time, year around but making them pumpkin shape makes them extra enjoyable in the holiday season. The best part about this recipe is the added pumpkin spice. For this recipe I only added it into the topping. For a stronger flavor I suggest also adding it to the dough. Once you bake them you’ll get a whiff of that delicious pumpkin smell signature of fall.

How to make pumpkin shaped conchas

Steps:

Make the dough
First rise of dough
Make the topping
Roll the dough and assemble
Second rise of dough
Bake
Cool and remove bakers twine
Pat yourself in the back because you’ve just made pumpkin shaped conchas!

The dough

For the dough you will need flour, instant yeast , sugar, salt, any spices that you’d like to add, eggs, vanilla, butter, and milk. I prefer to use bread flour. It has higher protein content than all purpose flour creating a fluffier, chewier texture which is what I like for my conchas. You can use all purpose flour or even pastry flour for these, but keep in mind that the crumb of your conchas will be slightly different.

(1) Making the dough is simple. Place all of the dry ingredients and the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer using a dough hook.* When the butter has incorporated into the dry ingredients add in the egg and vanilla. Allow that to come together then, warm the milk in the microwave for about 25-30 seconds and add it a little bit at a time. Once all the milk has been added continue to knead the dough for three minutes. The finished dough will be elastic and slightly sticky. Use “stir” speed on the mixer throughout the making of the dough.

*You can also knead the dough by hand. This process takes longer.

(2) The first rise of the dough can take up to two hours. Place the finished dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with saran wrap and leave it in your oven for it to rise. If your oven has a bread proofing setting use it. If not turn on the oven light to create some warmth for the yeast to do its magic. The dough needs to double in size.

The topping

For the topping you will need butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, pumpkin spice, and orange food coloring. I like to use all purpose flour for the topping because I have found that I get a firmer topping to work with, compared to the bread flour. Any flour is fine though. Use what you have.

(3) Make the topping during the first rise of the dough. Combine all the ingredients in the same mixer bowl you made the dough. Using a paddle attachment beat the ingredients together until you form a paste. Don’t over mix. The orange food coloring plus the pumpkin spice will create a gorgeous burnt orange color. Wrap the topping in saran wrap and place it in the refrigerator until the dough is ready to be rolled.

Once you have prepared the topping cut out the bakers twine. Each piece should measure about 14 inches(36cm) in length. In total you will need to cut out 32 pieces.

Assembling the conchas

(4) Rolling the dough and assembling the conchas is the funnest part! After 2 hours your dough should be doubled in size and ready to be rolled. Weigh out 8 balls of dough, each 60 grams. Weight out 8 balls of topping each one 14 grams. Shape each ball of dough by placing your hand on top of it(think upside down cupped hand) and roll the dough back and forth under your hand until it forms a perfect round shape.

Grease your baking tray with some butter and space out the rolled dough balls. Grease the top of each ball with butter to make sure the topping sticks. Roll the topping in between your hands and flatten it with your palms. Using your fingers, continue to flatten out the topping as thin as you can to make it large enough to cover the top of the dough. Using the palm of your hand place the topping of top of the dough and gently press down.

Coat the bakers twine in butter or oil to prevent it from sticking to the conchas once baked. Move the concha to the side and create a crisscross with 4 pieces of bakers twine where the concha was. Move the concha on top of the crisscross and loosely tie together the twine opposite of each other across the top of the concha. To secure the bakers twine tie a knot with all pieces at the top and cut off the excess with scissors. Place the piece of cinnamon stick in the center of the concha. If you can’t fully center it, you can add it after the conchas are baked. Score the topping by creating vertical lines along the sides using a sharp blade or knife.

(5) The second rise of the dough will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Place the assembled conchas back in the oven for them to rise. They will double in size. As they double in size, they will grow into the bakers twine and will form the pumpkin shape. Take this time to clean up.

(6) Bake the conchas once they have doubled in size. Take the conchas out of the oven while you preheat it to 325 degrees F (162 degrees C). Depending on your oven, bake them for 15-18 minutes. They will expand and their bottoms will be golden brown.

(7) Cool and remove the bakers twine*. Once the conchas have cooled down, carefully untie the knot of the bakers twine and pull each piece away from the concha. Some of the bread may come off with the twine. That’s okay, just be as careful as possible. If your cinnamon sticks are not centered, remove them and place them in the center.

*The bakers twine may leave behind some fibers as you pull it away from the concha. I did my best to remove them before consuming. You can try a different alternative(using scissors to cut the dough to form the pumpkin shape) if you don’t want to use the bakers twine.

(8) You’ve just made pumpkin shaped conchas. Give yourself a round of applause and prepare for all the compliments you’ll receive from your family and friends!