A History, Meaning, Regional Varieties, Plus an Easy Pan de Muerto Recipe

Pan de Muerto, or Bread of the Dead, is a traditional sweet bread baked during the Día de los Muertos season as both a decoration for altars honoring deceased loved ones and a delicious treat enjoyed by the living throughout the celebration. Pan de Muerto holds a special place in Mexican culture, acting as a cultural symbol even for those who do not actively celebrate the holiday. Similar to the mooncake during the Lunar Festival in East Asia, the Italian Pan dei Morti, or the English soul cake, Pan de Muerto represents family unity and is an essential part of Day of the Dead.

And while the iconic bread with a turtle shell-like design, decorated with crossbones — known as hojaldra — is familiar to most Mexicans both in Mexico and abroad, the state of Oaxaca offers a fascinating array of eight regional varieties made with unique local ingredients that reflect the culinary traditions of different communities. Each is uniquely decorated, showcasing the cultural richness and diversity of the region.

The History of Pan de Muerto

The first known depiction of Pan de Muerto appears in the 1860 painting El Bodegón de Panes con Naranja by José Agustín Arrieta. With the first published recipe for Pan de Muerto can be found in Josefina Velázquez de León’s Repostería Selecta, published in 1938. Today, however, Mexico is home to around 700 regional varieties of Pan de Muerto — a figure supported by the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad and the Secretaría de Cultura — with the hojaldra being the most popular and recognized variety.

But as with most things in Mexico, no one really knows where this bread came from, as the introduction of bread and bakeries to the New World is reluctantly credited to Hernán Cortés, who, like me, couldn't live without bread. And in 1525, as Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, he commissioned the first mill and bakery on the outskirts of Oaxaca, ensuring a steady supply of fresh bread. However, the origins of Pan de Muerto can be traced back even further to the Aztecs, who offered figurines made from amaranth dough and covered in prickly-pear juice as symbolic offerings to their gods.

These figurines represented those who had crossed into Mictlán, the Aztec underworld. And while the exact materials used in these offerings is debated, some speculate they may have included real human parts and blood — though that's open to interpretation. That said, the ancestors of modern Pan de Muerto can be linked to:

Papalotlaxcalli — A pre-Hispanic bread made from amaranth, corn, and agave honey, shaped like a butterfly and offered to the deceased.
Pan de Ánimas — An anthropomorphic bread used in All Saints’ Day celebrations in Spain, known as an ánimita in some regions of Mexico.

In other words, Pan de Muerto is more than just a sweet bread — it's a synthesis of indigenous and colonial histories embodying the entire Mexican experience. The blending of indigenous and colonial worlds, survival through transformation, and remembrance through ritual. An ordinary bread to outsiders, but to many, it carries traces of conquest, ritual, and cultural transformation, a living cultural artifact. Pan de Muerto didn't simply 'arrive' in the New World; it evolved, from an Aztec ritual food to a modern symbol of remembrance. And to understand Pan de Muerto is to understand Mexico itself — layered, complex, and still evolving. It's the story of Mexico, baked into a loaf of bread.

The Meaning Behind the Hojaldra Pan de Muerto

The bread of the dead isn't a loaf you just eat — you interpret. It's a piece of anthropology dusted with sugar and every part of the Hojaldra Pan de Muerto tells a story. The round shape represents the cycle of life and death — a reminder that one cannot exist without the other. The bone-like strips across the top symbolize the limbs of the departed, while the small knob at the center represents the skull. Some say the crossed pieces also echo the four cardinal points, each tied to pre-Hispanic beliefs about the elements and the gods who ruled over them. The bread's orange blossom flavor isn't accidental either; it's meant to honor the souls of the dead, as the scent of flor de azahar was traditionally used in offerings.

Pan de Muerto in Oaxaca

While the Hojaldra is the most common variety you'll find both in Mexico and Mexican bakeries in the U.S., in Oaxaca you'll find at least eight varieties of Pan de Muerto. The most popular being the Pan de Yema, believed to have originated in Santo Domingo Tomaltepec near El Árbol del Tule. It is available year-round, though for the season it features a flour-baked face known as an Alfeñique (sugar skull). Though some of us affectionately call it Jesus Bread — a nickname I'd never heard growing up in Oaxaca until my white American girlfriend pointed it out years later. And it's easy to see why as some of the faces resemble Christ, even local bakers admit as much.

And in the southern and coastal regions of Oaxaca, the bread is often shaped like a human figure, called Ánima, as a dedication to the deceased being honored.

However, obtaining many of these regional varieties of Pan de Muerto in Oaxaca can be challenging for two reasons. First, most artisan products are typically only available in their respective local communities. Second, these unique breads are baked within a very limited timeframe. So unless you have connections within rural communities who can provide advance notice of availability, they can be difficult to acquire in the two weeks they are baked and sold.

That said, each year my great-aunt painstakingly gathers an assortment of Pan de Muerto from various regions in Oaxaca and Mexico City. The sight of her altar, adorned with an incredible array of breads — each with its own shape, design, and flavor — is truly remarkable. From the traditional Hojaldra to the lesser-known Pan de Pulque, her collection beautifully showcases the rich diversity of both Mexican and Oaxacan Pan de Muerto — a true labor of love, preserving and honoring our cultural heritage.

A Simple Pan de Muerto Recipe and Ingredients

Not gonna lie, I am the least qualified person to be giving any sort of baking advice — let alone a full-on "how to bake Pan de Muerto from scratch" recipe — but for the sake of our algorithm overlord, I've got to at least pretend to know what the fuck I'm doing here. After all, at its core, it's a simple, sweet, buttery bread flavored with orange zest or blossom water, topped with sugar, and shaped with dough "bones." You mix, knead, rise, bake, and sugar-coat — simple, right? ¡Pero no es cierto!

Now, you can find endless versions of Pan de Muerto recipes online — some passed down through families, others adapted for quick weeknight baking, ranging from abuelita-approved to 'made this in my air fryer." From what I've gathered, you don't need fancy tools or imported ingredients, just time and patience. Traditionally, the process starts days in advance, often with someone kneading the dough by hand while remembering those who've passed. But what makes it special isn't the recipe itself — it's the intention behind it: baking as a form of remembrance. That said, I recommend you check the videos I linked below.

- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ teaspoons (one packet) active dry yeast
- ½ cup warm milk
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup butter, softened
- Zest of one orange (or a few drops of orange blossom water)
- Extra butter and sugar for brushing
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm milk with a spoonful of sugar. Let it sit until foamy.
2. Add the remaining sugar, eggs, salt, orange zest, and half of the flour. Mix until combined.
3. Gradually add the butter and the rest of the flour, kneading until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
4. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for about two hours.
5. Shape the dough into a round loaf, adding the signature "bones" and small round top. Let it rise again for an hour.
6. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25–30 minutes, until golden brown.
7. While still warm, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Where to Buy Pan de Muerto

For the rest of us who just want to eat bread to our heart's content, you can find Pan de Muerto at most Mexican bakeries from early October through early November. If you're in Los Angeles as I am, you're in luck — you can find a Mexican bakery in practically every neighborhood.

I'd start in East L.A., the city's unofficial capital of Mexican bakeries, Sonora Bakery never fails. But you can also start with the usual suspects: La Monarca, Vallarta Supermarket, Northgate Market, and Superior Grocers — my pick, if I'm being honest. And if it's the Jesus Bread you're after, El Valle Oaxaqueño in Pico-Union is the place to go. Parking is atrocious though, so heads up.

Elsewhere, such as San Diego, I'd start in Barrio Logan; in San Francisco, the Mission District; and in Chicago, La Villita. Almost every major city has a Mexican neighborhood of sorts, so start there. In Mexico of course, every neighborhood bakery (panadería) sells it fresh out of the oven — usually early in the morning and again in the evening. But whether you bake it at home or buy it, the goal is the same: to bring a little sweetness to the season and keep this tradition alive, one sweet loaf at a time. And if you'd like to shout out your local bakery, drop 'em in the comments.

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