REGIONAL TRADITONS
“MONA DE PASCUA”
The “Mona de Pascua” is a traditional sweet bread bun typically eaten at Easter. This particular time of year the bun has an additional ingredient only used at Easter. A hard-boiled egg is placed at the centre of the bun and eaten whole.
It is eaten on Monday after Easter Sunday around midday either on its own or with a cup of chocolate adding to the sweetness (yum!).
In the region of Murcia this sweet savoury product, usually brought from a local bakery, is brought on in the morning and is taken to the countryside to be eaten. People usually enjoy the “mona” amongst family and friends in a outside location and taking a picnic making a day of it.
It is a great way of getting out, enjoying the many and vast sceneries that the region has to offer and coming together with loved ones.
Around about this time of year the weather and temperature tends to improve and be on the rise making it a great opportunity to stretch your legs and have a wonder.
The hard-boiled egg to be placed at the centre of the bun is decorated with bright colours.
More recently this traditional bun has evolved to also include a chocolate egg.
If you are felling up to the challenge….and would like to make home-made Easter buns we have just the recipe for you!
Ingredients:
– Fresh Milk – 250 ml
– Fresh bakery yeast -25 g
– Sugar (and a little more for decorating) -120 g
– Lemon zest – 3 g
– Orange zest – 4 g
– Pinch of Salt
– Plain flour 600 g
– -2 large Eggs
– 1 EggYolk
– Extra virgin olive oil – 240 ml
– Cooked egg
Total cooking time: 1h 1mins (50mins mixing and 20 baking) + 4 hours standing time
Heat the milk until it feels warm to the touch, and try to have the eggs cooked. Crumble the yeast into the milk and add a pinch of the sugar already weighed, mix and leave to ferment for about 20 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, salt, citrus zest and the two eggs lightly beaten. Mix everything together slowly and pour in the milk with yeast. Start mixing everything and kneading a little; when it is all consistence texture add the olive oil.
Mix and fold with energy for about 15-20 minutes, by hand, or use a machine. To help, we can let the dough rest, covered, 30 minutes before continuing. With patience it will become elastic and manageable; it is not recommended to add more flour.
When it has a consistence texture, elastic and smooth, form a ball and cover it with a shower cap or plastic film. Leave to rise until it doubles its size, about two or three hours, depending on the room temperature. Prepare two large trays with oven paper.
Deflate and weigh to calculate the weight of 12 units. They will be approximately 100 g, although we can make them smaller ones to have between 15-20 in total. Flatten each portion, forming almost a rectangle, and fold the sides to the center. Turn over to leave the joints underneath and roll gently, pressing with your hands over the slit to create surface tension.
Place on the trays leaving enough space between them. Beat in a bowl the egg yolk with a splash of milk and brush the buns with a brush. Leave to rise in a place without drafts.
Preheat the oven to 220ºC. Re brush with egg and place the cooked eggs carefully in the middle of each bun (optional). Add sugar on top and place in the oven, lowering the temperature to 170ºC.
Bake for about 20 minutes, shifting the trays so they are baked equally. They should be well browned on the outside. Wait for a few minutes outside the oven before moving them to a rack to cool completely.
Ready to enjoy!
