A traditional Mexican sweet bread recipe, featuring a soft, fluffy dough topped with a decorative, crumbly sugar paste, often flavored with vanilla, chocolate, or colored.
For the dough: Mix the yeast and warm milk until no lumps remain, cover with plastic, and let rest until doubled in size. In a separate bowl, mix the flour and salt. Add the margarine and mix until incorporated. Beat 4 eggs and add them to the flour mixture, along with the yeast mixture and 1 cup of water. Mix well and knead the dough for about 20 minutes by hand until it's no longer sticky. If using a mixer, constantly scrape the sides of the bowl and knead at medium speed until the dough separates from the bowl on its own. Then cover with plastic and let rest until it doubles in size, about 2 hours; ensure your kitchen is at least 72 F.
For the decorative paste: Mix all ingredients and gradually add the extra flour until you obtain a non-sticky paste. Divide the paste into 3 parts: add cocoa powder to one part, pink food coloring to another, and leave the last part plain. Divide the pink paste into 6 parts and the other two (cocoa and plain) into 5 parts each.
When the dough has risen, cut it into 16 equal parts. Use 2 baking trays, grease them with vegetable shortening, and place 8 dough balls on each tray. Grease your hands and flatten each piece of dough. Make a tortilla shape with a piece of the decorative paste and place it on top of each flattened dough piece; press very well. Use any round cookie cutter or an empty can to make the concha pattern on the paste. Then cover with plastic, not too tightly, and let rest for about 40 minutes or until you can see that each piece has rounded.
Bake at 350 F (175 C) for 18-20 minutes. If your bread only gets color on one side, rotate the tray to ensure even browning and complete baking.
