Tag: Dia De Los Muertos

Sourdough Pan de Muerto: A Meaningful Día de los Muertos Recipe

Learn how to make traditional Pan de Muerto with sourdough starter. This is a perfect Día de los Muertos recipe for educators exploring Mexican culture through food and hands-on learning.

Pan de Muerto — or “Bread of the Dead” — is a soft, sweet Mexican bread traditionally made to honor loved ones during Día de los Muertos. As an educator, introducing this recipe in your classroom or community is a wonderful way to teach students about Mexican culture through food. This version uses a sourdough starter for a more natural fermentation, bringing depth of flavor and a hands-on lesson in slow baking.

What Is Pan de Muerto?

Pan de Muerto is often placed on ofrendas (altars) to welcome the spirits of loved ones back during Día de los Muertos. Its round shape represents the cycle of life and death, while the bone-shaped decorations symbolize the deceased.

Ingredients:

  • 150g active sourdough starter
  • 500g flour + 1/2 cup extra
  • 100g warm almond milk
  • 3 whole eggs + 3 egg yolks
  • 150g sugar (or substitute)
  • 4g salt
  • 2 tsp orange extract
  • 114g or 1 stick of room temperature butter

Instructions:

  1. Mix the starter with warm almond milk until fully combined.
  2. In a large bowl, add half the flour and the milk/starter mixture.
  3. Add the remaining flour, sugar, salt, and orange extract. Gradually mix in the eggs.
  4. Add butter a little at a time until the dough forms (it will be sticky).
  5. Knead using slap-and-folds on the counter. Rest between sets and repeat 3 times.
  6. Let dough rise in a greased bowl until doubled (4–6 hours).
  7. Divide into dough balls (one per loaf), reserving extra for decoration.
  8. Shape “bones” and center “skulls,” then place on top of each loaf.
  9. Final proof for 2–3 hours.
  10. Brush with egg wash and bake at 350°F for 20–25 minutes. Finish with sugar.

Peep the video below for step by step instructions

Why It’s Great for the Classroom

This recipe opens conversations around cultural heritage, symbolism, and traditional food practices. Using a sourdough starter adds a fermentation science element that can tie into STEM discussions. It’s perfect for home ec classes, multicultural studies, or community events around October and November.

Let me know how it turns out and let me know what you’d like to see next. Buen provecho!

Create A Virtual Ofrenda For Día De Los Muertos In Canva

Celebrate Día De Los Muertos in your classroom with this Canva digital ofrenda activity! Students design creative altars to honor loved ones while learning cultural history and symbolism.

October can feel like a marathon of candy, costumes, and controlled chaos, but it’s also a wonderful opportunity to help students explore meaningful cultural traditions. Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is one of those celebrations that beautifully blends history, art, and reflection without requiring a sugar rush to enjoy it.

I created a Canva digital ofrenda activity as a simple, engaging way to introduce students to this important tradition. An ofrenda is a home altar built to honor and remember loved ones who have passed away. It’s often decorated with marigolds, candles, sugar skulls, photos, and favorite foods. Each element holds significance, from guiding spirits back to the world of the living to celebrating the lives that shaped us. Check mine out below along with the explanation.

This Canva template comes with three different design options, plus a design assets page packed with icons, flowers, frames, candles, and sugar skulls that students can copy and paste directly into their own ofrenda. Once students choose their favorite layout, they can delete the other two and get straight to creating. Easy, colorful, and no glue sticks required.

What makes this activity especially powerful is the chance for students to share their own stories. They can honor a family member, a pet, or even a historical figure they admire. You’ll also get a window into what matters most to your students, making it both a cultural and community-building experience.

Below, you can check out my ofrenda with an explanation of each component. Feel free to share this with your students (or make your own using the template).

Carrillo’s Ofrenda

My parents have both since passed and this ofrenda highlights just some of the artifacts that remind me of my parents, their likes, and some of my fondest memories with them. The grandkids all referred to my parents as “Tita and Tito” which is short for “abuelita” and “abuelito”. My mother was fond of crispy wings and her homemade enchiladas. Those enchiladas were special and are still an all time favorite of mine. She loved to read biographies and was constantly sliding around the house in her “pantuflas” or slippers. She had a beautiful rose garden with some of the biggest roses I’d ever seen in my life. My father and her were constantly in the garden together tending to their roses. Tito loved his $1.50 Costco hot dogs and coffee roughly the same temperature as the sun. He would dip apple fritter donuts into his coffee and to balance his health, he walked many miles everyday. If you had the opportunity to meet Tito, he was more than likely wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Some of my fondest memories of them were at family parties where they would be singing love songs together on the microphone.

If you’re ready to add some meaningful creativity to your end of October lessons, grab the Canva template and bring Día De Los Muertos into your classroom. It’s a little bit of history, a lot of art, and a reminder that every story—past or present—deserves to be celebrated.

Feel free to tag me on social media with your creations and let me know of the stories shared in your classroom. Buen provecho!

Click The Image Below To Get The Canva Template

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