The Guzman siblings used to knead and bake sweet, nutty pan de fiesta to sell at festivals in their home town of Tlaxcala, Mexico.
When they moved to New Haven, they brought the party to Grand Avenue.
Yolanda Guzman brought the traditional bread recipe to Mi Lupita Bakery, which she opened after moving from Mexico to the United States 15 years ago.
Pan de fiesta or pan de feria — which means party bread or festival bread — is traditional to Tlaxcala, normally sold at annual patronage festivals honoring specific saints or virgins. Yolanda used to make the bread to sell from her home and at festivals. Now she sells the bread from her store and at regional fiestas patronales.
Yolanda and her brothers Alberto and Adolfo Guzman formed a family assembly line throughout the process, each one moving to a new station after finishing a task. Alberto used the industrial mixer to whisk together the ingredients: flour, sugar, “grasa” or fat, yeast, cream, eggs, and trocitos de nuez or little pieces of nuts.
When asked what type of nut they use in the dough, Alberto and Yolanda both responded matter of factly: “Regular.” The half-full package they pointed to indicated pecans.
Alberto poured several pounds of dough from the mixing bowl onto the table, using flour to keep it from sticking to the sides.
Aliyya Swaby Photo
Yolanda cut out a chunk from the whole and measured out 500 grams — just over a pound — of dough for each individual bread loaf.
Adolfo shaped each pre-bread loaf so it was ready to be baked.
“Le echamos harina para que sea bonito. We put flour on it to make it beautiful,” he said, whirling the dough ball on the table with his hands cupping flour. He placed each beautiful doughy mass onto a piece of wax paper, readying them to be shuttled into the oven.
Mi Lupita Bakery is the only one on Grand Avenue to sell pan de fiesta, Yolanda said proudly. People from all Latin American countries come to the store to buy the sweet pastry.
After about a half hour of baking, the dough balls were flatter and wider, more brown. The Guzmans sprinkled sesame seeds on top. The final product is rich with the “sabor de nuez y sabor de mantequilla,” Alberto said, the flavor of nuts and the flavor of butter.
Perhaps another reason it’s called party bread: it’s often served as an ice-cream sandwich, with several scoops in between halved slices of bread, and shared among friends — or family.
Beatriz Guzman, Alberto, Yolanda, Yeremy Guzman, Adolfo