Conchas for Lunch Money

Hello, this is a record of my actions and a report of my attempt to lose as little money as possible doing something I really like to do.

I'm going to make Conchas/pan dulce then take them to work and try to sell them for $1 ea.

I work with 30-50 people and I imagine half of them can buy. I might pocket $12 a week. As you can see its definitely not about the money. I'm going bake the Conchas on Sunday, then sell them on Monday. 

I use a modified, or what I like to call Clintonized, version of a recipe I found at food.com (Conchas Mexican Sweet-Topped Buns) 

• Directions

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl. Be respectful.   Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt and 2 cups flour in another bowl.   Add milk, butter and egg into proofed yeast and lightly mix. Stir in sugar/flour mix, mix until combined. Stir in remaining needed flour,enough to cause dough to pull from sides of bowl.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. By hand up to 20 minutes.

Place in a large greased bowl, then turn greased side up.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled and dough leaves an indentation when touched. (I set my oven to 170 for 2-3 minutes then turn the oven off. I feel the temp of the oven air, feeling for slightly warmer than room temp) Time of rise is not as important as size and texture. But if you must.....45 min to 1-1/2 hr.

Punch dough down; divide into 12 to 16 equal pieces.

Shape each piece into a ball. Let proof for 5 minutes on the counter. Flatten the balls into disks and place them on a greased cookie sheet.

Place 1 circle of Topping Dough on each disk of dough. Make 5 or 6 cuts across the topping

Cover and let rise until doubled

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Cook on 2nd shelf to keep bottoms from getting too dark

Bake buns until golden brown, check at 18 to 20 minutes

•  Bread Dough

2 T  active dry yeast

1⁄2 c warm water 105 to 115 degrees

1⁄2 c sugar

1 t cinnamon

1 t salt

1/2 c warm milk

1⁄3 cup  butter, softened

1  large egg

4-5 c all-purpose flour

• Flavored Topping Dough

Mix sugar, butter and flour together. You can add any flavoring into the topping mix you would like at this point.

1⁄3 c sugar

1⁄4 c butter, softened

1⁄2 c all-purpose flour

flavor such as cinnamon, vanilla, orange, almond, chocolate or any flavor of your choice.

This recipe costs me about $3 not including cooking heat or my time, about an hour.