Capirotada

Ingredients

• 6 stale bolillo rolls, or 1 large baguette (about 500g)
• 80g butter, melted
• 400g piloncillo, chopped (or 350g dark brown sugar)
• 900ml water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 wide strips of orange peel
• 1 star anise
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120g raisins
• 100g pecans, roughly chopped
• 80g blanched almonds, roughly chopped
• 200g queso añejo or Cotija, coarsely grated
• 1 tbsp butter, for the dish
• 2 tbsp coloured sprinkles (optional, but traditional in much of the north)

Before you cook

• Slice the bolillos into 2cm rounds and spread them on a baking tray.
• Leave the bread uncovered overnight if it is fresh. Capirotada needs genuinely dry bread or the whole dish turns to mush.
• Chop the piloncillo into small pieces so it dissolves evenly.
• Roughly chop the pecans and almonds, and grate the cheese coarsely.
• Butter a deep 23cm by 30cm baking dish.

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 190C.
2. Brush both sides of the bread slices with the melted butter.
3. Toast the bread in the oven for twelve minutes, turning once, until it is dry, golden and firm all the way through.
4. Take the tray out and lower the oven to 175C.
5. Put the piloncillo, water, cinnamon sticks, cloves, orange peel and star anise in a saucepan.
6. Bring it to a boil, then simmer for twenty minutes, until the syrup has reduced by about a third and coats the back of a spoon thinly.
7. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla.
8. Strain the syrup into a jug and discard the spices and peel.
9. Lay a third of the toasted bread across the base of the buttered dish, packing the slices tightly.
10. Scatter over a third of the raisins, nuts and grated cheese.
11. Ladle over a third of the warm syrup, aiming for the bread rather than the gaps.
12. Repeat the layers twice more, finishing with cheese on top.
13. Press the whole thing down gently with the back of a spoon and let it sit for fifteen minutes so the bread drinks the syrup.
14. Cover the dish with foil and bake for thirty minutes.
15. Take the foil off and bake for a final ten minutes, until the top is bubbling and the cheese has gone golden at the edges.
16. Scatter over the sprinkles if you are using them.
17. Let the capirotada rest for twenty minutes before serving, warm rather than hot, so the layers hold together on the spoon.