Continue Your Baking Journey with The Mexican Bakery Masterclass Series:
The Mexican Bakery Masterclass Series
Chapter 12: Campechanas Masterclass
Chef Alex Peña guides you through creating the classic campecana, a beautifully laminated pastry. Learn how to create this signature dough layer by layer, unlocking the technique behind its signature caramelized, mirror-like finish. Chef Pena shares the why behind every rest, fold, and temperature setting, so you have the understanding needed to perfect this recipe from your kitchen or bakery bench. As a bonus to this masterclass, Chef Alex demos the recipe for Coricos de Maiz, a delicious cookie made with nixtamalized corn flour, as showcased in Chapter 11 (page 260).
Here's What’s Covered - Timeline
Note: References to page numbers in the masterclass do not correlate to the book’s recipes. See recipes starting on pages 260 (Coricos de Maiz) and 266 in The Mexican Bakery. For instructional purposes, the demo of the dough preparation may occur before mixing and preparing the components. Refer to the time stamps below for your desired watch order.
03:10 - Essential equipment & ingredients: mixers, spatulas, dough scrapers, and specialty tools
5:55 - Learn how to work with and roll out the campechana dough using French rolling techniques
10:52 - Adding the flour paste to the campechana dough
12:26 - Understand how to work with a wooden dowel to create the signature “dough logs”
23:00 - Chef Alex walks through the mise en place and demos mixing the campechana dough
37:31 - Making the betún flour paste, including tips on aeration and optional flavoring
45:19 - How to stretch, portion, and sugarcoat the campechanas for the perfect caramelized finish
1:01:32 - Learn to mix up the dough for coricos de maíz with recommendations for ingredients and substituting pork lard
1:13:26 - Additional campechana demonstration for working with campechana dough and filling
1:23:06 - Chef Alex swaps the camera view to showcase the baking campechanas
1:25:28 - See how to create the signature ring and “corn cob” shapes for the coricos de maíz
1:38:07 - See the campechanas caramelize and get pulled straight from the oven
1:47:58 - Chef Alex prepares the last of the campechanas for baking
1:57:22 - See the final, delicious showcase of campechanas and coricos de maíz