Pan de Horno #FoodnFlix

It’s time for this month’s Food ‘n Flix.  In FnF, participants watch the selected movie, cook something inspired by it, and share!

This month’s movie is Pan’s Labyrinth by Katharina at Pretty Cake Machine.

I looked at the cover art and got a bit nervous, because it looked scary (and I hate scary movies and avoid them at all costs), but I checked out the movie description and it seemed alright – mostly playing out in the fantasy realm.

The movie starts out with Ofelia traveling with her pregnant mother to go and live the “the captain”. 

-Did I mention that this movie isn’t in English?  It takes place in Spain during a civil war.-

Ofelia’s mother is struggling with her pregnancy, the Captain is cruel (more on that in a bit) when Ofelia meets a faerie and comes to realize that she may unwittingly be the daughter of the king of the underworld.  But to prove that’s she’s not been tainted by mortals, she must complete 3 tasks.

And.  Ew.

Yuck.  Gross. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

There is plenty of violence (mostly at the hand of the captain) and it is so incredibly graphic.  Absolutely awful.

Then the tasks that Ofelia must complete are huge on the ick factor as well (getting a key out of a big frog that turns to slime, some beast that likes to rip the heads off faeries, a mandrake root that lives off a mixture of blood and milk…you get the picture).

I spent much of the movie flinching and ducking my head behind my computer screen.  It was a relief when it was finally over.

With all the flinching, it was difficult to take note of a lot of food inspirations.

However, one scene that stood out includes the sadistic Captain, locking up and rationing supplies (while he feasts each night),  In one scene, his soldiers are giving out small loaves of bread, announcing, “One loaf per family!”

Since I love making bread, I decided I wanted to replicate that scene.  Plus, the Spanish word for bread is Pan (though in the movie title, Pan refers to the creepy faun – in Spanish, the title more accurately translates “the Labyrinth of the Faun”, but who am I to judge weird translations?)  Anyhow, Pan meaning bread and as part of the title seemed like it was meant to be.

Then I started searching for Spanish breads.

Yeah…

Turns out Spain isn’t really known for its breads.  It was extremely difficult to find a bread recipe (other than one that was shared over and over and required a starter (and I was too lazy to make an overnight starter)).

Finally I can across the recipe for Pan de Horno, and while it’s a pretty basic bread recipe (I really can’t tell how it could be unique to Spain), it is quite good and definitely seems like the small loaf the captain would have offered to families!

Pan de Horno

Adapted from Dean Derhak at Xmission

2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast

1 ½ cups warm water (110-115 degrees F)

Pinch of sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 ½ cups bread flour

Place the water and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Stir together and add a pinch of sugar.  Allow the mixture to rest for 5 minutes or until foamy.

Stir in 2 cups of flour, salt, and olive oil.  Switch to the dough hook and slowly add in the remaining flour.  Knead for 3-5 minutes or until smooth and satiny.

Place the dough into a greased bowl and turn to coat.  Cover and place in a warm, draft free area to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough.  Cut in half and form into loaves.  Use a sharp knife to slice the tops, if desired.  Cover and allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Bake the loaves for 30-40 minutes or until browned.  Cool before cutting

Makes 2 loaves.