Creating a successful action plan for the wide array of upcoming holidays and promotions requires thoughtful advance planning – with help from your friends at BakeMark.

The Hispanic community partakes in their traditional fall celebration of family members who have passed on during Días de Muertos, a multi-day celebration on November 1-2 that encompasses celebration and food. Most notable of these foods is pan de muerto. With the slight zest of orange flavoring, this Hispanic sweet bread entails bone-shaped pieces that adorn the top.

The time is now to begin planning how you can bring this delicious treat into your bakery. BakeMark’s Hispanic line Trigal Dorado offers the best of the traditional flavors without compromise. So, as we head into the season of Día de Muertos, utilize the Bizcocho Mix and bring pan de muerto as a tool to boost your sales.

Throughout the year, and no matter what the season, Luis Leon, store manager for El Gran Valle Verde, which operates multiple locations in the Cincinnati area, points out that traditional breads such as bolillos are the biggest calling card for their bakery.

“People come here for our bolillos. We make the bolillos with a crunchy crust and a soft crumb,” Leon explains. “We have tried to perfect our bolillos over time. We started making them many years ago in Guadalajara (Mexico). The bakers would mix the dough at room temperature and lay the dough out on the bench table with a cloth over it. They ferment it overnight. People say it is the best bolillo they have ever had.”

But beyond the everyday, El Gran Valle Verde is gearing up to make a special bread known as pan de feria, or fair bread.

“Some are salty. Some are made with cheese or ham inside. We plan to make pan de feria with buttermilk, cinnamon and walnuts for holiday celebrations,” Leon continues. “Where we operate our bakery now, there is a big concentration of people who came from near Guadalajara. They would enjoy this bread during huge fairs. Now we want to bring a bread here that they know and love.”

Pan de feria, also known as pan de fiesta, is made with all the traditional ingredients of bread, along with milk, egg, and a tablespoon of sugar. To prepare it, you need to heat the milk, butter, sugar, and salt to a warm temperature, prior to adding the yeast mixture, milk mixture, and egg to dry ingredients and mixing thoroughly.

There are other special breads that satisfy the cravings for a taste of home and celebration. Pan de acambaro is a traditional Mexican bread that's named after the city of its origin, Acambaro in Guanajuato. The bread is made with a fermented dough called masa madre (mother dough), and it's decorated with a few slashes on top and glazed before baking, according to TasteAtlas.

Some people compare it with the Jewish challah. Once baked, pan de acambaro should be quite dense with a fine crumb and yeasty aromas. It's recommended to pair it with a cup of coffee or Mexican hot chocolate (champurrado).

At El Rincon Bakery in Canton, Ohio, manager Rafael Lopez points out that they sell to a lot of Mexican restaurants on the southwest side of Canton that love to bring a taste of home to their customers.

One of the most popular breads here is pan sheca, or pan guatemalteco, which can be made with brown sugar and molasses. The bread is topped with anise seeds, which adds a licorice taste.

“This is our only location that has a bakery,” Lopez says of El Rincon, which first opened 25 years ago and opened its Canton location with a bakery a year ago. “Business is going very well.”