ROSCÓN DE REYES
Christmas in Spain lasts until the 6th of January, Ephiphany Day. It is the biggest day of Christmas and when we open all the gifts that The three Wise Kings brought to us overnight. It’s my favorite day of the year, a big family gathering. As you would have guessed we do eat a special cake for breakfast or tea, normally with hot dipping chocolate, like the one for churros. It’s brioche-like, very aromatic, and contains a little figurine as a gift inside for a more entertaining and fun experience. This cake it’s special to me, as it was the cake I sold as a kid over Christmas to all my neighbors, my first business.
INGREDIENTS
For the dough
130 g whole milk
50 g Orange blossom water (low quality Non-Spanish)
½ tea spoon of cinnamon powder
1 ½ zest of orange
1 zest of lemon
1 tbsp of rum
1 egg
3 egg yolks
500 g bread flour
21g fresh yeast (5g of dried yeast)
1 pinch table salt
170g caster sugar
120g butter
For garnishing
1 egg
100g of sugar
1 tbsp of water
100g of confit fruit (glasee fruit from the ethnic shops)
50g of flaked almonds
Preparation
In the bowl of the mixer place the flour, blossom water, cinnamon powder, the orange and lemon zests, the rum, the crumbled yeast and the milk. Mix with the hook on low speed for 3 minutes.
Without stopping the mixer add the caster sugar, salt, the egg and egg yolks one at a time and continue to mix for a further 5 minutes.
Then one at a time add the cold pieces of butter and mix for a further 5 minutes until completely absorbed. The dough should be quite shine and smooth at this point. Let the dough rest in the bowl covered with cling film in the fridge for 2 hours.
Bring it out of the fridge and take the air out of the dough by giving it a few folds over itself. Cover again and leave it to rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
Place greaseproof paper over a baking tray. Remove the ball of dough from the bowl with the help of a flexible spatula or a bakers spatula if possible and start shaping the dough into a large doughnut. Place in the baking tray and brush with the egg.
Mix the sugar and the water into a crumble consistency and scatter it over the top in some areas of the doughnut. In others spread the flake almonds. Slice the confit fruit and place it on top. It should look like a crown with jewels.
Let the doughnut proof until it doubles in size and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for anything in between 20 and 25 minutes. Take it off the oven carefully and let it get to room temperature before eating it.
