08 January 2010

Galette des rois


In France 6th January marks the celebration of Epiphany, the coming of the 3 kings or the Three Magi: Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar bringing offerings to Jesus Christ, and as most traditions in France we celebrate with food, in this case it is the Galette des Rois. 
The bakeries go crazy over this and you can find galettes from December until February, the quality varies greatly, but if you are lucky to have tasted a good one you will remember it forever. I have this taste lodged in a corner of my memory and every year wait in anticipation to have a slice or more. 
Since moving to the US it is more difficult to find a galette des rois and this year I finaly decided to make it. 
It is basically an almond filling (Frangipane) encased between 2 sheets of puff pastry.

Galette des Rois
For a 10" galette 

Puff pastry (see recipe here)
Frangipane (see below)

Ingredients for Frangipane
3.5 oz / 100 gr Sugar
3.5 oz / 100 gr Almond powder / almond meal (you can make it yourself by finely grinding the almonds)
3.5 oz / 100 gr Butter at room temp.
2 tsp Corn startch (increase if you increase the rum)
A few drops of almond extract
2 Tbsp Rum
2 Eggs
100 gr Pastry cream (see recipe here - do not put whipped cream)

Method
Mix Sugar, almond, butter, corn startch, almond extract, rum then add the eggs.
When all blended add the pastry cream.


Assembling and baking the “galette des rois”
Split the dough in 2 equal parts, roll out 1 half while the other stays in the fridge, form a 10 ½ " circle (use a sharp knife to cut the dough, it will help it to rise nicely), lay it on a Silpat and chill while you roll out the second circle (slightly larger than the first one as you need to allow room for the filling).
Take first circle out, spread it with Frangipane (almond filling), leaving 2” without filling on the edges, brush water on the edges and place second circle on top of the filling and seal the edges by pressing them, it is really important to seal the edges properly or the filling will escape when baking.
Make a small hole in the center for the steam to escape and decorate the top of the dough with a sharp knife (beware not to cut through the dough completely).

Regrigerate for 30mn.
Brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven for 30 to 45 mn at 370 F / 187 C depending on your oven (it's better to over bake than under bake). To know when it is baked lift the bottom and it should be golden and dry, it soggy return to the oven.
Serve slightly warm. 

1 comment:

  1. It was quite a lot of work but so worth it!! It's delicious.

    ReplyDelete