Friday, January 06, 2006
Roscón de Reyes (Crown of Kings)
This traditional confection is eaten on the day of Los Reyes - The Kings - January 6th and people come from all over the island to buy the very best Roscón de Reyes (pictured) from Pasteleria El Aderno in Buenavista del Norte, Tenerife. If you can't get there, you can have a go at making your own.
Ingredients:
1/2 kg (1.1 lb.) flour
Glacé Fruits
40 gr (1.4 oz) bakers' yeast
100 gr (3.5 oz) sugar
150 cc. (1/3 pint) milk
1 small cup vintage rum
3 eggs
1 small cup orange blossom water
120 gr. (4 oz) of butter
grated orange and lemon rind
10 gr. (1/3 oz) of salt
1 heat-resistant "surprise"
(The ones from El Aderno have three small ceramic figures of the Three Kings and one white kidney bean, wrapped in foil inside. Some say the bean is "bad luck". I prefer El Aderno's suggestion that the person who gets the bean should pay for the Roscón.)
Method:
Knead half of the flour with the yeast and 100 cc. of lukewarm milk. Make a ball, make cuts in the top part, cover with a cloth and leave rest for 90 minutes in a warm place.
Beat the eggs with the melted butter, then add the salt, sugar, rum, the rest of the milk, orange blossom water, the orange and lemon rind, binding it with the remaining flour and knead for a good short while. Add this mixture to the rest of the dough and work everything together (energetically, it says) until you obtain a fine and elastic mass. Make it into a ball again, place in a container, cover with a cloth and leave it to rest, this time for three hours until it's double its size again.
Grease an oven tray. Take the paste, knead slightly and make it into the form of a crown by making a roll, twisting and joining the ends, then place it on the tray. Cover it with a cloth and leave it to rise for another two hours.
Paint with beaten egg, adorn with the Glacé fruits, place the surprise somewhere inside and place in the oven, preheated to a medium-high temperature for about 40 minutes.
If it browns quickly, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil until the baking finishes.
NOTE: It is very important that air cannot get to the dough at any point during the fermentation process.
