"ROSCÓN DE REYES"

I’m finally done with my exams! So I decided to post traditional Spanish dessert in Christmas: “Roscón de Reyes”. It’s also typical in other countries, such as Portugal, France or South America.

If you haven’t tried, you REALLY should!

Here in Spain, we bake it with a bean and a coin on the inside; the tradition says that the one who finds the bean has to pay for the “Roscón”.

It’s not a difficult dough, and you can surprise your guests this holiday with a different dessert. It’s also perfect for an afternoon coffee, for breakfast or anytime.

Now, let’s go with the recipe.

Ingredients:

Pre-ferment

• 25 g (0,88 oz) of fresh yield or 10 g (0,35 oz) of dry yield, NOT baking powder (I personally prefer the dry one because less quantity is needed and if you don’t use it all it doesn’t go bad, but if you use the correct proportion it’s the same)
• 90 g strong flour (3,2 oz)
• 100 ml milk

Dough (ordered by order of use)

• 210 g strong flour (7,4 oz)
• A pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 50 ml of milk
• 1 tablespoon of orange-flower water 
• Half orange and half lemon zest
• 75 g sugar (2,6 oz)
• 1 tablespoon of mature rum
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 65 g butter at room temperature (2,3 oz)

Decoration:

• 1 beaten egg
• Decorations such as sugar with orange-flower water, laminated almonds, candied fruits… 

First make the preferment. Dissolve the yeast in warm milk and mix with the flour using a spoon. Leave it rest for the night in the fridge.

Now, for the dough, put the flour with the salt in a bowl, add the eggs in the middle and knead (I did it with the Kitchen Aid hook).

Next, add the milk and mix.

Add the zest and the orange-flower water and mix again.

Integrate the sugar.

Pour the rum and the vanilla extract.

Add the preferment, it has to have a lot of bubbles.

Finally, add the butter little by little.

If you knead by hand, remember that the dough has to be sticky, so don’t add too much flour.

Make a ball, put it in a bowl and allow it to rise for 2 hours. 

Before

After 2 hours

 
After the two hours, preheat the oven at 100ºC (212ºF) and turn it off, so the dough will rose better. Knead to give it the shape and put it on the baking trade, cover it with cling film and let it rise in the oven for 1 hour.

Before

After two hours

Finally, decorate with beaten egg and whatever you want.

Bake it for 10-15 minutes at 180ºC (356ºF), it must be golden.

Let it cool down on a racket and is ready to fill with whipped cream, truffle…or eat it with a coffee.