Rosca de Reyes

The hole made far wider than looks right, because a ring closes as it proves and bakes into an oval loaf.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

the dough

• 600 g strong white flour
• 140 g sugar
• 150 g butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 150 ml milk, lukewarm
• 9 g fast-action dried yeast
• 10 g salt
• 1 tablespoon orange flower water
• zest of 1 orange

the topping

• 100 g icing sugar
• 100 g plain flour
• 80 g vegetable shortening
• 1 egg yolk
• 200 g candied fruit — figs, orange, quince — in strips
• 3 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 egg, beaten, for glazing

Method

1. THE HOLE IS MADE FAR WIDER THAN LOOKS RIGHT, because a ring closes as it proves and bakes. This is the one structural problem the dish has and it catches almost everyone. The dough expands in every direction, including inwards, and it expands twice -- once during an hour and a half of proving and again in the oven. A hole that looks generous when the ring is shaped, say ten centimetres, will have shut completely by the time it comes out, and what is on the tray is an oval loaf. The hole is made twenty centimetres across, which looks absurd on the tray and comes out of the oven looking correct.
2. IT IS SHAPED BY PIERCING AND STRETCHING, NOT BY JOINING TWO ENDS. The dough is rolled into a ball, a hole punched through the middle with the fingers, and then stretched outward and turned until the ring is the right size. A rope joined end to end has a seam, and the seam is the weakest point: it opens in the oven and the ring breaks.
3. THE PASTE STRIPS AND THE FRUIT GO ON BEFORE THE FINAL PROVE AND NOT AFTER. Both are heavy. Pressed onto a fully proved ring they deflate it, and there is no recovering a deflated enriched dough. On at three-quarters proved, they settle as the last of the rise happens around them.
4. THE TOPPING PASTE IS STIFFER THAN A CONCHA'S AND IS CUT IN STRIPS. An egg yolk goes into it, which makes it firmer and able to hold a flat strip shape across a curve without sagging. It is not scored -- there is no shell pattern here, just alternating bands of paste and candied fruit around the ring.
5. IT IS BAKED LOWER AND LONGER THAN THE SMALLER BREADS. 170°C for thirty to thirty-five minutes. It is one large piece of heavily enriched dough with sugar paste on it, and at 190°C the paste and the fruit are dark before the centre of the ring is cooked. A skewer into the thickest part is the test.
6. The flour, sugar, yeast, salt, eggs, milk, orange flower water and zest mixed and kneaded 6 MINUTES.
7. The butter added in pieces and kneaded 10 MINUTES more until smooth and elastic.
8. Covered and risen 2 HOURS until doubled.
9. Knocked back and rolled into a ball. A hole PUNCHED through the middle with the fingers.
10. Stretched outward and turned until the ring is on a lined tray with a hole a full 20 cm ACROSS -- which will look far too big.
11. Covered and proved 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES, to about three-quarters.
12. For the paste: icing sugar, flour, shortening and egg yolk worked to a stiff dough, rolled thin and cut into flat STRIPS.
13. The ring brushed with beaten egg. The paste strips and the candied fruit laid across it in ALTERNATING bands, pressed on gently. Caster sugar scattered over the paste.
14. Proved a further 20 MINUTES.
15. Baked at 170°C for 30 to 35 MINUTES.
16. TESTED with a skewer into the thickest part of the ring: it must come out clean. Covered loosely with foil if the fruit is darkening too fast.
17. Cooled on the tray 10 minutes, then moved to a rack. The hole should still be open.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes