Roscon de reyes - King's bread

During Christmas time, one of my favorite memories was the morning of January 6th, the day of the Three wises (or Dia de Reyes in Spanish). The main reason was because during the night of the 5th to the 6th, tradition told that the kids that were good the year before would receive gifts, while the ones that misbehaved or were not kind would receive coal (candy rock).

Spain is a country with catholic influence, so instead of having Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas, as in other countries in Europe, Spanish kids receive the visit of these three wises.

The second motive of happiness was because we celebrated one of my sister's birthday the same 5th, so we had double party, and for her, double presents. I was the small one, so I could always count with enjoying my sister's gifts, at least when playing together.

And the third and last motive was that this is the only chance during the year of eating for breakfast a delicious brioche-bread called Roscon de reyes (loosely translated as King's bread). This is a soft and fluffy bread, enriched with eggs and butter, with orange peel and orange flower aroma, that with just a hint of the smell can automatically transport any Spaniard into the morning of January 6th, and therefore to the childhood memories of waiting impatiently for the day to arrive and the happiness of opening the presents with the family in the morning.

The roscon also has a big suprise element in it, since it typically has a small gift hidden inside it. Depending on the region of Spain, it will have only a small porcelain figurine: if you find it, you'll have to pay for the roscon. In other regions, it will have the small figurine and a big dry bean: the one finding the figurine will be proclaimed king for a day, and the one finding the bean will pay for the roscon. It's all fun, specially for the kids.

The recipe today is quite easy, just use ingredients as fresh as possible, the quality of the eggs and dairy products will show in the final results. Also, respect the resting times, and treat the dough with care, it will pay off!

Roscon de Reyes - King's bread

This recipe calls for a fermentation starter, so prepare this one first, and while it gets ready prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients

Starter

• Bread flour: 130 grams / 1 cup (*see note)
• Whole milk (warm): 75 grams / 1/3 cup
• Sugar: 1 tablespoon
• Instant yeast: 1 teaspoon (*see note)

Final dough

• Bread flour: 450 grams / 2 1/4 cups
• Whole milk (warm): 75 grams / 1/3 cup
• Sugar: 120 grams / 2/3 cup
• Eggs (large): 2
• Butter (in small cubes): 85 grams / 6 tablespoons
• Instant yeast: 2 teaspoon
• Orange flower essence: 2 tablespoons
• Salt: 1/8 teaspoon
• Orange peel finely grated (1 orange)

Decoration

• 1 egg (beaten)
• Granulated sugar
• Water
• Sliced almonds
• Caramelized fruits (orange, cherries...) 

Preparation

For the starter, mix the milk, sugar and yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes. Mix with the flour, and form a tight dough ball. If the dough is very wet, add flour until it's not sticky.

Fill a large bowl with warm water, and put the dough ball there. It will sit in the bottom for a while, but after 10-15 min, it will come back to the surface. Once it gets there, it's ready to go.

[This is really amazing to watch the first time you do it! It seems that it will never move, but them... bum! as a miracle of fermentation, it makes all the way up to the top...]

 

In a large bowl, mix the starter, flour, sugar and salt with the orange blossom essence, orange peel, lightly beaten eggs and milk with yeast. Knead it with your hands (or with a stand mixer if you have one). Once the dough is uniform, add the butter in cubes and continue kneading until the dough is soft and pliable (it will take a little time, but this is a very friendly dough).

Form the dough into a ball, and place it in an oiled bowl (moving it around so all the surface of the dough gets oiled too). Cover with saran wrap and leave it to ferment 3 hours in the counter or overnight in the fridge. It has to double its size. If you leave it in the fridge, remember to take it out at least 30 minutes before starting with the shaping process.

Once the dough is fermented, take it out of the bowl and deflate it in the counter. If you want to form two roscones, divide the dough in two equal size pieces. Shape the dough in a tight ball and let it sit for 5 minutes.

For shaping the roscon, take the ball of dough and make a hole in the middle with your fingers. Stretch it slowly using a circular motion, until you have a wide doughnut shape. If the dough resists, let it sit for a couple of minutes for allowing the gluten to relax.

If you decide to go traditional and place a suprise inside the roscon, do it now, and try to hide it as better as possible... the funny thing is not knowing where it is!

Place the dough in an oven tray with parchment paper and let it rise for 2 hours (until double its size).

When you have 15 minutes left, preheat the oven at 400F.

Brush the surface of the roscon with beaten egg (carefully not to the deflate the dough), and decorate it using the sugar with a little bit of water (so it forms clumps), almonds and fruits. Be creative if you want!

Bake at in the middle position of the oven, at 400F for the first 8 minutes, then 10 minutes more at 375F. Check it while baking, if the crust turns too dark, cover it with aluminum foil.

Let it cool in a rack before eating.

In Spain there are three ways of having this bread: as it is, or filled with plain or chocolate whipped cream... any of these are delicious.

Enjoy it!

Notes:

Bread flour
For this recipe you'll need flour with a higher gluten (protein) content than your regular pastry/cake one. Check out for bread flour in the supermarket, you may find it also with the 00 numbers in the name.

Yeast
Instant (chemical) baking powder will not be ok for this recipe. You'll need either fresh yeast (in the refrigerated are in the supermarket), or dry yeast (the one in small granules). For this recipe, if you use fresh yeast, substitute the amounts given by 10 grams in the starter and 20 grams in the final mix. The rule of thumb for conversion is divide/multiply by three: 10 grams of fresh yeast are equal to 3 grams of dry yeast.

Decoration
In my region of Spain, most of the roscones will have a decoration like the one showed in the pictures, but you can be creative and add/remove whatever you want. Typically it will have some kind of nuts, sugar and some dry fruit, but it's up to you, since you will be the one eating it!

Figurine/Surprise
Remember to choose something that is heat resistant, the dough will get hot in the oven! Porcelain is the normal choice for this in Spain. Don't make it so small that it can be swallowed too!

How to store them

The roscon is amazing the same day that is baked. The next day it will be ok, specially if filled with cream. If you plan to have it later than that, let it cool completely and freeze it in a sealed plastic bag. It will stay better than in the fridge.
When you want to eat it, leave it overnight in the fridge and take it out and take it out at least 1 hour before eating it. If you want to warm it a bit do it in the oven at 200F for 15 min.