Rosca de Reyes: Spanish Three Kings Bread
Rosca de reyes is the sweet yeasted ring with orange blossom water and candied fruit that Spain and Latin America cut open on 6 January, with a surprise hidden inside. The two things that decide the outcome: the dough carries a lot of butter and rises slowly —pushing it with heat ruins it— and the hole in the middle is made larger than seems necessary, because proving closes it up.
Ingredients
- 500 g plain flour
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g soft butter
- 2 eggs and 1 yolk
- 150 ml lukewarm milk
- 25 g fresh yeast (or 8 g dried)
- 1 tsp salt
- Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp orange blossom water
- To decorate: candied fruit, cherries, figs and pearl sugar
- 1 dried bean or a small ceramic figure to hide inside
- For brushing: 1 beaten egg
Method
- 1
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk with a spoonful of the sugar and leave 10 minutes until foamy.
- 2
Mix the flour with the remaining sugar, the salt and the zest. Add the eggs, the yolk, the orange blossom water and the activated yeast.
- 3
Knead for 5 minutes and only then work in the soft butter little by little, kneading another 10 minutes. If the butter goes in at the start, the dough never develops its gluten and stays heavy.
- 4
Prove for an hour and a half, covered, until doubled. A dough this rich rises more slowly than bread and will not take strong heat, which melts the butter.
- 5
Knock back, shape into a ball and open a hole in the centre with your fingers. Widen it to about 12 cm: it looks excessive, but the second prove nearly closes it.
- 6
Push the bean or figure in from underneath so it stays out of sight.
- 7
Prove for another 45 minutes on the tray.
- 8
Brush with beaten egg and decorate with the candied fruit, cherries and pearl sugar.
- 9
Bake at 180 °C for 25 to 30 minutes. If it colours fast, cover with foil and finish.
- 10
Cool on a rack. Best the same day; the next, a short warming brings it back.