Roscon de Reyes Recipe Recipes, Spanish Dessert Recipes 5 1 5 0 https://www.bascofinefoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/roscon-de-reyes-1.jpg

Roscon de Reyes Recipe

8 people
Easy

Prep time
3hrs 30 mins

Cook time
30 mins

Total time
4hrs

Javier De La Hormaza

Recipe provided by

Javier De La Hormaza

View Profile

Ingredients

350g strong white flour or bread flour
25g fresh yeast
125ml whole milk
100g caster sugar
75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
Zest of one orange
1 tbsp of dark rum
1 tsp of orange blossom essence
1 pinch of salt
To decorate, your choice of glazed fruits, flaked almonds and icing sugar

Add ingredients to basket

Introduction

Roscon de Reyes (King’s Ring) is a sweetened brioche style dough, decorated with glazed fruits and typically served on the 6th of January, when Spain celebrates el Dia de los Reyes (King’s Day).El Dia de los Reyes is also the day when children in Spain receive their Christmas presents, following the tradition of the Epiphany, a religious day in Christianity that celebrates the arrival of the three wise men to witness the birth of baby Jesus. Traditionally, a small figurine of the baby Jesus is hidden in the Roscon to represent Jesus fleeing King Herod’s evil plan to kill all babies that could be the messiah. Nowadays, a dry broad bean is also added alongside the figurine. The tradition says that whoever finds the baby Jesus is crowned the ‘king’ or ‘queen’ of the banquet, whereas whoever finds the broad bean will need to buy the following year’s Roscon de Reyes.

Method

Start by dissolving the yeast in the milk to activate it, use your fingers to break the yeast and dissolve it in the milk, the milk must be warm (not hot). Allow the mix to stand for 15 minutes.
From the 350g of flour, reserve 30g for kneading the dough and place the rest in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the sugar and orange zest and set aside until the yeast is activated. Add the milk into the centre of the well and with the help of a spatula begin to mix the flour into the centre until you make a thick mix without adding all the flour. Add to the mix the softened butter, the rum, the orange blossom essence, the egg yolk and salt and mix in the same way as before by adding the flour from the exterior with the help of the spatula until a sticky ball is formed and all the flour has been absorbed.
Transfer the dough onto a working surface, dust some of the spare flour on the bench and on your hands and begin to knead the dough with the back end of your palm. At the start, the dough will stick to the bench but as you knead it, it will begin to gain body and stop sticking so much. If you notice that the dough is still too sticky, add some more flour but only if necessary. The dough needs to end slightly sticky so when you roll it quickly on the bench it does not stick but if you leave it a bit longer it sticks slightly. Once kneaded properly, form a ball and dust some of the flour in a large bowl and place the dough ball inside the bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and place in a warm area of your kitchen to begin the proving stage and make the dough double in size, it will take between 2 to 3 hours.
Once the dough has doubled in size, line a baking tray with grease proof paper and knead the dough for a few minutes to knock off some of the air created during the proving stage. Shape the dough into a bowl and hold it in your hands making a whole in the centre with your 2 thumbs whilst turning the ball you will begin to make the whole bigger turning it round with your two thumbs. You should end up with a dough ring nearly the size of the tray, lay it out on the tray and at this stage is when you can secretly fit in the figurine and your broad bean by making a small incision with a knife on the side of the Roscón. Place another sheet of grease proof paper on top of the Roscón and cover with cling film. Set in a warm place for the second proving stage for half and hour to one hour and a half depending on the temperature of the room, the dough should double in size.
Beat the whole egg and brush the dough thoroughly and decorate with the glaze fruits round the whole ring.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2 for 25 to 30 minutes or until nicely browned. Allow the Roscon de Reyes to cool down on a cooling rack.
Once cold, you can fill the Roscon with some piped Crème Chantilly (optional) by cutting the bun in half horizontally.
To finish, add some flaked almonds and a dust of icing sugar.