How to make Galette des Rois or Kings’ Cake, an all butter puff pastry cake filled with almond frangipane cream. Eaten in France on Epiphany, 6th January, it celebrates the arrival of the Three Kings in Bethlehem, and has some nice traditions associated with it, explained by Maelle. If you want to experience the complete French tradition, we give you some ideas for making your own crowns in our other video. This is what you need to make the galette:
Ingredients:
1x375g All butter ready rolled puff pastry
For the Frangipane filling:
90g Ground almonds
90g Icing sugar
90g Unsalted butter, soft, ready to spread from the fridge
20g Plain flour
1 Egg
1 Egg for glazing the galette before baking
1 or more ‘fèves’, which translates as a ‘bean’ but is traditionally a small ceramic figure. This is optional, but fun if you want to recreate the French tradition.
Sugar Glaze:
40g Golden caster sugar
20g Water
Equipment:
Baking sheet
24cm diameter plate
A smaller plate of about 22cm (optional, this can be helpful but isn’t absolutely necessary)
Pastry brush
Points to Consider:
The size of the ready rolled puff pastry will dictate the size of the finished galette.
Remember to have a baking sheet that is wide enough for this.
Method:
Preparation:
1) Pre-heat the oven to 180C
2) Make the frangipane filling by mixing all the ingredients thoroughly together in a bowl. Store in the fridge until needed.
3) Take the pastry out of the fridge and unroll.
4) Using the 24cm diameter plate, cut out circle of pastry that is slightly larger than the plate, by about 5mm, but this only needs to be approximate. Store in the fridge until needed, rolled in baking parchment.
5) Fold up the remaining pastry and, using a little flour to prevent it from sticking, roll it out so that you can cut another circle, using the plate this time, exactly 24 cm in diameter.
You can also prepare the egg glaze by cracking the egg into a bowl, adding a pinch of salt and beating it with a fork. Adding the pinch of salt breaks down the egg and makes it easier to brush onto the pastry.
Assembly:
Decide whether to build the galette on the baking sheet or on a sheet of baking parchment. If you use a baking sheet, do not forget to grease it.
6) Lay out the smaller of the 2 circles of pastry on either the baking parchment or baking sheet.
7) Spoon the frangipane cream into the middle of the circle.
8) Spread it outwards using a spoon or knife, leaving a border round the edge of about 1cm that does not have frangipane on it. Mound the frangipane in the centre, so it looks a little like a hill with a pastry border.
9) Brush egg glaze around the pastry border.
10) Take the other pastry circle from the fridge and carefully lay it on top of the first circle with the frangipane on it. Press around the edges to seal them.
11) Place the 24cm plate on the top so that you can trim the edges. Remove the waste and the plate. Crimp the edges gently with a knife. This helps to ensure that the frangipane doesn’t leak out during baking.
12) Brush with the egg glaze.
Plan ahead tip: You can complete the Galette to this stage up to 1 day ahead and then keep it in the fridge until you are ready to bake it the next day.
13) Prior to baking, decide what pattern you are going to score in, then with a small knife, drag the point across the surface to create your pattern. Remember not to put any downward pressure on the pastry with the knife, or you will cut through it.
14) Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes.
15) While it is baking, prepare the sugar glaze by putting the water and sugar into a small saucepan and bringing to the boil. Remove from the heat and put to one side.
16) To check to see if the galette is cooked, push a thin skewer through the side of the galette (not through the top) and when you pull it out, check to see that it is clean. Another good way of checking is to see how hot the skewer is along its length. If it’s hot all the way to the tip, the galette is cooked.
17) If it is cooked, brush the sugar glaze immediately over the top so that it becomes very shiny. There is enough heat in the pastry to evaporate the water leaving a thin and shiny layer of sugar on the top that not only looks great but also tastes delicious.
18) Place the galette on a wire rack to cool.
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Post time: Jun-24-2017