Galette des rois….with Suzanne Dunaway
This is the cake of Epiphany about which the French go mad at Christmas or just after New Year’s, and which is often decorated elaborately on top of the crust, depending on how well the baker wields his sharp paring knife or lame.
I often mistakenly cut through the pastry, having forgotten that the top crust must be refrigerated until the very last moment before artistic endeavours can begin, and it will be easier to decorate. You will probably be more successful!
Still, it always tastes wonderful as I do not use regular flour but instead, almond flour, which has a lovely nutty taste in the filling. I also use grilled almonds, ground fine in my ex-coffee grinder, in which I had last ground up my dried very hot espelettes peppers, leaving a little zing in the filling for the gateau!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup/100g almond flour
- 4 ounces (150g) soft butter
- ¾ cup/150g sugar
- A pinch of salt
- A grate of orange or tangerine zest
- 3 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Half a jigger of rum
- ½ cup grilled almonds, ground very fine
- 2 boxes of pure butter puff pastry
- A broad bean or if you are worried about someone breaking a crown, a raisin or too-big-to-bite little figurine
METHOD
Heat the oven to 400F/200C.
In a mixing bowl, mix the almond flour, soft butter, sugar, salt, zest, two of the eggs, vanilla, rum and ground almonds to a smooth dough.
Lay one round of puff pastry on a baking sheet, keep the second one in the fridge. If the puff pastry circle is too large for the baking sheet, use a tarte pan as your measuring size and cut the puff pastry to that size circle.
Spread the almond mixture evening over the circle, leaving almost an inch of border.<
Place the chilled puff pastry circle over the filling and press down the edges with your fingers, taking care not to tear the dough. You might use fork tines to press the dough together, then cut carefully around the circle so that the edges match up.
Bake at 200C/400F for 10-15 minutes, then lower the heat to 185C/375F and bake another 8-10 minutes until very golden. Let cool before cutting.
Meet the chef
P-O Life reader, Suzanne Dunaway, has cooked since she was 5 years old, when she made cinnamon pinwheels from her mother’s pastry dough.
She LOVES to cook. Some might say she LIVES to cook. The smells, the tastes, the textures…
She is a firm believer in simplicity and creates her recipes in the ethos of ‘anyone can cook’.
After years of experience in her own kitchen, cooking schools and private classes all over the world, in this weekly blog, Suzanne shares with us her PO-inspired creations.
With many strings to her bow, she is also an artist and columnist, with two published cookbooks.
Get a copy of her ‘No Need to Knead: Handmade Artisan Breads in 90 Minutes’ here
Or her 5 star rated book ‘Rome, at Home: The Spirit of La Cucina Romana in Your Own Kitchen’ here
All content and recipes are copyright of Suzanne Dunaway.