An Epiphany

Well, maybe not. But we did have the traditional French galette des rois, in celebration of the epiphany. It's a tart made with pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) and a filling of frangipane (almond paste).

The bottom half of the dough, with frangipane, and the fève.

I make my own pâte feuilletée these days as well as my own frangipane. So naturally, I make my own galette. Given that these little cakes go for ten to fifteen euros in a bakery, I think I'm getting a better deal making them on my own.

I got the dough recipe from Eric Léautey, a chef on CuisineTV. Here it is:

Mix 250 g flour, 12 cl water, 5 g salt on a cool surface. Work the dough lightly and wrap it in plastic. Place it the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

The finished galette, with edge and top decoration done with a sharp knife.

Put 250 g butter in between two sheets of plastic wrap and flatten it into a rectangle of about 1 cm in thickness.

Roll out the dough so that it is bigger than the flattened butter. Place the butter on top of the dough and wrap the dough around the butter, enclosing it completely. Roll it with a rolling pin, making it uniform and rectangular.

Make the first turn. That is, turn one third of the dough over on itself, then turn the other third over on top. It sounds complicated, but it's not. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for an hour.

Hot from the oven.

After an hour, roll the dough out lengthwise and make a double turn. That just means to turn a quarter of the dough over on itself, turn the opposite end over the same way so that the two folded ends meet in the middle, then turn the dough over itself again.

Repeat the double turn step six times, allowing the dough to rest in the refrigerator for an hour in between each turn. This is the hard part, because you need to be there each hour to take the dough out of the fridge, roll it, and fold it. This is what retirement is for.

A slice of the galette des rois.

To make the galette, you roll the dough and cut two rounds, fill it with the frangipane, make some nice decorative cuts on top, glaze with an egg wash, and bake in a hot oven.