Cake of kings

Well, maybe not. But it is a king cake. The word "cake" is not accurate. It's really a pastry called une galette in French. The dictionary describes a galette as a flat, round, flour/starch based cake or crepe. The word comes from galet, meaning a rounded stone polished smooth by waves or running water.

The finished galette. It rose nicely.

I made the puff pastry on Tuesday by wrapping a flattened block of butter inside a simple dough made with flour, water, and salt. The dough block then got folded over itself six or eight times, with half-hour rests in between each fold. The folding creates thin layers of flour and butter that, when baked, rise into a flaky pastry. I rolled the finished dough and cut two disks. I spread an almond frangipane (a mixture of ground almonds, butter, and an egg) in the middle of one disk, topped that with some blueberries, added the little ceramic fève (prize) and covered it all with the second disk, sealing the edges with an egg wash. Finally, I made designs on the top with a knife and brushed on the remaining egg wash before baking it in a hot oven.

We each had a slice yesterday evening, but neither of us found the prize in our piece. Maybe today when we have more. I'll try to take a photo of the sliced cake later so you can see what it looks like inside.