The real recipe for galette des rois à la Frangipane
Reading time: 10 min
An invisible border crosses France.As the epiphany approaches, she divides the cake eaters and those who largely prefer the brioche.Slate made this observation in 2015:
Sorry to the southerners, we are going to talk here about the January snack of the Northern parts: the so -called kings cake, prepared with a puff pastry and garnished with frangipane.A dish traditionally tasted for the epiphany ... and actually inspired much older customs.During the Saturnals, great winter festivals, the Romans already drew the kings.It was a question of electing a sovereign of a day, taking advantage of this opportunity to reverse the roles.
Thus, “sharing the cake has nothing to do with religion.It was part of the celebrations around the winter solstice, conducive to divinations.Christians eat it during the epiphany and the celebration of the Magi Kings.However Lutherans, Calvinists and certain Catholics opposed this pagan custom, as eves the speeches of the canon of Senlis in 1664, which did not approve of the festive side of the galette, "explains the historian Nadine CretinExpress.fr.
A good puff pastry
But back to the manufacture of this well -buttered snack.First, a good cake is by definition concocted with a good puff pastry.That is to say a fine and crisp paste, "rich in fat, made by inserting layers of butter in a dough called" soaring "by successive folds in order to create a leafing to cooking", defines the great manual of the pastry chef(Marabout).
Many professionals use so -called "inverted" puff pastry.That's to say?Basically, it is the fat that will coat the dough made from flour and water, not the other way around."In the temperate lab (18 ° C), we can make a reverse puff pastry by reversing the layers, that is to say by surrounding the stretch in the butter.We get more layers of butter than dough, and the result is even more crisp, ”says this same manual.The Pastry Chef Claire Damon, at the head of the house of cakes and bread (Paris), prefers to prepare an inverted puff pastry: "It is more technical.But the dough has more friability, more puff pastry.The result is finer. "
So what to do for your homemade cake? First choice: Buy a ready paste. Obviously, in terms of taste it is far from the best option. If you choose two industrial rollers, favor “pure butter” pasta! Second choice: Ask your craftsman and/or pastry chef to prepare for puff pastry pasti. Third option, you start preparing a puff pastry, classic or inverted. For this, it is better to be equipped with an adapted work plan (professionals have a "marble", which can be refrigerated, which is very useful for reverse puff pastry). In this case, “above all, it is necessary to respect the exposure times. The puff pastry is the praise of slowness! "Advises Claire Damon. In practice, we can for example follow at home Mercotte recipes ("normal" or inverted puff pastry) or Bernard (similarly, for the classic version or the inverted version).
Almond cream…
It is then a question of garnishing the cake with a very rich cream, the frangipane.The equation is simple: almond cream + pastry cream = frangipane."Almond cream alone is too fatty for a pancake.Adding a little pastry cream gives softness, ”continues Claire Damon.
For almond cream, nothing complicated, you need the same weight of butter, sugar, eggs and almond powder.Which almonds to choose?Of course, their quality is essential ... "We work with almonds of Occitania and Corsica.I went to visit the producers.I chose them for the taste of their almonds, and for their mode of production, their convictions, their requirements, ”says Claire Damon.
Buying an almond powder packet is certainly faster, but reducing them to powder yourself will be much more delicious ... "I use white almonds (skinless).You can take whole almonds and worldly [remove the skin, editor's note], then mix them in a household robot.You can put the sugar in the blender at the same time, so that the almonds do not grease.By working a whole product, we always get a better taste, it's as with the pepper of the mill! ”, Explains Sébastien Gaudard, pastry chef at the head of the Martyrs Pastry (Paris), who finds that the almonds of CaliforniaLack of taste and that "the almonds of Spain or Provence are more fragrant".You can also leave the skin of some of the almonds, which will give a little taste, a different texture.
To prepare the almond cream, let the butter soften at room temperature.It is then a question of working it with a spatula to obtain a "ointment" texture, before adding the sugar, then the whole eggs and the almond powder (or even a trait of good rum)."Add the ingredients one by one.This almond cream should not be "climbed", advises Sébastien Gaudard.In other words: do not mix with an excess of zeal, so as not to incorporate too much air.
… Then frangipane
Pastry cream is a classic preparation that garnishes cabbage, lightning or millefeuilles, containing eggs, sugar, cornstarch (or flour), milk and vanilla."Do not use cream powder [a ready powder used to make pastry cream or flans, editor's note] to prepare the pastry cream!Corn starch is very good, "said Sébastien Gaudard.This cream can be slightly vanilla.
It is then a question of mixing the almond cream with the pastry cream, to make the garnish lighter (way of speaking!).For this frangipane, many recipe books offer a 1/3 ratio of pastry cream, 2/3 of almond cream.The pastry -interviewed pastry chefs put 15 to 20% pastry cream on the total weight.In the end, "frangipane has a good taste of almonds, and subtle notes of vanilla and rum.Vanilla highlights the very light taste of rum, ”adds the pastry chef.
Assemble everything
It will be time to transform it all into a cake.Roll out your dough and cut two large discs, or take your two pre-established puff pastry discs.Place a disc on a baking sheet, covered with parchment paper."We are very generously garnished with the pancake with a pastry bag, leaving 2 to 3 cm on the sides," explains Claire Damon.If you don't have a pastry bag, spread the frangipane very carefully with a spatula.
This is where an essential point arrives but very easily forgettable: place the bean on the frangipane, preferably towards the outside of the cake.We will have to moisten the edges of the dough (simply with a brush dipped in the water), to make the dough sticky and obtain a better weld with the other dough.Then, "we put the second lowering, removing the air well," says Claire Damon.After chasing the air bubbles, you press with the fingers on the pancakes of the pancake, to stick the two discs well.
We then go to the chiquing stage, very useful for preventing your pancake from opening up in the oven and so that the puff pastry develops nicely.Chiqueting is "cutting the turn of a dough before cooking, with a view to a more regular finish", defines the great manual of the pastry chef.Thus, "for a pancake, put your fingers on the dough 5 mm from the edge, pressing slightly.With the tip of the knife, on the non -cutting side, bring the dough back to the fingers by tilting the knife ”.Nothing better than a little video tutorial to understand the gesture.
Gown the cake
A good pancake must also be beautiful!Pastry chef Christophe Felder explained in 2015 in Le Figaro:
To make your pancake have a beautiful color, you will have to brown it, using a brush and a beaten egg.“For the cake to be golden golden, you have to" dry "the gilding.So, we can brown the cake for the first time, then put it in the fridge for 30 to 45 minutes.It's a job of patience!When the dough has "drunk", we go back.And we can iron the cake one last time in the fridge before cooking, ”advises Sébastien Gaudard.
Besides, "the passing in the cool before cooking is very important: without this step, the leafing butter will mix immediately with the dough".So, by cooling the butter, we prepare the development of a beautiful puff pastry.
Ray and cook quietly
The decor is also the small lines of various forms drawn on the cake.A "pithiviers" striking ", arcs from the center to form a sort of sun, is for example classic."Use the back of the knife and don't press too much.You have to feel the gesture! ”Recommends Claire Damon.Be careful not to tear the cake!However, we will have to make a few small holes so that the cake does not swell anyway ... "With the tip of the knife, we sting in the decor.Like that, it cannot be seen.And we make a little hole in the middle, ”continues Claire Damon.
Bake your cake without waiting.“The pancake must be really well cooked.I love raw dough, but when the dough is between the two, it's indigestible!, Said Sébastien Gaudard.In a household oven, cooking at 170/180 ° C, that's fine. "Cooking can be quite long (more than 45 minutes), depending on your oven and the size of the pancake.The great pastry manual advises: "Using a spatula, lift the cake: it must be golden uniformly".
Finally, how to taste your pancake?An overly hot cake is sticky and indigestible.“The cake must be tempered, barely lukewarm.What we recommend to our customers is to preheat the oven to 120 ° C.Then bake the cake, turn off the oven and leave it for 15 minutes, "recommends Sébastien Gaudard.
The real recipe
So, in the end, what should the result look like?“The puff pastry is crisp, light.The frangipane is fragrant and soft, ”says Claire Damon.Latest advice for the road?"You shouldn't go too fast," says the head.In your pastry shop, it takes almost a week to prepare a pancake, with the rest times of the puff past then of the pancake!Finally, you must of course "ensure the quality of all the ingredients".
Here is a classic frangipane cake recipe.Note: here, there is a small amount of pastry cream, which will represent a little more than 20% of the weight of the frangipane.But as it is easier to make a larger amount of pastry cream, you can also double or triple the grammages, use one part and leave another part in the fridge (to consume very quickly!) For gourmets ...
Ingredients
For pastry cream
For almond cream
For the assembly of the pancake
Start by preparing the pastry cream.In a bowl, beat the egg yolk with the sugar.Add the cornstarch.Heat the milk, with a small piece of split vanilla pod.When the milk is simmering, remove the vanilla pod, and put half the milk in the bowl.Mix quickly, and put everything back in the pan on the fire.Stir with a whisk constantly.When the cream starts to bubbles, continue cooking for a little minute, until the cream has thickened.Let your pastry cream cool.
To make the almond cream, take out the butter in advance to soften it at room temperature. With a spatula, work the butter so that it has a "ointment" texture. Add the sugar, then the eggs one by one, and finally the almond powder (and possibly rum). Mix well. Then add the pastry cream to obtain a frangipane. Take a first disc of puff pastry on a baking sheet or oven, covered with parchment paper. Place the frangipane on the dough (with a pastry bag or a spatula), leaving 2 to 3 cm of dough on the edges. Install the bean! With a brush dipped in the water, moisten the edges. And gently place the second disc of dough. Press with your fingers on the edges, to weld the two discs. CHIP THE GALETTE. With a beaten egg and a brush, brown the cake for the first time. Then let it be cool, for 30 to 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 170 ° C. Brown the cake a second time. You can iron it for a few more tens of minutes in the fridge. Decorate the cake, with the tip of a knife. Bake for about 45 minutes: it should be golden brown.
