Rosca de Reyes

Rosca de reyes
Rosca de reyes

¡FELIZ DÍA DE LOS REYES!

Have you ever heard of a Rosca de Reyes? In Mexico, many other Central and Southern American countries, Europe, and some parts of the U.S. (in Catholic-prevalent parts of the world), they celebrate el Día de los Reyes on the 6th of January, which is TODAY! Traditionally, (at least in Mexico) on the 5th of January, children leave their shoes out by a miniature nativity scene so that the three kings can place gifts in them. They also leave food, hay, and water for the kings and camels to express their gratitude for gifts. Later, everyone celebrates this day of epifanía or Epiphany by sitting around an oval-shaped, chewy, lightly sweetened Rosca de Reyes and Mexican hot chocolate or atole.

Rosca de reyes
The rosca de reyes is shaped this way to symbolize the crown of Jesus; the candied fruits represent the jewels on the crown. Traditionally, the rosca de reyes is filled with baby Jesus figurines. The people who get the slices of rosca with the baby Jesus figurines in them will have to make and serve tamales (or whatever else you want to serve) on the 2nd of February (I still owe a party or two…oops!)!

Not surprisingly, this bread tastes different than the Pan de muerto I made. After doing a bit of research on rosca de reyes recipes, I realized that there are many disparate versions out there depending on which region you follow. So, based on the knowledge I acquired, I created a “new” version. My goal with this version was to recreate the rosca I remembered eating while living in East L.A. There was no edible filling like raisins or cajeta, so I didn’t include that, but I did post it in the recipe below as an option add-in, along with directions on how to add it, for anyone who would like to include it.

 

I made a lot of mistakes on this rosca de reyes, so bear with me through this post. I’m glad that it looks pretty well, though. I’ll do better next year!

Rosca de reyesI made the bread a bit sweeter by adding sugar to the baño (literally means “bath”, but is the glaze, in this case) that goes on top of the bread. The pasta (sugar/flour paste) browned a lot because I didn’t realize that I was supposed to put it on until after it was done baking! DOH!

Also, I candied the pineapples myself from a fresh pineapple. I also candied the cherries. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t find fresh papaya, so I bought the candied papaya. The candied papaya was dry and kept poking and popping out of my rosca. The fruits I candied, however, looked shiny and beautiful and were sticky enough that I didn’t have to worry about them popping up.

 

Candying sugar is a lot easier than I thought it would be. If you ever make this rosca de reyes, I highly suggest you candy your own fruit instead of buying it. If you can’t find fresh papaya (I couldn’t around this time of year), try dipping the store-bought kind in the leftover sugar syrup from the other fruits so that they adhere to the rosca de reyes. I followed this recipe to candy the fruits.

I am submitting this bread to yeastspotting!!

Rosca de reyes

Rosca de Reyes

adapted from various sources

 

Dough:
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 c warm water (105-110°F)
1/4 c warm milk (can put both milk and water in one measuring cup and microwave mixture for 30-45 seconds. Check the temperature!)
1 Tbsp sugar
4 – 4 1/2 c AP flour (I needed 4 1/4 cups. You could also use half wheat and half white flour. Be prepared to make adjustments with the liquid, though!)
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 c butter, softened
1/2 c milk (I used whole)
2 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
Zest of one orange (optional)
Zest of one lemon (optional) (I used orange zest only)
1/4 c leche condensada
1 tsp vanilla extract (I forgot to add this!!)

Baño:
1 egg whites (use the white from the pasta below)
2 Tbsp powdered sugar (I accidentally used granulated sugar. Don’t make my mistake.)

 

After baking, add the pasta:
Pasta
(I halved this part of the recipe from What’s Cooking and still had more left):
1/2 c sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 c flour
1/3 c butter, softened

Add-ins:
3-5 Baby Jesus figurines (I used 4)

Raisins

Cajeta or dulce de leche

Melted chocolate

Proof yeast in 1/4 cup of water and milk (105-110°F) and 1 Tbsp of sugar. While yeast mixture is proofing, mix the flour and cinnamon together in a large bowl or on a table, and form a well (alternatively, you can use a stand mixer). In the middle of the well, put in the yeast mixture, butter, egg yolks, whole eggs, condensed milk, and vanilla. Mix the wet ingredients together and then gradually blend in the flour until you form a ball. Knead the dough or use a stand mixer for about 8-10 minutes. Cover the dough with a clean towel, and allow the dough to sit in a warm place in a greased bowl for one hour or until its doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled, take out the dough and knead the dough for a few seconds to remove the air out of them. Roll the dough back into a ball, place a dough scraper or knife in the middle of the ball to create the rosca, which should be oval-shaped with a large hole in the center. Make sure the hole is larger than you would think it should be since the hole will close up after the second rising. Allow the shaped dough to rise for about 45 minutes.

If adding cajeta, dulce de leche, or melted chocolate:

Once the dough has doubled, take out the dough and knead the dough for a few seconds to remove the air out of them. Roll the dough back into a ball, and then roll out the dough to form a long rectangle. With the long part of the rolled-out dough in front of you, pipe or spread the filling on one side of dough. Add raisins on top, if desired. Brush egg wash on the side facing you. Fold the opposite side of the dough on top of the egg-washed side. Then, roll the dough into a thick, snake-like shape, pinching the ends together really well so that they don’t come apart (the dough should now look like in the photo above).

Mix the baño mixture with beaters or in a mixer, and brush it on top of the shaped, risen dough. This mixture will also help the dried fruit adhere to the rosca (it didn’t help at all for me).

Rosca de reyes
I actually allowed the rosca de reyes to rise with the decorations on them. Don’t make my mistake. The dried candy from the store kept lifting up after baking.

Bake the rosca de reyes for 25-30 minutes in a 350°F oven. Next, spread the pasta in 6-8 sections on top of the rosca, leaving enough space in between them for the fruits. Cut the fruits and place them on the rosca to the left and right of the pasta.

 

Allow rosca de reyes to cool for 5-10 mins, and add in the figurines, if using, underneath the rosca by punching a hole at the bottom with the figurine itself. Tuck the figurines in the rosca well so that they don’t fall out.

Rosca de reyes
Reclining on top of the rosca; awww, can you see his little feet poking out?
Eat the rosca de reyes with your family and friends.
Copyright – Memoria James – http://www.mangioeviaggiodasola.com

Memoria is a polyglot xenophile from Texas who currently lives in Germany. She teaches English by day and Spanish by night and works on her food, language, and travel blog and Local Language eCourse in between. She speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, some German, and a little French. She loves to travel and learn the local language for every country she visits and hopes that she can pass this linguistic desire to others.

Author: Memoria James

Memoria is a polyglot xenophile from Texas who currently lives in Germany. She teaches English by day and Spanish by night and works on her food, language, and travel blog and Local Language eCourse in between. She speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, some German, and a little French. She loves to travel and learn the local language for every country she visits and hopes that she can pass this linguistic desire to others.

16 thoughts on “Rosca de Reyes”

  1. Another great tradition on the feast of the three kings! I mentioned to someone else but I have to say it again – in the Philippines we leave our shoes out and the three kings are supposed to leave us little gifts – I think I prefer this cake instead!

  2. You did a beautiful job..even candying the pineapple and cherries..the babies are sweet too..Even your mistakes made me smile..mine was huge..I forgot to put the baby in:)

  3. An official day to enjoy sweet bread and hot chocolate?? I think this should be an international holiday with everyone in the world partaking in the yummy celebration. 😉

  4. Hi, Memoria

    What a beautiful bread! What a beautiful dedication to the three Kings and the bsby Jesus!I am so proud of your ability and your creativity–I am so blessed to have such a gifted daughter :o)

    Love you!

  5. Just so lovely! What a beautiful bread you made…and your own candied fruit?! You rock. Maybe my co-worker and I will try this next year 🙂

    I love the comment by your mom above. How nice! Best, Mary the Food Librarian

  6. Mary, I'm so glad you stopped by! Thank you for the kind comment. I love my mother's comments, too. She is so sweet and supportive.

  7. I agree with you, making the candied fruit is definitely better than the already dried/candied stuff we find in the stores, and it is so easy to make.

    I think you did a wonderful job and I love how you shared your story. The pics are pretty, too.
    🙂

  8. Beautiful Kings bread and very colorful. I think I might use a bean instead of the baby Jesus figures, but they are cute. Bet it was delicious!

  9. My Spanish teacher told us about this holiday, much to the chagrin of my parents. My brother and I jumped at the chance to get more gifts lol.

    This looks like a great bread! I am so impressed that you candied your own fruit. It was probably a lot cheaper and tasted way better than the stuff you buy in stores!

  10. that is a beautiful bread and it must have been very meaningful for u…allthosse candying of the fruits have been worth the effort….mistakes I see not at all….evr the more charming if they are any.^^

  11. OMGosh…You have truly brighten my day. I stayed in Mexico for 1 month on a study abroad trip in 2009 and We had this on the day of the kings!!! What a celebration! It was a great experience! Did you know that during that holiday the are street sellers that carry around globos (balloons) and they give the to little kids to make a wish. After they make a wish they let the balloon go…I know bad for the environment, but still a great experience.

    I really think you should try a Pan Dulce recipe…Pls oh Pls

Leave a Reply to Elle Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.