Sunday Flavors

VARIATION ON A BOLO REI RECIPE

(CHRISTMAS KING CAKE)

Bolo Rei (King Cake) is a must over a traditional Portuguese Christmas table. This kind of sweet bread with a hole in the centre, decorated with candied fruit and nuts, is commonly enjoyed on Christmas (December 25th), New Year’s Eve and Kings Day (January 6th).
It is suspected to have arrived in Portugal around the end of 17th century, from the France of Luis XIV, named as a “Gâteau dês Róis”. Quickly became popular in Lisbon and then throughout all the country.
Traditionally this cake hides a fava bean in its dough witch represents lucky. Some consider the finder of the fava bean as the king of the celebration. Others commit the finder to buy or to bake the next Bolo Rei, so be aware of “fava bean evaders”!
My Princess doesn’t like candied fruit or raisins in this royal cake usual composition, so I switched it for cranberries, blueberries and several kinds of nuts to suit her taste. As a matter of fact, Christmas is all about caring and sharing, right?!

YOU WILL NEED:
900 gr / 1 lb and 15 ¾ oz of all purpose flour or bread flour;
50 gr / 1 ¾ oz of active dry yeast;
50 ml / 1 3/4 fl oz of warm milk;
350 gr / 12 ¼ oz of sugar;
5 eggs;
Scrapings of 1 orange;
Scrapings of 1 lemon;
Pinch of salt;
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon;
100 ml / 3 1/2 fl oz of black beer;
100 gr / 3 ½ oz of butter, melted;
100 ml / 3 ½ fl oz of Port Wine;
75 gr / 2 ½ oz of pine seeds;
75 gr / 2 ½ oz of walnuts;
75 gr / 2 ½ oz of almonds;
75 gr / 2 ½ oz of Brazil nuts;
100 gr / 3 ½ oz of dried cranberries;
75 gr / 2 ½ oz of dried blueberries;
Egg wash;
Dried figs for decoration;
Dried dates for decoration;
4 tablespoons of apricot jam;
Icing sugar to dust the cake;
Butter to grease;
Flour to dust;

METHOD:
Spread all the nuts on a baking sheet and take it to the oven for a very light toast;
Chop coarsely all the nuts, saving some for the decoration;
Soak the chopped nuts, cranberries and blueberries in Port Wine and reserve until you need to incorporate it in the dough;
Dissolve active yeast with warm milk and let it stand for 10 minutes;
In a large bowl incorporate the dissolved yeast with 250 gr / 8 ¾ oz of flour and mix very well. Add water or dust with flour to handle the mix until soft, rolling the dough into a ball;
Place the bowl in a warm place and let it rise for 1 hour;
To the dough ball incorporate the remaining flour (650 gr / 1 lb and 7 oz), sugar, orange and lemon scrapings, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, black beer and mix everything very well;
Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each;
Incorporate melted butter and mix well;
Add some extra flour if the dough is too sticky and knead it bringing in sides until it is soft and elastic;
Add nuts, berries and Port Wine mix and incorporate everything very well;
Dust the dough with flour and keep it in a warm place to rise again until doubled in size, around 90 minutes;
Grease a baking sheet with butter and dust it with flour, tapping out any excess;
Once dough has doubled place it on the prepared baking sheet, dust with flour and form a large ring with a hole in the centre;
Wrap fava bean in baking paper and insert it into the dough ring, concealing it as best as possible (optional step);
Leave the ring to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes more;
Preheat your oven to 180º C / 350º F;
Mix egg yolk with a little water to make egg wash and brush top and sides of the ring;
Decorate with reserved nuts, dried figs and dates or extra cranberries (you can chose a different decoration);
Bake it in the oven for 45 minutes, until golden brown;
When baked, remove the cake from the oven and brush top and sides with apricot jam;
To finish, dust some parts of the ring with icing sugar, with the help of a tea sieve, and allow your Bolo Rei to cool a while.
A Merry, Merry Christmas to all of you*.

*published on Macau Daily Times of December, 18th, 2010.