Here we are again Friends and Fellow Bakers! All of this bread is encroaching on my kitchen… Dave has handed some of it out to neighbours and I have frozen some of it, but this project has created an insane amount of bread. I am almost finished though, so we will be back to technical bakes before you know it.
This is a Mexican Christmas bread that is usually served with more candied fruit on top than I have presented. Candied fruit is always a hot commodity and I don’t usually buy it at all. This year was even worse because of the global supply chain crisis, so I have had to get a little creative with the add ins for this and others I have done for this holiday bread project. Anyway I had some glace cherries in the pantry already so I made do. This bread also gets a bit of craquelin added to the top. I only learned recently of using craquelin on breads. I was familiar with craquelin on pastry. There is a techincal bake from Season 5 that features craquelin on bread and the Bread Baker’s apprentice has a little bit of discourse about so-called “Dutch Crunch” which is also a form of craquelin on bread. Isn’t it fun how there is always something new to learn about the beautiful world of BREAD!
Rosca De Reyes or 3 Kings Bread, like other Christmas breads from around the world, has fruit which is meant to represent the gifts of the magi to the baby Jesus. In traditional preparations, a wax or plastic figurine of the baby Jesus is baked into the bread and the person who finds it has to cook tamales for the family on Feb 2 which is called Candelaria day.
The presentation of this bread as a wreath with the craquelin alternating in stripes with the fruit makes for an interesting eating experience. The slices that have the craquelin are much sweeter than those without. This makes it a good bread for a crowd, since everyone can take a slice to suit their tastes. The inner sponge is enriched with egg and butter and is almost cake-like.
Baking Summit 