Galette des rois
Two discs of puff pastry with almond cream between them — and two things on which that simplicity fails. First, the almond cream must be cold and firm, because warm it spreads and pushes out the sides. Second, the rim is sealed with water only and pressed with your fingers, not glued with egg: egg that runs onto the cut edge sets and glues the layers, so the pastry rises only in the middle.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Almond cream 15 min
- Assembly 20 min
- Chilling 45 min
- Baking 45 min
- Cooling 20 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneBeat the almond cream and chill it
Cream the butter with the sugar for 2 minutes, add the eggs one at a time, then the ground almonds, cornflour, rum, vanilla and salt. Refrigerate for 30 minutes — a warm cream spreads under the pastry and pushes the edges open on the tray.
Ingredients: 150 g ground almonds · 120 g butter · 120 g sugar · 2 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp cornflour · 2 tbsp rum · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Firm and cold — only then will it hold a dome.Cut two discs, the top one larger
Cut two circles from the pastry: a 24 cm base and a 26 cm lid (if the sheets are too narrow, roll them out a little). The lid must be bigger because the filling forms a dome and the pastry has to cover it without tension — a stretched top splits in the oven.
Ingredients: 500 g puff pastry
Mound the cream, leaving a 3 cm border
Mound the cream on the base disc, leaving 3 cm of bare pastry all around. To keep the tradition, press an almond or a ceramic charm into the cream — whoever finds it gets the paper crown. Warn your guests about it, especially children.
Ingredients: 150 g ground almonds · 120 g butter · 120 g sugar · 2 pcs eggs · 1 tbsp cornflour · 2 tbsp rum · 1 tsp vanilla extract · 1 pinch salt
Seal the rim with water and scallop it
Moisten the border with water only, lay on the lid and press with your fingers, working air out from the centre. Scallop the edge with the back of a knife every centimetre. Do not glue the rim with egg — set egg glues the layers and the pastry cannot rise at the sides.
Ingredients: 500 g puff pastry
Rim pressed by hand and scalloped, no egg on it.Chill, then glaze and score the top
Chill for 15 minutes, brush with yolk (keeping it off the cut edge), chill again and brush a second time. Meanwhile heat the oven to 200°C. With a sharp knife score radiating curves through the top layer only. Pierce right through in a few places so steam has an exit.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg yolk · 30 g sugar · 30 ml water
Surface layer only — deeper and the cream escapes.Bake 45 minutes, starting hot
Bake 15 minutes at 200°C, then 30 minutes at 180°C. Puff pastry needs that first blast so the water in the butter flashes to steam and forces the layers apart. The lower heat lets the cream set without burning the top.
Ingredients: 500 g puff pastry
Glaze with syrup straight from the oven
Towards the end of baking, boil the sugar with the water and brush the hot pastry with hot syrup straight from the oven. The water evaporates within seconds and leaves a lacquered shine. Cool on a rack for about 20 minutes and serve warm.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg yolk · 30 g sugar · 30 ml water
Before you start
Shop-bought puff pastry
Buy the all-butter kind, not margarine — the difference in flavour shows here, because a galette has nothing else to cover it. Thaw in the fridge, never at room temperature.
Frangipane
Fold two or three spoonfuls of pastry cream (crème pâtissière) into the almond cream and you have frangipane — a lighter, more delicate filling. A good use for leftover cream from another bake.
Why glaze twice
The first coat soaks in and dries, the second forms a film that gives a deep shine. After a single coat the colour tends to be patchier and duller.
