How to make sourdough Roscón de Reyes – Traditional Spanish Bread

Happy and healthy New Year! I want to start 2021 with one of my favorite Spanish types of bread: The Roscón de Reyes. It’s a brioche-style, citrusy, sweet bread that’s usually consumed on January 6^th; the Epiphany day, and the official last day of Christmas in Spain (and many other countries).

January 6^th is known as “Día de Reyes”, the Three Kings day; it refers to the 3 Wise Men who visited Jesus when he was born, bringing gold, incense, and myrrh as gifts.

What is the tradition during Día de Reyes?

When the Christmas season starts, kids in Spain write a letter to Their Majesties the Three Wise Men. In their letters, they ask for the presents they’d like to receive.

Now… If they behaved well during the year, they will get the gifts on their list. But if they didn’t… They’ll receive a bag of coal!! And depending on how mischievous they were, the bag might have candy coal or real coal!

On January 5^th almost every town has a parade with the Reyes Magos and their pages. During the parade, the kids get to see the Reyes Magos and collect lots of candy the pages throw away. There’s music, laughter, and a final speech from Their Majesties encouraging the kids to go to bed early, so they can sneak into their homes and leave the gifts.

Then, that night, Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltasar, (Those are the names of the 3 wise men) or “Los Reyes Magos” as we call them in Spanish (The literal translation from Spanish is “the Magic Kings”), will go home from to home, riding their camels and leaving gifts for the family.

In our tradition, instead of using stockings, we leave shoes in the living room or close to the tree. One shoe per person. And you best believe that my sister and I always chose very carefully which shoes we were leaving!

Of course, as hosts, we need to leave some treats for our royal guests and their camels! In my family, we always left 3 glasses with sherry wine and a tray with turrón and polvorones (traditional Spanish Christmas treats). Then, we’d leave a big bucket with water and some carrots on the balcony for the camels.

The next morning we’d wake up early because… who can sleep when you know who’s visiting in the wee hours!?, and run to check our shoes and all the presents underneath.

The tradition behind the Roscón de Reyes

On January 6^th it’s tradition to have one last feast with your family, as it is the last official day of the holidays. A big lunch to say goodbye to Christmas and a good Roscón as dessert.

Typically, people buy the Roscón de Reyes, and it comes with 3 things: a fava bean and a figurine hidden in the bread, and a golden paper crown. Let me explain…

I’m sure different places will have different customs, but where I grew up this is how we did it:

The person that gets the hidden fava bean will pay for next year’s Roscón, and the person who gets the figurine will be crowned king or queen of the table with the paper crown.

There are different types of Roscón, you can buy it plain, or with fillings (whipped cream or pastry cream being the most popular). My family used to buy the whipped cream one, but a homemade Roscón… I believe fillings just distract you from the fantastic flavors that this bread packs!

What are the ingredients of a rosca de reyes?

The flour

The flour I use for this Roscón is brioche flour with 14% of protein. If you live in the US this is the flour I use and I like the results. It absorbs fats and liquids very well and the dough is very elastic.

If you have flour with less protein content, you will need less liquid in your recipe. The texture of the dough should be soft but not super slack. It’s not quite as slack as brioche dough but not as stiff as my sourdough challah dough.

As a rule of thumb for me, for every 1% less protein in my flour, I decrease liquid and butter by 10% (less protein, less liquid, and fats). Then I adapt as needed.

The milk and other dairy-free options

The source of moisture in this recipe is milk. I like to scald it before I add it to the dough. It helps temper the other ingredients if they are cold when I prepare the dough (add it warm, not hot). It also makes developing the gluten a bit easier; some proteins are denatured and possible interactions with the gluten proteins are also reduced.

You don’t have to scald the milk, but if you do, measure more than what the recipe calls for because some moisture will evaporate.

You can use soy milk or other vegetable beverage, but I’d go for liquids with a viscosity similar to whole milk, not something watery as rice milk. I wouldn’t use oat milk, oat beta-glucan can affect the dough and be a tremendous impediment when building the gluten.

The sourdough

If you’re making the sourdough version, you might want to prepare a levain with the brioche flour if that’s not the flour you typically feed your starter (just take a portion of your starter and prepare a new one using the flour you will use for this bread). This will help the growth and adaptation period of the microorganisms once you make the dough. If you want to know more about sourdough science check this post!

The aromatics

Although flour is important for obvious reasons, the key ingredients in a good Roscón de Reyes are the aromatics. The key aromatics are orange zest, lemon zest, and orange blossom water (This is the one I use and I love it!). The smell doesn’t disappear after baking, it’s awesome).

The aroma must be balanced between citrusy flavors and sweet flavors. Make sure your orange blossom water is not expired or the dough won’t keep the aroma at all.

You can also add some dark rum or Cointreau for an extra kick and if you candy your own orange, the syrup is an excellent aromatic too! (and if it has some pulp even better!). If you use any booze, don’t use more than 1-1.5 tbsp. Alcohol can affect the texture of the bread and if using sourdough, it can affect the growth of the microorganisms.

Vanilla extract is optional, I decided to leave it out because I think the orange blossom water and orange syrup are enough. I love orange blossom and I don’t think it needs to be mixed with anything else.

How to make Roscón de Reyes

The pictures on this post are of a sourdough Roscón but I have also included a yeasted version. I explain the differences between both methods in the following paragraphs.

Sourdough Roscón de Reyes

Since I’m using brioche flour, the day before I started the dough I prepared the levain using my regular sourdough starter, water, and the brioche flour. I needed 135g so I calculated the quantities to end up with about 150g, just in case I lost something on the walls of the container etc.

With winter temperature in my kitchen being around 20C/68F, I can feed my starter 1:2:2, and the growth cycle is about 18-20h. So, I prepared the levain in the evening before going to bed. The levain was ready early next evening. You know your starter better, you can decide which feeding schedule suits you better.

When my starter was ready I prepared the dough and it fermented overnight. The next morning I divided the dough into 2 equal pieces, shaped it, and let it proof for about 3h-4h (at 68F/20C)

I prepared the levain in a way that I could leave the dough fermenting overnight. That way it could proof during the morning and we had a fresh Roscón de Reyes for dessert.

Yeasted Roscón de Reyes

For the yeast version, you need to adapt the recipe. First, you need to avoid the starter and then update the flour and milk quantities.

Since I use a 100% hydration starter, half of the weight is water, and half of the weight is flour. This recipe calls for 135g of starter, which means 67.5g are water, and 67.5 flour.

To update the recipe you just need to add 67.5g of flour to the total flour and 67.5g of milk or water to the total milk.

How to twitch the recipe to use yeast

How much yeast should I use? That’s a question that I get asked pretty often. I would recommend no more than 1% of the weight of the flour, which is about 6 g for the full recipe. You can even use less yeast, it’ll just take a bit longer to ferment.

You can always add more yeast but to the detriment of the flavor and dough structure. The faster the bread ferments, the faster it’ll dry out once baked, and the easier it’ll be for the dough to over ferment, loose structure, and end up with a dense pancake.

A way to improve the flavor profile of a yeasted bread is to slow down the fermentation. You can do that by reducing the amount of yeast, or by adding a cold bulk step (or both if the yeast amount is low but not too low).

A good schedule for a yeasted Roscón is to start in the afternoon. Let it ferment until it almost doubles in size, then put it in the fridge overnight. The next morning take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature for about 1h, or to a dough consistency that’s comfortable to work with. Then proceed as with the sourdough version. Keep in mind that it will prove faster, and instead of 3-4 h, it might take 1-2 (depending on the internal temperature).

How to shape your Roscón de Reyes

Some people shape it in an oval, some people make a circle with individual bun-like portions… But if you want to shape it like a big donut (either circular or oval shape), you need to shape the dough into a ball. Add a bit of tension to the surface. Then let the dough rest for about 15 minutes (covered) on an oiled surface to avoid it from sticking.

Oil your hands and with your index finger make a hole in the center and move it around to enlarge the hole enough so you can lift the dough and with your other index finger you roll the dough around making the hole larger and larger.

You basically move the dough aroung and gravity does the stretching!

Be careful, don’t push the dough. If it’s not stretching anymore, put it back on the counter, cover it, and let it rest for 10-15 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. Then continue with the same circular motions until you have a hole of at least 15cm/6in.

It might look like the hole is too large, but as the dough proofs and then bakes it’ll puff up and the hole will decrease in size. Once you’re happy put the Roscón on parchment paper and arrange it well because you won’t be able to re-shape it later on. Put it on the tray you’ll use to bake, cover it with film and let it proof!

How to decorate your Roscón de reyes

Although the options here are endless, traditionally, the ingredients you’ll always find in a Roscón are: Candied pumpkin, candied orange, candied cherries, pearled or aromatic sugar, sliced almonds, or other nuts.

Candied pumpkin is typically dyed with red and green colors. I made my own candied butternut squash because I didn’t find the white pumpkin I wanted, so I left the orange color as it was. I also made my own candied orange slices. Since everything was a bit too orange, I bought green candied cherries to give it that je ne sais quoi.

When it comes to Roscón de Reyes, I prefer aromatic sugar rather than pearled sugar, for that, I mixed ¼ cup of white sugar with 1 tsp of orange blossom water and mixed well. The sugar should feel like moist sand but it shouldn’t dissolve. Once it’s well mixed you just sprinkle it on top of the Roscón.

How to bake a Roscón de reyes

Preheat the oven to 350F. As the oven preheats brush your Roscón with either egg wash or with the leftover whites. Brush it twice so it’ll get that nice brown color, and start decorating it. If your candied fruits are too dry consider soaking them in boiling water for a couple of minutes.

Start decorating it with the candied fruits, then the nuts (if using), and top it with the sugar.

Bake it for about 30-40 minutes; this really depends on your oven, mine is acting crazy these days so in your oven it might be ready earlier.

If you think it’s getting dark too fast you can cover it with a piece of foil with a hole inside. You can also measure the internal temperature. If it reads 94C/201F then it’s ready!

Once your Roscón is ready take it out of the oven and let it cool down to room temperature.

Your Roscón de Reyes will be best the day is baked but if you keep it in an airtight container or bag, it can stay fresh for about a week (the sourdough version) or a couple of days if you made it with yeast.

Regardless of what you use, SD or yeast, knead the dough very well. The better the dough, the more moisture it can retain, and the longer it’ll take to dry out. However, this is particularly important if you use commercial yeast since yeasted bread tends to dry out quicker.

How to add the filling

If you want to add a filling, you need to cut the Roscón crosswise making two layers. Basically, you’re making a sweet sandwich! Make sure the Roscón has completely cooled down to room temperature. You can even put it in the fridge for 15 mins or so before you slice it. This way you’ll get a clean cut and the fillings won’t melt.

The fillings should be thick enough to sustain the weight of the top layer without leaking everywhere.

Let me know if you make the Roscón de Reyes or any other recipe! If you do, use #allyoukneadisbread on Instagram, I’d love to see what you bake and what you experiment with!

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Feliz Día de Reyes!

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