La galette des rois

Progression :

Here we go ! You’ve done or obtained some puff pastry. 450 g should be enough.

You’ll have to prepare the almond cream : 100 grams grounded almond, mix with same weight of caster sugar. Add 100 grams of soften butter and add 2 or 3 eggs. Smooth it all with a spatula (you can use a mixer to fluff it)
Add a flavour : rum or bitter almond extract. Optionally you can liaise with a little bit of "crème pâtissière".

Background knowledge break : The frangipane cream.
The frangipane cream is actually a common base for a variety of pastry creams. The sweet frangipane is made of : 2 litres milk, 325 grams caster sugar, 3 eggs and 4 yolks, 100 grams flour, 50 grams rice starch, 20 grams starch. One mixes all ingredients, pour the milk on it and bring to the boil for thickening it. In our example, the pithiviers, one will flavour with rum. Eventually, we’ll add frangipane to almond cream.

Back to business...
You will roll the pastry and cut off two discs ( one slightly larger ). You’ll flip over those discs ( for a better raise ). Prepare a egg wash (gold mix) : an egg yolk added with its weight of water a pinch of sugar and pinch of salt.
Lay the almond cream on the small disc centre. The cream should be dense, not flowing.

Brush lower disc side with the egg wash (gold mix).
Place the second disc on top.
Make the sides stick while pressuring them with thumb. Also “chiqueter” : using a knife, do small cuts on the sides.
Cut off a small hole in the top disc centre : It is the “chimney”. (This will avoid sides to break apart when steam is created in oven).
Brush top disc and decorate it.
I cannot understate how important it is to leave the galette (le pithiviers) in a cool place for at least one hour. Then finish up the decoration. Give another brush of egg wash.
Moisten a oven tray (Do not grease it ! ). Lay a sheet of greaseproof paper on it and the galette.
Half way through cooking, you’ll brush the coloured surface with light sugar syrup.

Cooking : Quick and limited.
Cooking is fast. Preheat oven on 200°C. Start cooking and let the puff develops for 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 180°C to cook pastry thoroughly for a generous 20 minutes...