2024-01-05 12:00:00
In the northwest of Brussels, its galettes des rois sell like hot cakes. “It doesn’t stop. From Christmas onwards, people ask for them,” laughs Eric Attales. With Selim Abarkan, they run the La Tentation bakery in Jette. “A small neighborhood bakery” but which proves to be an institution in the locality during this Epiphany period. Between them, they are aiming for 800 cakes for this period: “but it will be more because there is really a lot of demand.”
Right during the rush, between dozens of cakes being prepared in the workshop, Eric takes a few moments to give us his five tips for a successful Epiphany.
1. How do you recognize a bad galette des rois?
No doubt: “these are frangipane pancakes with a margarine puff pastry.” For the specialist, margarine should be avoided. It is important to use quality butter, a key ingredient for successful baking. “Raw materials are very important. You also need good almonds, sugar – we use icing sugar and crystal sugar – and a good pastry cream.”
Ten tips to know to enjoy the best galettes des rois
2. How to store a king cake?
On this point, the baker is categorical: “you should never put the cake in the fridge”. A tip: leave the product in its original bag. Another tip: “if you want to eat it the next day, put the pancake in the oven for just five minutes.”
3. How long can we keep it?
“It can be eaten over three or four days,” reassures the artisan. “Without ever putting it in the fridge.” But he doesn’t hide it: “we can’t then ask the cake to be as fresh as the first day”.
4. Supermarket pancakes, good idea?
“We need something for everyone,” says the craftsman diplomatically. “But personally, for me, they are not pancakes. It’s puff pastry with frangipane.” The baker, however, refuses to de-zincify these large-scale products. “There are some very good ones, I don’t know them all. But mine, I don’t want it like that because I learned my way over 35 years ago… and I won’t change because they sell very well.”
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5. What is the secret in the preparation?
Ingredients and technique are the two key words of the Jettois baker. But in preparation, a few little tips prove particularly valuable. First, have the ingredients at the right temperature. “When the dough is too hot, you cannot incorporate butter, for example.” Another secret: “respect break times”. “If you don’t rest it, it becomes a rugby ball.” Before cooking, a 24-hour break is necessary. “If we don’t do it, the cream goes away, the pancake makes an 8… The puff pastry must be respected.”
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No jam in France
The recipe for the pancake is not complicated on paper, we are told. But you have to have a hand. It all starts with flour, water and salt. “A distemper, we call it.” After resting in the fridge for 40 minutes, then add the butter. Then everything goes on a roller. The well-elongated dough is then folded “in a portfolio”, i.e. in four. Then another 40 minute break. We then fold everything into thirds, then put it in the fridge for another 40 minutes. Rebelote then: folding into a portfolio then, finally, another 40 minutes of rest. The dough must then be cut into rounds. We put almond cream and the bean on top. Then, we close with a new round and add gilding.
Originally from Toulouse, the specialist, already awarded best pastry chef in Occitanie, sees differences between the traditions of our two countries. “In France, we make a specific cream for the pancake. In Belgium, it’s a frangipane.” Which gives a “dry and hard” side that this Frenchman does not appreciate. Another notable difference: jam, almost absent from French preparations. “The Belgian product copies frangipane, which is usually made with jam.” But “everyone has their own recipe. There are good ones in Belgium.”
The galette des rois under test ©IPM Graphics
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