Looking to celebrate the Three King’s Day but had enough of cakes? Check out this Roscón de Reyes pizza that makes it easy to enjoy the day!
Well, maybe it isn’t as obscure as it is the traditional festive cake for those who celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings AKA Three Wise Men.
It’s maybe a bit unbelievable to face that Santa Claus is not the only one who supplies gifts for all the world but it’s true. In fact, Santa Claus is facing some quite though competition outside of the US from Baby Jesus who is covering large part of Europe and Latin America.
It’s not like Santa isn’t wanted there, it’s just makes more sense in terms of logistics. Santa visits the rest of the world on 6th December which is the day of Saint Nicholas, the protector of children, and brings some small gifts for all the good kids.
On Christmas Day Baby Jesus comes and leaves the presents under the tree so those kids have basically two days in December to receive gifts. Not to mention what amazing advent calendars are available nowadays from the cunning toy manufacturers like LEGO.
But the magic doesn’t stop here… or does it?
There are some countries where people didn’t feel the need to invent bizarre old fat man who gives presents to kids freely, in exchange of sitting on his lap or burden a newborn (Jesus) with lacking fine motor skills to wrap presents and sneak them under a tree.
In most Spanish speaking countries where the Bible was studied unconditionally and enforced mercilessly throughout the ages, people knew better than inventing or using Jesus unnecessarily. And why would they, when the Holy Bible has all the answers clearly written down for centuries.
When Jesus was born a star shone up in the sky as a token of the beginning of a new era. This very star guided the Three Kings to the newborn so they could visit Jesus. Their journey took 12 days and they arrived to their destination on 6th January which date is known as Epiphany in the Western cultures.
The Three Wise Men brought presents to the newborn which custom is still guarded and practiced nowadays with great passion among small and big folks alike.
On Epiphany Eve, the 5th January cities, towns and villages stop to take part in the celebration of Three Magic Kings and their companions’ arrival on the streets. During the parade an unbelievable amount of candies are thrown around to be hunted up by the eager hands while shouting Gaspar, Melchor or Balthazar.
As much as we would like, cakes aren’t being thrown around. The cakes are made for the Three Kings or rather for the family.
According to some countries’ traditions a dry bean and a figure is baked or just hid in the cake with a special meaning. Those who find the bean pay for the cake or organize next year’s party while those who find the present are named king of the celebration.
As many countries celebrate the kings with Three Kings Cake exact customs are vary so are the Roscón de Reyes. During the roughly 300 years of Roscón history many things has changed and an originally bread like dough with sugar on top has evolved to something that only in shapes resembles its roots.
Basically, nowadays everything could be a King’s Cake that comes in a ring shape, it doesn’t matter what’s in it. Sure enough, people think it differently who have been brought up on whip cream filled brioche with dried fruit bits on top.
Roscon de Reyes is a cake that everyone loves for one reason or the other and the same is true about pizza. And why not be a culinary rebel and make a pizza Roscón if we have the abilities to do so.
The only thing we need is a King’s cake shape tin which is basically a bundt cake form and we are almost done. The fact that this thing will be closer to a pull apart monkey bread with pizza topping is a minor inconvenience, we choose not to care about as long as we have the ring shape and the delicious pizza topping this pizza king cake rulez!
Ingredients
Dough
- ¼ cup / 60g Milk
- ½ cup / 60g Water
- 1 tablespoon / 15g Fresh yeast
- 2½ cup / 300g Flour
- 3 tablespoons / 40g Butter
- 1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
- ¼ teaspoon / 1g Lemon juice
- 1 medium / 50g Egg
Filling
- 2 cups / 500g Tomatoes or tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon / 4g Basil (freshly chopped)
- 1 teaspoon / 4g Oregano (freshly chopped)
- 1 teaspoon / 5g Table salt
- 2 tablespoons / 30g Olive oil
- 7 oz / 200g Cheese (topping)
How to make Roscón de Reyes Pizza – King Cake Pizza
Dough
- Knead lukewarm milk, water crumbled fresh yeast, flour, butter, salt, lemon juice and egg together.
- Cover the dough then place it into a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C corner to raise for 30 minutes.
Filling
- In the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce. Puree tomato, basil, oregano, salt and olive oil in a blender or simply use tomato sauce.
- Pour it into a saucepan, bring it to boil. To reduce its water content simmer for half an hour while stirring occasionally. Take it off heat and let it cool down. Pouring hot sauce on the dough would make it gooey and so hard to handle that it would ruin our day.
(For detailed instructions with more photos check out: Tomato sauce recipes)
Assembly
- After the dough has risen somewhat, take it out of the bowl onto a well-floured work surface.
- Roll it into a 12 inch / 30cm square. Flouring underneath the dough is important as this coating will prevent it to stick down.
- Cut the rolled out dough into 3×3 rectangles. 4×4 will work too but make sure the dough is big enough to close the tomato sauce in.
- Spoon the preferably room temperature tomato sauce into each small squares.
- Quickly make little dough balls out of them by grabbing the opposite corners and pressing them together.
- When making the balls, use a scraper to help getting the dough off the worktop if it’s necessary. The dough is quite soft. Try not to pull it more than necessary.
- Place the dough balls into the round cake form next to each other with the recently closed side down. Cover the dough then place it into a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C corner to raise for 30 – 60 minutes.
- Brush some leftover tomato sauce on top.
- Grate cheese and sprinkle it on top.
- Place the dough into the middle rack of a 390°F / 200°C preheated oven then bake until the internal temperature reaches 185°F / 85°C and the top gets a golden brown color, which should happen in about 20-30 minutes depending on the oven.
Enjoy!
Roscón de Reyes Pizza – King Cake Pizza
Ingredients
Dough
- ¼ cup Milk
- ¼ cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Fresh yeast
- 2½ cup Flour
- 3 tablespoons Butter
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Lemon juice
- 1 medium Egg
Filling
- 2 cups Tomatoes or tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon Basil freshly chopped
- 1 teaspoon Oregano freshly chopped
- 1 teaspoon Table salt
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- 7 oz Cheese topping
Instructions
Dough
- Knead lukewarm milk, water crumbled fresh yeast, flour, butter, salt, lemon juice and egg together.
- Cover the dough then place it into a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C corner to raise for 30 minutes.
Filling
- In the meantime, prepare the tomato sauce. Puree tomato, basil, oregano, salt and olive oil in a blender or simply use tomato sauce.
- Pour it into a saucepan, bring it to boil. To reduce its water content simmer for half an hour while stirring occasionally. Take it off heat and let it cool down. Pouring hot sauce on the dough would make it gooey and so hard to handle that it would ruin our day.
Assembly
- After the dough has risen somewhat, take it out of the bowl onto a well-floured work surface.
- Roll it into a 12 inch / 30cm square. Flouring underneath the dough is important as this coating will prevent it to stick down.
- Cut the rolled out dough into 3×3 rectangles. 4×4 will work too but make sure the dough is big enough to close the tomato sauce in.
- Spoon the preferably room temperature tomato sauce into each small squares.
- Quickly make little dough balls out of them by grabbing the opposite corners and pressing them together.
- When making the balls, use a scraper to help getting the dough off the worktop if it’s necessary. The dough is quite soft. Try not to pull it more than necessary.
- Place the dough balls into the round cake form next to each other with the recently closed side down. Cover the dough then place it into a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C corner to raise for 30 – 60 minutes.
- Brush some leftover tomato sauce on top.
- Grate cheese and sprinkle it on top.
- Place the dough into the middle rack of a 390°F / 200°C preheated oven then bake until the internal temperature reaches 185°F / 85°C and the top gets a golden brown color, which should happen in about 20-30 minutes depending on the oven.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin now, Enjoy later!
It’s a pity I’ve came to see this a bit too late. Maybe next year!
This looks like a really interesting thing to try! I so love pizza!!!
This is an awesome way to shake up the festive menu!