Coca de San Juan with almond cream

Like every year when the festival of San Juan approaches, in Catalonia it is a tradition to eat the famous coca, a typical Catalan sweet that we are going to prepare with a delicious franginpane cream or almond cream.

Ingredients

For the coke:

• 500 g of wheat flour
• 10g of salt
• 300 ml of warm water
• 35 ml of extra virgin olive oil
• 10 g fresh yeast or 3 g dry baker's yeast

For the cream:

• 260 ml of milk
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 vanilla pod
• 2 strips of orange peel
• 50g sugar
• 35g cold butter, diced
• 65 g of ground almonds
• 20g cornstarch
• 2 L egg yolks

Preparation

1. First we prepare the almond cream, better known as franginpane cream. In order not to waste more time than necessary, we are going to prepare it in the microwave.
2. In a bowl we pour 180ml of milk, the rest we reserve to undo the cornstarch. Add the cinnamon, vanilla, orange peel, sugar and butter.
3. Put the bowl in the microwave at maximum power for 4 minutes. Remove the bowl from the microwave and add the ground almonds and mix with the help of a few Efficient rods .
4. Remove the cinnamon, vanilla and orange peel.
5. On the other hand, we dissolve the cornstarch in the glass with the milk that we had reserved. Once well dissolved, add the egg yolks and mix well.
6. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the cream, mix well until you get a homogeneous mass and put it in the microwave for a couple of minutes at maximum power.
7. We take the bowl out of the microwave and beat vigorously with the Efficient rods in this way we will break up what begins to curdle.
8. We put the bowl back in the microwave for another two minutes and after that time we take it out and beat vigorously again and we have it ready.
9. Let cool at room temperature covered with cling film so it doesn't crust over and once cool, store in the fridge until use.
10. Let's go with the dough, undo the yeast in the warm water, stir and let it rest for 5 minutes.
11. In a bowl add the flour together with the salt and mix. Next, add the oil and water with the dissolved yeast, mix with barely any kneading and leave the dough to rest for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
12. After the time we knead for a minute and let it rest in the fridge for 10 minutes. We repeat this process four times and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours covered the bowl with a clean cloth.
13. Over time we shape our dough. We are going to make it round because we are going to use the grill Round Efficient Iron 32 cm. Paint the surface of the griddle with a little extra virgin olive oil and place the dough on top, stretching it with the help of your fingers until it completely covers the surface of the griddle.
14. We cover with the almond cream that we have introduced in a pastry bag with a round tip and draw strips from end to end and vice versa. Sprinkle white sugar and let rest for 1 hour in the oven.
15. After this time, preheat the oven to 200ºC and bake for approximately 15 minutes.

Photos and recipe by MJ .