COCA DE SANT JOAN - TM

St John's Eve, on the 23rd June is celebrated in many European countries. Traditions vary, but in most of them there is a bonfire involved. In Catalonia, "La Revetlla de Sant Joan" is celebrated in every single town, big and small. It coincides with the summer solstice - the shortest night of the year! When I was growing up there, teenagers went around the houses of the village to ask for anything old that could be burnt, and we piled it up in the middle of the main square to get it ready for the bonfire that night. People celebrate it with music, a glass of cava and the traditional dessert: La coca de Sant Joan.

Although the Sant Joan festivities have been held since time immemorial (along with the tradition of lighting bonfires to ward off evil spirits), the tradition of the flame of Canigó dates back to 1955. Since then, every 22nd June, at midnight, the flame, which is kept burning all year round at the main museum in Perpignan, is carried to the top of Mount Canigó where it is used to kindle a fire. The fire from the flame is shared out on burning torches and taken in a spectacular relay by hundreds of societies and organisations to their respective towns. Late in the afternoon on 23rd June, the flame arrives in the Plaça de Sant Jaume in Barcelona, where it is welcomed by the traditional festival figures, including the city's Eagle, the Àliga, and the city's giants, the Gegants. It is then taken to the different neighbourhoods and boroughs. The flame is used to light hundreds of bonfires around the city and neighbours, friends and families gather round them to share in community dinners, concerts, sea shanties, known as havaneres, fire- running processions, or correfocs, and dances, while people let off fire crackers and light flares. (Text from Barcelona Turisme)



Ingredients:

Crème pâtissière:
350 gr milk
2 large eggs
35 gr cornflour
65 gr sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Dough:
200 gr milk
25 gr fresh yeast or 8 gr dry yeast
400 gr of strong flour
50 gr butter
1 large egg
100 gr sugar
35 gr anisette liqueur
zest of one lemon and one orange, cut into thin strips
1 pinch of salt

To decorate:
1 handful of pine nuts (soaked 5 minutes in water)
candied fruit
sugar

1 small egg, beaten

Method:

Put the sugar from the dough ingredients in the mixing bowl and process 30 sec / 5-10 speed. Add the zest from the lemon and orange and process 30 sec / 5-10 speed. Remove from the bowl and set aside.

Without cleaning the bowl, Put all the ingredients from the Crème pâtissière in the mixing bowl and program 7 min / 90º / speed 4. Empty the mixture into a piping bag or a small ceramic bowl covered with plastic wrap and set aside.



Without cleaning the mixing bowl, add the milk and temp 2 min / 37º / speed 1. Add the yeast and mix 4 sec / speed 4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.

Add the flour, butter, egg, reserved sugar, anisette liqueur and salt and knead 4 min / knead. Remove the dough from the bowl, and put it in a bowl that have been previously smeared with a bit of oil. Make a ball, cover with a tea towel or with some glad wrap and let it rise until it doubles in size -  between an hour and an hour and a half.

After this time we preheat the oven to 180º with heat on top and bottom. Remove the dough from the bowl, knead it a little by hand to remove the air and stretch it on the baking sheet lined with baking paper. 

Brush with the beaten egg and decorate with the reserved cream, the pieces of candied fruit and the pine nuts, and sprinkle the entire surface with a little sugar. I used the leftover sugar with the lemon and orange zest mix.

 

Let it rise for about 30-40 minutes in a warm place.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly coloured. Cool.

Serves 6-8