Catalan Coca with Custard & Candied Fruit

Name: Catalan Coca with Custard & Candied Fruit (Coca de Sant Joan)
Yield: Makes one 16- by 8-inch flat bread
Cuisine: Catalan
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon almond extract; 1 teaspoon aniseed, crushed in a mortar; 3 large eggs; 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for sprinkling on the dough; ½ cup chopped mixed candied fruit (see Note); Pastry Cream; 14 tablespoons (1¾ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature; 1 tablespoon orange flower water; 2 packed teaspoons fresh yeast, or 1 package active dry yeast (2½ teaspoons); 2 packed teaspoons fresh yeast, or 1 package active dry yeast (2½ teaspoons); ½ teaspoon fine sea salt; 4 tablespoons sugar, plus ⅓ cup sugar for decorating the cake; 4 tablespoons sugar, plus ⅓ cup sugar for decorating the cake; ½ cup warm whole milk (about 115°F); ⅓ cup pine nuts, or more to taste

Coca de Sant Joan

Preparation info

Makes
one
16- by 8 inch flat bread

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The New Spanish Table

By Anya von Bremzen

Published 2005

About

In Catalonia, the summer solstice fiesta of Sant Joan is celebrated with this sweet, spongy coca topped with a lush smear of pastry cream and a colorful scattering of candied fruit and nuts. Although historically the bread was round (as an homage to the sun), today the coca is shaped into a rectangle and accompanied by sips of sweet muscatel wine. Spectacularly delicious, it’s now as popular for Christmas as it is for Sant Joan.

The base of the cake consists of an airy

Ingredients

Europe
Spain
Dessert
Christmas
Summer
Mediterranean
Vegetarian
Catalonia

Ingredients

Method