Coca de Sant Joan, pears in syrup and Dulcey cream

Instructions

FIRST DAY

Make San Juan pears in syrup.

1. To see how to make San Juan pears in syrup, you can read it in this post. In the video I show you the process of making them.
2. I have prepared a lot of them, you don't need that much to make coca de San Juan. But I like to make enough to be able to use them to make different desserts or eat them plain.
   

Make the dough.

1. In the bowl of the KA or a mixer, add the flour along with the eggs, milk and sugar. Knead until a homogeneous dough is obtained.
2. Add yeast, knead at low speed for 3-4 minutes.
3. Incorporate salt and knead again until the gluten is well developed. It will take about 15 minutes.
4. Once we have a developed gluten, begin to integrate the butter. We will do it in batches and waiting for the first batch to be integrated before adding more.
5. Knead at speed 1 until the gluten is perfectly developed. The dough will be completely strung on the hook leaving the sides of the bowl clean.
6. Remove the dough from the bowl of the mixer, make a ball gently and place in a previously greased bowl. Cover with film or its lid, and let rise at room temperature until it grows 1/3 of its volume. In my case it was 1 hour and 20 minutes at 78ºF/25'7ºC.
7. Refrigerate until the next day. In my case it was 15 hours at 39ºF/4ºC.

SECOND DAY

Make Dulcey cream.

1. In a medium pot add the milk together with the vanilla, place over medium heat and let it come to simmer. The milk should not boil.
2. On the other hand, in a bowl beat the egg with the sugar and the previously sifted cornstarch. Mix well with the help of a whisk.
3. Once the milk has come to a gentle boil, pour a little milk into the egg mixture.
4. Beat well with the whisks to temper the egg and prevent lumps from forming.
5. Add the rest of the milk and mix again.
6. Pour the mixture into the pot and place over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. You will notice that the texture becomes thicker after a few minutes.
7. Once it thickens, turn off the heat and add the Dulcey chocolate, previously melted.
8. Stir well until it is completely integrated.
9. Transfer the cream to a bowl or container, cover with cling film (touching the surface) to prevent a layer that gives it the appearance of a "crust" from forming on top, and let it cool completely.
10. Once it has cooled completely, refrigerate until the next day if it was made the day before. Otherwise, keep at room temperature until ready to use.

Temper the dough and shape coca de San Juan.

1. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it temper for 1-2 hours before working with it, depending on the outside temperature. In my case I left it for 80 minutes at 77ºF/25ºC. The dough should triple its volume.
2. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, lightly dusted with flour, and roll out with a rolling pin. We will create a rectangle of approximately 30 x 43 cm.
3. Cut the dough into 3 cm wide strips.
4. To shape the coca we will create spirals with some of the strips (rolling them on itself) and with others we will form wavy patterns.
5. Put the pieces inside the mold. In my case I used a Buyer mold of 24 cm in diameter.

Make final proof.

1. Once all the pieces are placed inside, cover with film and let it double in size. In my case it was 1 hour 50 minutes at 77ºF/25ºC.
   

Decorate coca de San Juan.

1. Put the pastry cream into a piping bag with a smooth tip.
2. Fill some holes, between folds of dough, with the pastry cream. We will also decorate part of the surface with it.
3. Brush the surface of the dough with some milk.
4. Place the pears, cut in half, to decorate the surface. If you wish, you can also put pear quarters in syrup.
5. Sprinkle sliced almonds over the cream.

Bake.

1. Preheat the oven to 345ºF/175ºC with heat up and down.
2. Place the mold at medium height and bake for 40 minutes. Remember that to know if the dough is baked, prick it with a digital kitchen thermometer, the temperature should be around 190º-194ºF/88º-90ºC.
3. Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack and then brush with the syrup.
4. Let stand 15 minutes in the mold, unmold and let cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Once completely cooled, decorate with a little pearl sugar and gold leaf, if desired.
6. Serve.
7. NOTE: The syrup we use will be the surplus from cooking the pears. Add 100 g of syrup in a saucepan and reduce by half over medium heat, let it warm while the coca is baking to brush it when it comes out of the oven.
   

Notes

• The flour used is Manitoba with a W=380-400. If you decide to vary the type of flour, this will have a direct impact on the amount of ingredients that enrich and hydrate the dough, it will be necessary to reduce them and adjust the quantities to obtain good results.
• Respect all the steps, resting and rising times to obtain a good result both in flavor and in texture and sponginess. The dough is like a cloud, it frays, but it is important to follow well all the steps of the process.
• I recommend using a good quality butter because it will affect the final flavor of the dough.
  
• If you cannot find San Juan pears, you can use another variety of pear in syrup. When decorating the coca de San Juan, you can cut segments to decorate the surface.
• The cream is made with Dulcey chocolate from Valrhona, a variety of chocolate with 35% cocoa butter, notes of cookie, butter and salt. It can be replaced by another variety of chocolate if you do not have it.
• To brush the coca when we take it out of the oven, we will use the syrup from the cooking of the pears. We will need to reduce it because it is too fluid. Place it in a saucepan over medium low heat and reduce it by half before using it. The surplus syrup can be stored in a glass bottle and refrigerated. It will be useful for soaking cakes or brushing similar doughs. In the latter case, it should always be reduced.
• The almonds can be replaced by hazelnuts if you wish or use only pearl sugar.
• It keeps in perfect condition for 3-4 days wrapped in film or in a zip bag.
  

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• Almonds
• Breakfast
• Butter
• Cinnamon
• Pear