Galette des Rois

Friday was the day of Epiphany, or the Twelfth Night.  According to the Catholic story, on this day, the three Wise Men finally reached baby Jesus after setting off from Bethlehem five days earlier.  In France and elsewhere, it is celebrated with a galette des rois (king's cake).  Trust the French to link every event to food.  Actually, the Chinese do that, too.  Mid-Autumn's Day?  Yeah, eat mooncakes.  Winter solstice?  Go on, eat tong yuen (glutinous rice balls).  Anyways...

We joined in the fun by heading off to one of the well-known French names in boulangerie to get our grubby hands on one of those a couple of galettes.  According to tradition, the youngest person in the party goes under the table and decides who gets each slice of cake while someone distributes them above the table.  The whole covert operation is necessary because there is a tiny porcelain figure (la feve) hidden in the cake, and whoever gets the slice with it will be king for the day, and gets to wear the paper crown that comes with the cake.  

Poilane, a boulangerie with no...gasp!....baguette

First, a taste of the much-hyped miche Poilane, a 2kg sourdough bread.  Not bad, soft and sour in the middle but the crusts are just jaw-crushers.  We only bought the demi (half portion).

Next, the galette.  Guess who got the feve?

By the way, galettes are typically flaky puff pastry layers with a center filled with frangipane.  Ours was filled with hazelnut cream instead of frangipane.