Saint John's Eve: Coca with pine nuts and pistachios
- Kanela Fina
- Jun 19, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 24, 2022
One of my favourite celebrations is Saint Jonh's Eve (la verbena de San Juan or la revetlla de Sant Joan), celebrated across Spain during the night of 23 June. It celebrates the arrival of the summer solstice (which takes place on 21 June) and is popularly known as 'the shortest night of the year'. It is the festival of Saint John the Baptist, however, the day of Saint John is actually June 24. The night of 23 June is extremely popular for celebrating verbenas (popular festivals) in every town and village.
The main ritual of this lovely festivity is lighting a bonfire. The practice seems to come from ancient pagan sun cults with the idea to give strength to the sun. Along with Christmas, San Juan is the most popular party, almost everyone meets to spend it together and talk, sing, dance (and drink), and laugh. There are many countries throughout Europe that mark the arrival of summer, like Sweden's midsømer, which I used to celebrate while I worked in Norway.
I still can see my 8-year-old self going with my family to see the fireworks and the bonfire in the promenade in front of the beach. After, we'd all go to my grandmother's for dinner. Grown-ups would chat until late, and we would eat cured meats with pa amb tomàquet (toasted bread with the juice of natural mashed tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, and salt) and cava (the sparkling wine typical of Catalonia). To crown the night and celebrate the year ahead, we'd have sweet coca. Coca is a traditional brioche cake made in Catalonia. For Saint John's Eve, the tradition is to eat it with custard cream, whipped cream, pine nuts, almonds, or marzipan. My parents would always get one with custard cream and one with marzipan, but many variations exist.
Needless to say, my favourite was (and it still is to this day) the classic coca de brioche variety with custard cream and pine nuts. And this is the one I will be preparing today, with the addition of pistachios! Now, the key to good coca is a soft and buttery yeasted dough. The dough must be soft, otherwise, it won't be as irresistible as it should. The ingredients are baking staples: flour, yeast, milk, eggs, butter, salt, sugar, some water, and lemon zest. Some people add orange blossom water or anise, but I like classic coca. I've always followed the recipe for Coca de brioche of El Forner d'Alella with great success, although I like to add my twist and modify the quantities slightly (we are only two people after all!). My take includes tang zhong for extra softness, it really makes a huge difference so don't skip it!
Coca with pine nuts and pistachios
INGREDIENTS
Tang Zhong:
16g bread white flour
80ml milk
For the levain:
70g bread white flour
15g fresh yeast or 5g dry yeast
40g water, at room temperature
Zest 1/2 lemon
45g brown sugar
5g salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
20g milk, at room temperature
234g bread white flour
15g fresh yeast or 7g dry yeast
45g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g custard cream
A handful of pine nuts and pistachios
METHOD
Start by preparing the tang zhong. Heat a small saucepan to medium temperature and combine the flour and milk. Whisk until it thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Reserve until it cools down.
Prepare the levain: In the bowl of a standing mixer, break the fresh yeast* with your hands. Place the paddle attachment, add water and flour and combine together at medium speed until thoroughly combined. Let it rest, covered with a cloth, for 30 minutes, until it doubles in size.
To the same bowl add tang zhong, eggs, milk, sugar, lemon zest, and salt. knead on medium speed until combined - don't over knead.
Pass the flour through a sieve and add it to the dough. Knead at low-medium speed for 7 minutes.
Once the dough is compact and it barely sticks to the sides, add the butter at room temperature and the rest of the yeast.* Continue kneading for 10 minutes, until the dough doesn't stick to the walls anymore.
Continue kneading by hand until it's homogenous. Shape it into a ball and cover to rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare a baking tray and foil it with parchment paper so the dough doesn't stick.
Drizzle some olive oil (or vegetable oil) over your working surface and your rolling pin and shape your coca into a rectangular or oval shape, up to you. The thickness should be about 3-5 centimetres - don't worry if it's too thin, it will ferment and grow in size.
Place the coca on the baking tray and let it rest for around one hour somewhere protected from air, like in the oven.
With your hands, and being careful not to press much onto the dough, extend some extra virgin olive oil so the entire surface is covered. Alternatively, if you don't fancy getting your hands greasy, you can also paint the coca with a brush. With the hand greased with oil (or using a chopstick), make some grooves diagonally, so there are some squares.
11. Use a piping bag to distribute the custard cream all over the grooves you just made, and let it rest, covered, for half an hour.
12. While the coca rests, pre-heat your oven to 250ªC, with heat up and down.
13. Right before baking the coca, sprinkle pine nuts, pistachios, and crystal sugar.
14. Once you put the coca in the oven, drop the temperature down to 200ºC for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
15. Let it cool down before cutting! Enjoy with a glass of cava :)
Notes:
*If you use dry yeast, activate it first by mixing it with warm water/milk at 38ºC/100ºF (no more than that).
** If you don't have a standing mixer, you can do it perfectly by hand in a bowl.
*** If you do it by hand, mix everything in a bowl with a wooden spoon, and continue kneading by hand on a working surface.
Happy Saint Jonh's eve!
M🤍
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