Cajun French: pétrir (pā-treer) – knead
Cajuns are an adaptable people. We take what the area offers and make it our own. So we wonder why it took not only a non-Cajun, but also a non-native Louisianan to develop the Boudin King Cake. Granted Dr. Boudin (Bob Carriker) has been living in the Lafayette area since 1997; he is not native. He calls Louisiana home and has come to embrace our culture and food. In honor of Dr. Boudin and his Boudin King Cake, we have made our own, adapting it to our tastes.
One bread recipe will make a very large king cake. We made ours in our Dutch oven so we adjusted for the size of our pot.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Ingredients:
French Bread Dough
1 ¾ cups warm water (100 to 110)
4 ½ tsp active dry yeast (2 envelopes)
1 tbl olive oil
2 tsp salt
5 to 5 ½ cups bread flour
Place warm water in large bowl.
Sprinkle in yeast, whisk until dissolved.
Whisk in oil, salt and approximately 4 ½ – 5 cups flour (enough to form a soft ball).
Knead on floured surface for approximately 6 minutes.
Place in greased bowl and let rise to double, approximately 30 minutes.
Once risen, punch dough down and divide into four equal pieces.
Take ¼ of the dough and split in half.
Roll each half into equal rectangle pieces.
Filling
1# smoked boudin
¼ – ½ cup Syrup in the Sky beer (Teche Brewing)
Remove skin from boudin.
Mash boudin with enough beer to make boudin soft and pliable.
Divide boudin mixture in half.
Spread boudin portions on dough.
Roll each dough portion.
Twist dough rolls and form into oval, securing ends.
Let rise until double, about 30 minutes.
Bake cake in Dutch oven.
400 degrees for approximately 25 minutes.
Glaze
¼ cup Louisiana Sweet blood orange marmalade
¼ cup cracklin
Heat marmalade until warm and thin
Place cracklin in food processor and pulse until crumbly
Brush marmalade glaze on cooled King Cake
Top with Cracklin
Serve and enjoy
Note: we fit the small king cake to our Dutch oven.
