Traditional Easter Mona

Easter is just around the corner, and if there's one thing that children are looking forward to, it's the Easter cake. Although there are many versions and varieties nowadays, we encourage you to prepare one of the most traditional ones. This is the recipe that Rosa, from Pemberley Cup&Cakes , brings us, the recipe for the traditional Easter cake. Have a very sweet Easter!

Taking advantage of the approaching festivities, this time it is the turn of the traditional Easter mona. Depending on where you are, you may know exactly what that means. Or not so much. In my case, being from Alicante, the Easter mona is a beloved tradition that I have grown up with, punctually year after year, and that will always be associated with a whole collection of indelible childhood memories.

For those not so familiar, I will tell you that it is a type of sweet pastry, typical of the regions of Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha and some areas of Murcia, whose dough is very similar to that of the Roscón de Reyes , so its preparation will require some planning and patience. Generally, it has a rounded shape (sometimes, elongated, depending on the custom of the baker), although there are also animal shapes, such as snakes, lizards or even turtles. According to tradition, godfathers or grandparents give them to their godchildren on Easter Sunday. In fact, the origin of its name seems to come from the Arabic term ' munna' , which means "gift".

On Easter Sunday (often including Monday), coinciding with the end of Lent and, therefore, of its abstinence, it is customary to go out into the countryside to spend the day with friends and/or family and eat mona for a snack. Chocolate should not be missing, although it is also common to accompany the day with a good supply of Easter sausages and an endless number of food and snacks prepared at home for the occasion.

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It is also customary to place a boiled egg (or several) on top of the mona. However, for some years now and due to the influence of other regions and countries where this festivity is also celebrated in a similar way, we can see how they are decorated or accompanied with chocolate eggs. Sometimes, eggs painted in different colours or quail eggs are also used (especially in monas aimed at the youngest members of the family). Tradition dictates - one of those indelible memories - that the egg must be stamped on the forehead of another person, while reciting the following refrain:

Although today's recipe is the closest to the traditional one and the most widespread throughout history, there are many variations: in addition to the many forms in which we can find them today, Easter cakes can be copiously decorated with feathers, chicks, chocolate figures, sliced ​​almonds, coloured noodles, etc. They can even be made as a sponge cake filled and/or covered with a wide variety of creams: toasted egg yolk, truffle, pastry cream, meringue (typical in the Balearic Islands), etc.

Ingredients (for 2 large / 3 medium-sized cakes)

All ingredients must be at room temperature, unless otherwise indicated.

For the preferment:
120 ml of water, warm
10 g fresh bakery yeast
130 g of strong flour

For the main dough:
130 g white sugar
Finely grated zest of one orange (only the orange part)
10 g fresh bakery yeast
390-420 g of strong flour
3 eggs (M)
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 tablespoon of mild honey (orange blossom, acacia, rosemary, etc.)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
80 ml of mild olive oil

To finish:
1 beaten egg
White sugar
2-3 boiled eggs

*1 tablespoon=15 ml; 1 teaspoon=5ml*

Elaboration

From the preferment:

1. In a medium bowl , dissolve the yeast in the warm water (be careful, never hot, just slightly warm to the touch!). Let it sit for 1 minute.
2. In a separate bowl, place the flour, make a hole in the center and, little by little, add the previous mixture while stirring with a spatula or wooden spoon until everything is well integrated into a dense and quite sticky dough.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (8 to 12 hours maximum).
4. In the morning, remove from the refrigerator (despite the cold, the dough will have visibly risen and puffed up) and allow to acclimatize to room temperature until it has completely lost its coldness (approximately 1 - 1 ½ hours).

From the main mass:

1. In a medium bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together thoroughly with your fingertips until the fruit has released the oils from its skin and the mixture resembles wet sand. Set aside.
2. In another large bowl, place 390 g of the strong flour and make a hole in the centre with the help of a spatula (if you are going to use a food processor or electric mixer to knead, use its own bowl and the dough hook attachment). Then add the crumbled yeast, the eggs, lightly beaten beforehand, the orange blossom water, the honey, the orange juice and the flavoured sugar (point 1) and mix gently until all the ingredients are more or less well integrated. You will obtain a dough that is not very cohesive with some visible traces of flour.
3. Next, add the previously prepared preferment, now at room temperature, and mix until both mixtures are well integrated; we will end up with a dense, firm and still somewhat dry dough.
4. Next, gradually add the oil in a trickle, while continuing to mix. Once fully incorporated, start kneading more vigorously for about 8-10 minutes (a little longer if kneading by hand) until you get a soft, homogeneous and elastic dough, although somewhat greasy at first. If after 5 minutes of kneading it is still too sticky, you can add the remaining 30 g of flour, spoonful by spoonful, until you get the desired texture (it may not be necessary to add all of it). If you are kneading by hand and the dough sticks too much, you can also grease your hands with a little oil, as well as the surface on which you are kneading. You will know that your dough is well kneaded when it comes off the bowl (or your hands and the work surface) without difficulty; this will mean that the gluten has developed correctly. To make sure, take a pinch of dough between the thumb and index finger of both hands, gently stretch it and check if a smooth, translucent membrane forms. If so, it is ready.
5. Now shape the dough into a ball with your hands, place it in a large bowl, previously greased with a thin film of vegetable oil, cover with cling film and let it rest in a warm place (no more than 24ºC) and away from drafts until it has doubled in volume (for 2 - 2 ½ hours).
6. Meanwhile, we can cook the eggs to decorate our cakes. Let them cool completely.
7. Once the first rising is complete, deflate the dough by pressing it with your knuckles a few times, transfer it to a work surface, cover it loosely with cling film and let it relax for about 10 minutes.
8. This step is optional: Separate a small portion of dough (about the size of a tangerine; a little more if you are going to make 3 small buns) and set aside.
9. Divide the rest of the dough into as many equal parts as you want to make, cutting it with a large, sharp knife or a baker's scraper (never break it with your hands), and shape each piece into balls until you get a good tension on the surface. Once again, let the dough relax for another 5-10 minutes.
10. Next, we move on to shaping our monas. To do this, we will flatten each ball slightly and make a hole in the top of the dough with our fingers (but without going through it), where we will place the boiled egg. If we see that the dough tends to shrink, it is possible that it is not sufficiently relaxed; in this case, we will let it rest for another 5-10 minutes so that we can handle it more comfortably.
11. Cut the small portion of dough reserved (step 8) into 4 equal parts (or 6 if you are making 3 small monas) and roll them individually lengthwise into rounded strips. Next, “enclose” the eggs with two strips of dough, arranged in a cross shape on each one.
12. Next, place our monas on a non-stick baking tray , or on the oven tray previously covered with baking paper or a silicone mat and, using a pastry brush, paint the entire surface of the dough with beaten egg. Cover loosely with cling film, previously greased with a thin film of vegetable oil, and, once again, let rest in a warm place away from drafts until they double in volume (about 1 ½ - 2 more hours).
13. When we see that the cakes are almost ready, we preheat the electric oven (without air) to 180ºC with heat above and below.
14. Brush the entire surface of the dough again with the beaten egg and decorate with a little white sugar, slightly moistened with just a few drops of water.
15. Place the tray with the cakes in the lower third of the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown (if they are browning too much, you can place a bit of aluminum foil loosely over them).
16. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a rack.

The tenderness of this type of preparation only lasts the first day, i.e. when freshly made. However, they can be kept more or less tender for 1-2 days, well protected from the air.

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Grades

- As you can see, there are several hours of waiting (not so much work) until you can enjoy our homemade Easter cake. If you plan to prepare them for a snack, start the night before; before lunch, you will have them ready. You will surely succeed!
- If all the cakes do not fit on the same baking tray (they will continue to increase in volume during baking, so you must leave a good gap between them), bake them in batches, keeping the baking trays covered with cling film and away from the heat of the oven.
- If you want to add a touch of colour, painting the boiled eggs is very simple: dissolve a few drops of food colouring of the chosen colour (paste or gel) in a couple of tablespoons of vinegar and brush the shell of the eggs, already boiled and cold, until it is completely covered. Let them dry completely before placing them on the mona dough.
- Once cooked, this type of dough can be frozen without any problem. As soon as it cools, wrap it in cling film first and then aluminium foil; it will keep in perfect condition for at least a couple of months. To defrost it, remove it from the freezer the night before and keep it at room temperature until it is soft again.

I hope you are encouraged to prepare your own homemade Easter cake; the satisfaction is enormous (and the difference with the commercial versions, even more so). So a hug to everyone and Happy Easter!

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