Ingredients
Dough
- 500 gstrong white flour
- 10 gfresh yeast
- 300 mlcold water
- 10 gsalt
Lamination
- 350 gsalted Breton butter, cold
- 350 gcaster sugar
To finish
- extra sugar, for the tin
Directions
- Make a plain lean dough with the flour, yeast, cold water and salt, knead it briefly, and rest it in the fridge for an hour.
- Keep the dough lean. Pound the cold butter into a flat square about 1.5 cm thick and keep it cold. Roll the dough into a rectangle, set the butter in the middle, and fold the dough over to enclose it completely.
- Roll it out long and fold it in three, like a letter. Rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Everything must stay cold. Warm butter breaks through the dough and merges with it, and the layers are lost. Do a second fold, rest again for 30 minutes.
- Roll out again, scatter more sugar, and fold a fourth time. Rest for a final 30 minutes, which relaxes the gluten enough to roll out without the dough springing back.
- Roll the dough out and either fit it into a heavily buttered and sugared cake tin, folding the corners in, or cut it into squares and press each into a muffin tin, corners folded to the centre.
- Butter and sugar the tin heavily. Prove for 30 minutes at cool room temperature only. Do not over-prove it. Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 40 to 45 minutes, until very deep brown. Take it darker than feels safe. Turn it out of the tin immediately, while the caramel is still molten.
- Leave it in the tin for even a few minutes and the setting caramel welds it in permanently. Cool it on a rack and eat it the same day, warm if possible.
Technique
- Use salted butter, which is the Breton default and is part of the flavour.
- It is best within hours and the crust softens overnight.
- Expect caramel everywhere; a tray under the tin saves the oven.
Substitutions
- Any good high-fat butter, salted.
- Bought puff pastry, which gives a related pastry and not this one.
Variations
- Made as individual muffin-tin cakes, which is the modern bakery form.
- With apple slices folded in, as kouign-amann aux pommes.
- With flaked salt on top.
History
Created in Douarnenez in Brittany around 1860; the name is Breton for butter cake.
Frequently asked questions
What is Kouign-amann?
Kouign-amann is a bread & pastry from France: laminated Breton cake of butter and sugar caramelised to a crust. Created in Douarnenez in Brittany around 1860; the name is Breton for butter cake.
How long does Kouign-amann take to make?
Kouign-amann takes 1 hr plus 4 hr resting of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 1 large cake or 10 individual. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Kouign-amann?
Yes, within limits. Any good high-fat butter, salted. Bought puff pastry, which gives a related pastry and not this one.
What is the most important thing to get right in Kouign-amann?
Roll it out long and fold it in three, like a letter. Rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Everything must stay cold. Warm butter breaks through the dough and merges with it, and the layers are lost. Do a second fold, rest again for 30 minutes.
