Kouign-amann

One of our favorite sweet indulgences is the kouign-amann. We so love this flaky, buttery, caramelized pastry that originated in Brittany. The name kouign-amann is actually the words for butter and cake in the Breton language. Did we mention butter?

The first kouign-amann we tasted from Starter Bakery in Berkeley was the best. We used to be able to find them at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco’s Mission District, but they no longer carry them. Kouign-amann can be found at several coffee shops in San Francisco and at farmer’s markets around the bay. B Patissierie in San Francisco (also with locations in Honolulu and Korea), makes an equally amazing kouign-amann. We struggled to find anything even close in our neighborhood and who wants to drive two or more hours to get a pastry? Well, we might have done it ;-). Thankfully, we have some really excellent bakeries opening in our neck of the woods, such as Faria Bakery, that make an excellent kouign-amann.

We have been tentative about trying to make these on our own because of the amount of time and labor involved. If you’ve ever tried to make croissants, the process is similar. There’s a lot of folding and rolling and folding and rolling and more folding and rolling the dough. Surprisingly, it’s not that difficult and took us less than four hours from start-to-finish. It is easier and much more fun if you can find a partner to make them with but certainly doable as a one-person endeavor.

We made the classic kouign-amann with white sugar, but you can also add flavors. Some folks fill theirs with jams or curds, but we recommend using flavored sugar if you want to change the flavor profile. Our local Allspicery has some amazing flavored sugars (dark cocoa sugar, wild blueberry sugar, cinnamon sugar) that would be delicious when used in kouign-amanns – just remember that you can’t just add flavored sugar to half a batch – it’s all or nothing.

We don’t usually spend this much time on any baking or cooking activity but believe us when we say that the kouign-amann is absolutely worth the time and effort. They freeze and reheat really well so you can enjoy them warm from the oven at a later time as well!

Create your butter block first, by cutting butter into pieces and forming a rough square. (A)

Between silpats or plastic wrap, pound and roll butter with rolling pin to a roughly 9″ square. (B)

Cover butter block with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. (C)

Make dough and form into ball, allowing to rest just 20 minuted before rolling out. (D)

Roll dough into a rectangle, equal in width to the butter block and twice as long plus one inch. (E)

Place butter block in center of dough and fold each side over,. The dough should overlap 1″ in the center. (F)

After rolling the dough with butter block inside into a rectangle, a chubby 1/4″ thick, fold as you would a letter into equal thirds. (G)

While dough rests, generously butter the cups. (H)

For the final roll out, try to use all of the sugar. Roll into a rectangle somewhere between 10.25″ and 12″ wide by 17.5″ to 20″ long. (I)

After trimming the edges, use a pizza cutter to cut into 15 squares, roughly 3.5″ – 4″. (J)

Using both thumbs and forefingers, form each square into a flower shape. (K)

Place formed dough square into cup and push pointed edges in slightly to keep them from getting too brown. (L)

Once cups are all filled, cover and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes. (M)

Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes until nicely browned. (N)

Remove kouign-amanns from cups while still hot and place on a rack to cool before digging in! (O)

Kouign-Amman

• 500 grams bread flour
• 275 grams water
• 15 grams instant yeast
• 10 grams salt
• 375 grams salted butter (preferable European)
• 325 grams granulated sugar
• 30 grams melted salted butter for muffin cups

You will also need:

• 15-cup muffin tin or individual cups (we use these for ease of removal)

Prepare butter block:

The butter should be cold but pliable throughout this process. Slice your sticks of butter into 3 slices lengthwise and place them into a rough square. Try to fill in any holes with smaller pieces of butter (A). Place the square between two silpats or between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, pound and flatten your butter into a rectangle that is of even thickness and squarish in shape (B). If necessary, use a bench scraper to straighten the edges. Make sure the butter block is solid with no holes. Make a note of the dimensions of the butter block (ours was 9”x 9”) as this will determine the dimensions of your dough. Cover the butter block with plastic wrap (C) and keep refrigerated while you make the dough.

For the dough:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast in cool water and whisk lightly. Place bowl in mixer fitted with a dough hook and Add the flour and salt. Mix on first speed to moisten. If dough looks too dry and is not coming completely together, you can add a splash more water – a squirt bottle works well for this. Continue to mix 3-5 minutes until dough is elastic. Lightly flour a work surface. Gently form the dough into a ball with your hands and place on the floured work surface. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes (D). Do not let the dough sit out any longer than 20 minutes or your final result won’t be as nice.

Enclosing the butter block:

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a chubby ¼” rectangle. Use a bench scraper to continually straighten the edges of the dough and make sure the corners are square and not rounded. The dough should be twice as long as your butter block plus 1 inch and the same width as the butter block. For our 9” x 9” butter block, we rolled our dough out to 9” x 19” (E). Brush off excess flour and place your butter block in the middle of the dough. Fold the dough over the butter block on each side like a overlapping the dough by 1 inch in the middle (F). Again, brush off any excess flour. The butter should be right at the edge on the open sides.

First fold:

Immediately after enclosing the butter, roll out your dough again so that the open ends with butter peeking out are the short ends of the rectangle. The dough should be a chubby ¼” thick rectangle. Make sure the dough is even, the edges and corners are straight, and the butter is still peeking out the short ends of the rectangle. Fold the dough in like a letter making sure it’s in even thirds (G). Brush off any excess flour before folding.

Second fold:

Roll dough into another chubby ¼’ rectangle using more flour as needed to prevent sticking. The one open end with butter peeking out will now be on the long side of your rectangle. Again, fold the dough in like a letter making sure it’s in even thirds (and brushing off excess flour). Roll one last time very lightly to compact everything. Place dough on a pan and cover it lightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Prepare the baking cups:

While the dough is resting, melt 30 grams of butter and use a pastry brush to generously coat the muffin cups (H).

Third and final fold:

Remove dough from the refrigerator. Using some of the 325 grams of sugar, generously cover work surface. Place the dough on the well sugared surface. Cover the dough with sugar and roll out into another chubby ¼’ rectangle. You want to use at least half of the sugar in this step (you will use the rest of the sugar in the next step). Fold the dough in like a letter making sure it’s in even thirds.

Final roll out:

Place more sugar on your work surface and place the folded dough on top. Put more sugar on top and roll the dough into a rectangle that is between 10 ½” and 12” wide and 17 ½” and 20” long. As you are rolling, continue to add sugar to top and bottom of dough until all sugar is used. Make sure the layers of dough don’t separate at the open edges (I).

Trim the edges of the dough rectangle with a pizza cutter so they are straight and then cut your dough into 15 squares. The squares should be 3 ½” to 4” (J). Gather up the dough squares like a flower using your thumbs and forefingers (K) and place in buttered muffin cups with edges up. (L) Cover with a towel and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes just to slightly soften (M). Preheat oven to 375° while the dough rests.

Baking:

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until deeply golden brown (N). Carefully remove from cups as soon as you can or the sugar will harden and stick to the cups. If they do stick, put them back in the oven briefly to melt the sugar and try again. Cool upright on baking racks (O).

Storing and rewarming:

These are best enjoyed right after they are made but they will keep well at room temperature for 2-3 days in an airtight container. Just pop them back in the oven on a parchment lined baking sheet at 325° for about 10 minutes.

They also freeze really well. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in a Ziploc bag or airtight container and place in freezer for up to 1 month. To reheat from frozen, place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350° for about 15 minutes.

Makes 15 kouign-amanns.