Ok! We made it through January and here we are, right at the start of February. And hooray! We are starting it off with the ever delectable Kouign Amann, my absolute favorite pastry! It is a laminated dough pastry, similar to a croissants but I would say vastly superior. It is, without a doubt, buttery caramelized flaky perfection! The one pastry to rule them all!!!
But before we get into making these delectable little delights, I’d just like to say that today is February 1st. This particular day lies half way between Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. It is St. Brigid’s Day. Brigid is one of Ireland’s three patron saints along with St. Colmcille and St. Patrick. Ireland marks her Feast Day with a permanent Bank Holiday on the first Monday in February, which is February 3rd this year. Hooray! Who doesn’t like more holidays?!! According to Irish hagiography, Brigid was an early Christian nun & abbess who preformed many miracles. She also shares the name with an important Celtic goddess who is associated with the festival of Imbolc which was celebrated at this time as well, which suggests that the early church might have adopted the legends of the goddess and transformed them into the Christian persona. Interesting huh? I don’t know how many of you folks out there remembered to put a scarf out last night. You see on St. Brigid’s Eve you should always place a scarf or other piece of fabric outside.
When Brigid passes over the land that night she will bless it. You then can fetch it back inside the next day and thanks to Brigid, it has the power to protect and heal headaches, sore throats and fevers throughout the coming year! What with all the Covid still lurking around, I wasn’t going to take any chances. My little scarf was pretty cold and quite sodden this morning, but is happily thawing away now, freshly imbued with healing powers. As I mentioned, today marks the festival of Imbolc as well as Candlemas, both of which are associated with fertility, fire, purification and weather divination. And speaking of weather divination, tomorrow my favourite varmint, Punxsutawney Phil, will be stepping out of his burrow at Gobbler’s Knob and letting everyone know if there will be 6 more weeks of winter or if instead Spring is on the way.
I don’t know if good ole Phil will see his shadow tomorrow or not. I must admit, I’m kind of hoping he predicts more winter. I love winter. In fact, I might have some plans to head out to an even colder destination here soon, so even if Spring is on its way here, I’ll get my snow fix regardless! So this is quite an auspicious time of year! I’m very happy to be marking another event today as well. February 1st just happens to be the 14th year anniversary of the my cooking blog! Yup… Fourteen years ago today I posted my first recipe. It was for Cream Tea Scones with Currants.
I’ve managed to do an anniversary post nearly every year since. Pretty impressive considering how slack I can be! Last year I made these delicious and oh so pillowy soft Faux Laminated Maple Brioche Buns.
I shared this amazing Cranberry Orange Filled Wool Roll Bread.
And the year before, I featured this Cranberry focused dish – exquisite Cranberry Chiffon Pie!
And a couple of years ago I was all about this rich & creamy Ground Beef Chili with Chocolate & Peanut Butter. Get. out!
And the year before, I posted about these scrumptious Morning Buns!
One of my favorite recipes that I shared with you on an anniversary was: Model Bakery’s English Muffins:
Then there were those decadent Banana Rum Muffins:
That jaw-dropping, over the top Crack Pie:
And who can forget that magical “caviar of the South” – Pasture’s Pimento Cheese. Keep this one in mind for the Super Bowl!
But let me get back to today’s recipe – Kouign Amann.
Pronounced close to “Queen Ah-mahn”, these fantastic treats hail from Brittany. “Kouign” is the Breton word for cake and “Amann” means butter, hence Breton Butter Cakes. I would even say it is The Queen of all pastries. That’s how you can remember the pronunciation. I am so clever. Anyhoo, as I mentioned, this is a laminated dough pastry.
What that means is you make a yeast dough, roll it out and add a good thick layer of butter over the top. You fold the dough over the butter to seal it in and then you begin to roll and fold and roll and fold and roll until you just can’t go on! But the result of all that effort is that when baked the dough forms all these multitudes of lovely layers.
But that isn’t all this pastry has going for it. No indeed. Towards the end of all the rolling/folding you add a hearty amount of sugar into the mix. The sugar caramelizes on baking and you get this gorgeous crisp coating over the buttery flaky center. Absolutely divine I say!
Now I’m not pretending that this is a recipe that you can just roll out of bed and whip up for breakfast. No indeed! It takes quite a bit of planning as well as a fair time investment. But it is so worth it. And you can do this over several days (see what I mean about the planning) and actually get to the point where you roll out of bed and seemingly whip these up – like magic (‘cept with a whole lot of hidden background effort). I suggest on day one you make the dough and refrigerate it overnight for the rise. The next day you can do all of your rolls/folds through shaping the Kouigns and putting them in the muffin tins. You put the tins in the fridge for an overnight rise and then – Voila! On day three, you wake up and pop them directly in the oven and they be crunchy butter caramelized perfection on your breakfast table!
Making laminated dough is definitely time consuming. And rolling dough into a perfect rectangle is definitely challenging. So try to be patient. It is important to try to keep the dough in that rectangle shape as much as possible. Take it slow. It will work. And once you get all the way to the point where you are bringing these little beauties out of the oven, remember to remove them from the muffin tins as soon as you can handle them. Otherwise that caramelized sugar goodness will make it so the cake becomes one with the tin for the foreseeable future. Also make sure you place them upside down to cool. Again that caramelized layer will form an unbreakable bond with your cooling rack if you don’t.
So I hope you will bake up a batch of Kouign Amann, my favorite of all the pastries, soon. At the very least if you see it offered in a bakery you’ll at least know what went into making it before you devour it! And speaking of devouring, I’ve got a whole batch of Kouign Amann right before me. Time to pop open the champagne, celebrate another blog-a-versary and enjoy a delightful start to St. Brigid’s this year.
Kouign Amann
recipe slightly adapted from: Pastry Love by Joanne Chang
Ingredients:
- 3.5 grams / 1 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast or active dry yeast
- 240 grams / 1 cup room temperature water
- 385 grams / 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 15 grams / 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temp
- 225 grams / 1 cup/ 2 sticks butter, at warm room temperature
- 200 grams/ 1 cup granulated sugar, plus more (about 1/2 cup)for sprinkling
Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, mix together the yeast and the water until the yeast dissolves. Add the flour, salt and melted butter and mix on low speed until the dough comes together and is smooth, 3 -4 minutes. The dough should be soft and supple and should pull away from the sides of the bowl when the mixer is running.
Remove the dough from the stand mixer and place in a lightly butter bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour. Move the dough to the fridge after the first rise and let it rise there for another hour.
Generously flick flour over the work surface. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on the floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 16 inches wide from side to side and 10 inches long from top to bottom. With your fingers, press or smear the room temperature butter directly onto the right half of the dough, spreading it in a thin, even layer to cover the entire half. Fold the left half of the dough over the butter and press down to seal the butter between the dough halves. Rotate the dough 90 degrees clockwise so that the rectangle is about 10 inches wide from side to side and 8 inches long from top to bottom. Lift the dough and dust flour underneath it and dust more over the top.
Press the dough down evenly with the palms of your hands, flattening it before you start to roll it out with a rolling pin. Slowly begin rolling out the dough from side to side into a rectangle about 24 inches wide and 12 inches long. The dough might be a bit sticky, so again, make sure to flour the dough and work surface as needed to prevent sticking.
Using a bench scraper, lightly score the rectangle vertically into thirds. Each third will be about 8 inches wide and 12 inches long. Brush any loose flour off the dough. Pick up the right third of the dough and flip in over onto the middle third. Then take the left third of the dough and flip that on top of the middle third ( like folding a business letter). The dough should now be about 8 inches wide, 12 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches thick. Rotate the dough clockwise 90 degrees so that the folded seam in on top, away from you.
Repeat the process once more, patiently and slowly rolling out the dough into a long rectangle. The dough will be a bit tougher to roll out and a bit more elastic at this point. Try to keep the dough in a nice rectangle, flipping it upside down as roll it back and forth to even it out. Give the dough another trifold and turn again as explained above.
Place the dough on a baking sheet and cover it completely with plastic wrap, tucking the plastic under the dough as if you’re tucking it into bed. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes. ( This will relax the dough so that you can roll it out again and give it more trifolds and turns.) Don’t leave the dough in the fridge much longer than 30 minutes or the butter will harden too much and it won’t roll out properly.
Generously flick flour over the work surface. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and place it on the work surface with the long side of the rectangle facing you and the seam on top. Again, roll out the dough into a rectangle about 24 inches wide and 12 inches long. Sprinkle approximately 1/2 of the sugar (about 1/2 cup) evenly over the dough and use the rolling pin to gently press it in. Give the dough another trifold and turn.
Roll the dough out again into a long rectangle. Sprinkle the remaining sugar (about 1/2 cup) over the dough and use the rolling pin to gently press in. Give the dough one last trifold and turn. Place the dough back on the baking sheet, cover agin with plastic wrap and refrigerate another 30 minutes.
Generously butter a 12 cup jumbo muffin tin. Generously sprinkle the work surface with granulated sugar. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and unwrap it. Place the dough on the sugar and sprinkle more over the top. Roll the dough out into a long rectangle, 24 inches wide and 8 inches long The sugar will make the dough gritty and sticky but will also make it easier to roll. Using a chef’s knife, cut the dough in half so that you have two strips of dough, each 24 inches wide from side to side and 4 inches long from top to bottom. Cut each of the strips into 6 squares, each 4×4 inches.
Working with one square at a time, fold the corners of the square into the center and press down so they stick in place. Shape and cup the dough into a little circle and press the bottom and the top in sugar. Place the dough into a well in the prepared muffin tin. It will just barely fit. Repeat with the rest of the squares.
Cover the Kouign Amann with plastic wrap and let them proof in a warm place for about 2 hours, until the dough has poured up and Kouign Amann seem light and filled with air.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and place a rack int the center of the oven. Remove the plastic wrap from the Kouign Amann. Turn the oven down to 350 degree F just before placing them in the oven. Bake until deep golden brown, 30 – 40 minutes, rotating the baking sheet midway through the baking time.
Remove from the oven and as soon as you can handle them, pop them out of the muffin tin and place them upside down on a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes.
Enjoy!
*Kouign Amann can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days; refresh in a 300 degree F oven for 6 – 8 minutes before serving.
Useful links for Kitchen Tools & Ingredients for Kouign Amann:
*The links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase*
Oxo Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale
Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer
Lavatools Javelin Pro Instant Read Thermometer
Oxo Multipurpose Scraper– Bench Knife
Pastry Love by Joanne Chang – LOVE this cookbook! As a teaser, her Kouign Amann recipe in the book actually combines Kouign Amann with her sticky buns, so it has cinnamon, brown sugar and pecans along with sticky bun goo!
Posted by liadh1 
Not to mention it can stand up to any egg sandwich you want to throw its way. Now in the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that if I could wave a magic wand and have either the English Muffin Toasting Bread or one of the Model Bakery’s English Muffins appear with a poof in front of me, I would probably go for the actual English Muffin. But I must have slept through the Breakfast Bread conjuring class at Hogwarts and I can’t seem to pull that spell off no matter how hard I try. So the Model Bakery’s Muffins will likely remain my “flashy special occasion kind of thing”. Whereas the English Muffin Toasting Bread is my “roll out of bed and whip something really yummy together in a flash” kind of thing. Believe me, you’ll be amazed how easy this bread is to make. It’s a good thing too because as quickly as folks will devour a loaf, you’ll be making another before you know it. Get to baking!
Lea & Jay 