Kouign Amann

Ever since my honeymoon in Brittany, this has been a dessert I've wanted ot master.  I've cooked in 3-4 times since then with different techniques and different recipes, but I finally have one I really like.

For those of you not in the know, this is like a croissant, but with a ton of sugar folded in that turns the whole thing into a buttery caramel mess.  

The big goal here, like with all laminated doughs is to keep thigns cold enough the butter doesn't melt.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 220g whole wheat bread flour + 180g water

              OR

• 250g white bread flour + 150g water
• 5g /1tspn yeast
• 3g / 0.5tspn salt

Folding:

• 200g sugar
• 200g salted butter (Ideally from Brittany.  Trader Joe's sells it)

Directions:

Mix the flour, water, salt and yeast into a dough and knead until smoothe.  I tend to use whole wheat for everything and like the taste, but white flour is the more traditional and easier to work with ingredient.

Let the dough rise an hour until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, beat the butter into a flat square in between two sheets of parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator.

Initial Turning:

1. Roll the dough out into a rectangle 2x the size of your butter square.
2. Place the butter on one half and cover in 1/5 / 40g of the sugar, then fold over the dough and seal the edges, making a dough packet to hold the butter and sugar.

4 turnings:

1. Fold the quare of dough in 1/3rds, sprinkling 40g of sugar between the folds (1/2 in 1st fold and 1/2 in second)
2. Chill for 30min in refrigerator.
3. Roll back into a recantgle.

Repeat the fold 3 more times, ending with rolling out into a square the size of your cake pan.

In the photo below, my cake pan is too large. Next time I will use one 2/3 the size, and shape the quare into a round with corners either tucked under (traditional breton way) or pointing up (more common in America).

It is important here to use a light colored/ aluminum pan.  A lot fo caramel is generated, and in my experiences, black cake pans burn it. 

Notice also how the layers are so think you can see butter through the top one, but the butter is still a solid mass.

Baking:

If you want, you can leave the kouign amann overnight covered in the fridge or bake right away.

Place the cake pan on a parchment lined baking tray for drips and bake in a 425F oven for 25min.

Sooo gooey.