… and the crowd goes wild to celebrate our 7th Anniversary.
Kouign Amann
So wild, I’ve been threatened with being chained to the oven until I bake them again. Chained to the oven … no wilder than 7 years of Bread Baking Babes! Beautiful bread baking Babes, thank you all.
Lien is once again our KOM (Kitchen of the Month). I am once again blown away by a bread I would never have picked: it looks intimidating (that wow factor is very high with this one) and it’s sweet, something I just almost never volunteer for. But, I am totally won over by this one and will probably be making it again…like on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Yield: 12 – 16 pastries
5 grams fast-action yeast: I used reg instant
1 teaspoon salt
200 ml warm water
25 grams unsalted butter, melted
250 grams cold unsalted butter, in a block
100 grams caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
I’ll probably do it by hand next time. This is a really lovely satiny like dough, easy to knead. I see no reason this would be difficult without a stand mixer.
Here I go again. I wanted to get this started but knew I’d have a long wait time before starting the laminating process SO it went into the fridge at this point. Slowly rising about 3 hours before I got back to it.
I’ll be very tempted to do an extra sprinkling on this third turn, lighter than the next. The limiting factor might be it will cause the butter to break through. I did not have any difficulty with the butter popping through the dough. I’m thinking regular brown sugar would be lovely here and may give that a go next bake.
7. Roll the dough into a rectangle as before. Sprinkle the dough with the caster sugar and fold into thirds again. Working quickly, roll the dough into a large 40×30 cm rectangle. Sprinkle the dough with caster sugar and cut the dough into 12 squares.
***My math/division skills can be limited some days more than others. Twelve evaded me. I cut it into 16 pieces. Actually, that was probably idea for how many people were putting these into their mouths. As it turned out, I only got one because I snuck off with it first thing. I’ll do 16 again. I will however try for more square shape than the rectangle I ended up with on most.
I don’t believe I used the measured amount of sugar. I just tried to cover the rectangle and rolled the sugar in so that it stuck in the dough.
8. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin well with oil. Gather the dough squares up by their four corners and place in the muffin tins, pulling the four corners towards the centre of the muffin tin, so that it gathers up like a four-leaf clover. Sprinkle with caster sugar and leave to rise, covered with a clean tea towel, for 30 minutes until slightly puffed up.
***I used butter in the pan.
9. Preheat oven to 220ºC.
Bake the pastries for 30-40 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Cover with foil halfway through if beginning to brown too much.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Be careful not to burn yourself on the caramelised sugar, but don’t leave them to cool for too long, or the caramelised sugar will harden and they will be stuck in the tin. Serve warm or cold
Mine took 32 minute in regular bake (no convection) oven at 405°F .
Watch these. Almost exactly at the 15 minute mark I covered these with foil or they would have been black. As it was the color came out gorgeous.
I had absolutely no difficulty removing these from the pan.
10. Serve warm or cold. Warm is best!
***Warm, you really want them warm. You really want that flaky crunch!
11. If you don’t want to eat them all in want go (of just if you want to, but shouldn’t), bag and freeze them. Before you eat them: Defrost them and place them in a warm oven (180ºC) for about 4-6 minutes or until warm, they will crisp up again.
***I didn’t see this the first time I baked them. Believe me I will be trying this.
Notes:
2 1/2 hours preparation time (mostly resting in the fridge time)
30 mins to 1 hour cooking time
We have France to thank for these caramelised buttery, sugary parcels. Lien’s been an internet sleuth and has more on how these came about. The are perfect with a café au lait. Equipment and preparation: for this recipe you will need a 12-cup muffin tin and a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook. (Personally I don’t think that dough hook is necessary but haven’t done it without yet.)
Become our Bread Baking Buddy, you’ll get a BBBuddy Badge for your entry (you can add that too your post if you want) and will be added to the Buddy round up later. Mine may look good but Lien’s are gorgeous! I mean BAKE these. You’ll be hooked for life!
MyKitchenInHalfCups 
February 16, 2015 at 10:57 am
It makes me smile to see the differences (and the similarities) when we all bake together. I had to giggle when you told people that they must eat them warm…since I said they must let them cool to room temperature – HA!! I’ll admit they are awesome warm too, though. 😉 Yours look beautiful!
February 16, 2015 at 2:44 pm
These look wonderful!! Can’t wait to try them!
February 16, 2015 at 2:44 pm
And the crowd’s cheers are ringing here as well. We sent a few Kouign Amann next door and our neighbour phoned not long afterwards and exclaimed, “you MADE these??” and reported that they were fighting over the crumbs.
I know what you mean about being intimidated. When I saw “difficult” in Madeleine Kamman’s cookbook, I was blanching even more than before.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be and I too will definitely make these again.
(What??? No flaxseed? Are you mad? 😉 )
February 16, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Delicious, how crispy and golden the top looks! so glad you like them (and the people around you) even though I know you’re a savoury girl.
February 18, 2015 at 2:28 pm
Yep, I’d eat them warm. Nope, I wouldn’t let them cool completely then re-heat. Where’s the fun in that? And I can’t believe no one (so far) has added cinnamon…. Brown sugar and cinnamon, how from the oven with coffee. Now, that would be a breakfast of champions! They’re beautiful, btw
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February 19, 2015 at 11:50 am
They look delicious! Yours definitely caramelized more than mine did. I’m with Heather, it’s neat to see the differences and similarities when we bake together.
March 9, 2015 at 11:06 am
16 is probabily a better number anyway! 12 yielded such big portions, and you can’t have just one….
March 9, 2015 at 11:26 am
Precisely!