Kouigns Amann

So if you haven't seen it, Rose Levy Beranbaum's new cookbook The Baking Bible just came out, and right on the cover is Kouign Amann, the Breton butter cake. While I haven't had a lot of time for baking lately, I knew I had to give Rose's version a try. Mamagotcha was hosting a tea brunch for some of her friends, so I offered to make the recipe for her.

I've tried making KA a few times before from both David Lebovitz's recipe, and another online recipe that I can't seem to find right now. While the previous attempts had been tasty, they were lacking in both the texture and caramelization departments, and the sugar pulled a lot of water out of the dough. However, the new book mentions that this recipe had become their number one favorite pastry recipe, so I had high hopes for it.

There are a number of interesting differences in Rose's recipe, but there are two really big ones. First, instead of making one big cake, this recipe makes 8 mini-kouigns, which are formed in crumpet rings to hold their shape while still letting melted butter drip out the bottom (so you aren't poaching the pastry in liquid butter). This increases the surface area so everything can get cooked through, avoiding the underdone center I had before. Second, instead of rolling sugar into each turn of the dough, you only roll the sugar into the last turn. This not only prevents osmosis from turning everything into the syrupy mess that I struggled with before, it stops the sugar grains from punching through the dough and allows you to keep good lamination.



Putting it together was actually pretty easy; I started around 8:30 this morning and pulled it from the oven around 1:45. No overnight fermentation (like with other laminated pastries), so you can start and finish the same day. I was worried they would stick to the rings, but as they cooled slightly they shrank and I could pop them right out with two small tongs. There was also about a tablespoon of caramel that had dripped out the bottom; some looked pretty dark, but most was still a nice deep golden brown, so while it was still hot I scooped some up on a fork and dripped a blob onto the center of each one. This blob became fairly crunchy by the time it fully cooled, but it wasn't too hard to bite through, so I think it worked out.



The finished goods are just outstanding, like a croissant that decided it was tired of being health food and wanted to show you what decadence really means. The outside has a nice crunchy sugary crust, the inside is moist rich buttery pastry with pockets of sugary syrup here and there. They did unfold a bit more than I expected, so they probably would have benefitted from pinching the folds closed more carefully so they would hold their shape, but it gave it an interesting appearance.

Chouxfly wrote:The finished goods are just outstanding, like a croissant that decided it was tired of being health food and wanted to show you what decadence really means.

Banner quote!
Seriously, the finished product looks fantastic.

Ooooh! Those look amazing! Thank you so much for posting. And agreed on the banner quote.

edited to add the Chicago Public Library miraculously has available copies of the book. And an ebook version, although that is not currently available.

Drooling into my keyboard.

Okay. Now I need the recipe. Oh & ring molds, where did you get yours?

Gorgeous chouxfly, just gorgeous.

I think we picked up those rings at an awesome kitchen store in Kansas City called Pryde's about ten years ago, but you can find them on the King Arthur website as well as Amazon.

These things were amazing... almost custardy-creamy on the inside, but with shattering layers of crisp sweet puff pastry on the outside. Absolutely decadent!