The Best Recipe for Kouign-Amann - MY 100 YEAR OLD HOME (2024)

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Kouign-amann is a french pastry with a croissant-like dough, laminated with butter and sugar for a flaky, rich treat with a caramelized outer crust. This is a perfect breakfast pastry or afternoon snack and today we are sharing the recipe.

It’s Friday and I am back in the kitchen. My good friend Chef Monique Chan is here and she is teaching us how to make kouign-amann. The kouign-amannis pronounced “queen a-mahn” and is from Brittany, France. The name comes from the Breton language words for cake (kouign) and butter (amann). The kouign-amann is part sticky bun and part sugared croissant, with layer after layer of buttery, flaky pastry on the inside. It has a caramelized and a slightly-burnt sugar on the outside.

Video

The complete recipe and video are listed below. The video shows how to make this beautiful dessert from start to finish.

View the video here.

I would like to introduce Chef Monique Chan. Since graduating as valedictorian of her pastry school in Paris, Monique has ceaselessly pursued excellence, working in renowned bakeries (Dominique Ansel Bakery), five-star hotels (Le Bristol Paris) and multiple Michelin starred restaurants (Epicure, The French Laundry). These achievements culminated in her role as Executive Pastry Chef of gastronomic restaurant Écriture in Hong Kong, which received two Michelin stars in a record-breaking seven months after opening.

To findMonique’s Instagram click hereand to findher blog The Real Chez Momo click here.

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Be sure to check out the complete video which shows how to make this amazing dessert. You can find the video below.

Also, for previous recipes shared by Chef Monique, go to Pate a Choux Cream Puffs recipe with a Mousseline Cream and Raspberry filling, How to Make Pie Crust and Pear and Almond Cream Bourdaloue Pie,How to Make an Apple Tartand1-2-3 Basic Cake Recipe.

There are three steps to this recipe. The dough, the butter, and the sugar mix. To make the dough, mix the flour, ice water, salt, butter, and yeast. Form into a flat 8″ square and wrap in plastic wrap.

Use a rolling pin to shape the butter (between two pieces of parchment paper) into an 8-inch x 8-inch square. Use a dough scraper to straighten the sides, as necessary. Refrigerate.

Once refrigerated, place the butter inside the dough so that it forms a diamond within the square.

Next, you will lamintate the butter by rolling, folding and rotating three times. Watch the video for complete instructions.

Eventually, you will cut the dough and roll it into a croissant-like pastry.

You can see the layers of dough and sugar and how wonderful this will look when baked.

Yield: 10

Kouign-Amann

The Best Recipe for Kouign-Amann - MY 100 YEAR OLD HOME (12)

Thekouign-amannis pronounced "queen a-mahn" and is from Brittany, France. It's like a cross between a croissant and a palmier, with layer after layer of buttery, flaky pastry on the inside, yet caramelized with ever-so-slightly-burnt sugar on the outside.

Prep Time2 hours 30 minutes

Cook Time1 hour

Total Time3 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • DOUGH:
  • 400 g (3 cups and 3 tablespoons) bread flour
  • 236 g (1 cup) ice water
  • 10 g (1 1/2 teaspoons) salt
  • 14 g (1 tablespoon) butter
  • 5 g (scant two teaspoons) instant yeast
  • BUTTER BLOCK:
  • 339 g (3 sticks) butter
  • *NOTE: use a higher quality butter if possible for the butter block *
  • SUGAR MIX:
  • 250 g (1 1/4 cup) sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

    1. Scale all the ingredients for the dough into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes. The dough should come together at this time. Increase mixing speed to medium, and mix for another 15-20 minutes, until the dough has strong gluten development. (You should feel resistance when you pull on it.)
    2. Remove dough from the bowl, and form into a flat, 8-inch x 8-inch square before wrapping in plastic wrap. Freeze for ~ 1 hour, until very cold, and slightly hardened. Flip the dough halfway through, so that it is evenly chilled.
    3. In the meantime, combine sugar and salt; mix well, and set aside. In a folded over piece of parchment, use a rolling pin to shape the butter into an 8-inch x 8-inch square. Use a dough scraper to straighten the sides, as necessary. Refrigerate ~ 20 minutes, until firm but still pliable.
    4. Once the dough and butter are both sufficiently chilled, roll out the dough as necessary to even out the thickness, and ensure that it has the same dimensions as the butter block. Then, place the butter inside the dough so that it forms a diamond within the square. Fold the edges of the dough into the middle, completely enclosing the butter. Pinch seams together.
    5. Roll this square packet until it is three times as long, keeping roughly the same width. You will end up with an 8.5-inch x 24-inch rectangle. Fold the rectangle into thirds. This is called “the first turn.” Rotate 90 degrees, and repeat the process once more.
    6. After the second turn, wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and chill in the freezer for ~ 10 minutes. Once cold, remove from the freezer and do one last fold, incorporating the sugar this time. (See video for details.)
    7. Rotate 90 degrees, and roll out the dough into a rectangle, 10 inches wide x 16 inches. Cut dough into 2-inch strips, and roll each one up before placing in a greased muffin tin, or greased ring mold.
    8. Let rise for 45-60 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 F. Bake for 45-60 minutes until golden brown. Check bottoms to make sure that dough is fully cooked; they should be golden brown as well. Remove from the oven, and use tongs to carefully remove the kouign-amanns from their muffin tin, or molds. This step should be done immediately, or else the sugar will harden into a caramel, making it impossible to extract the kouign-amanns later. Bon appetit!

You can also use a muffin tin.

Monique made her own “ring molds” from heavy weight alumunim foil. There is a complete tutorial on the video to make these.

The dough is placed in the molds and baked until brown.

Don’t these look amazing?

The kouign-amann are a great breakfast or dessert pastry.

Pin the image below to your Recipe or Pastry boards on Pinterest (just click the Pin button in the top left corner). You can also follow along with me on Pinterest!

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The Best Recipe for Kouign-Amann - MY 100 YEAR OLD HOME (2024)

FAQs

Is kouign amann dough the same as croissant? ›

Eater notes that croissant dough contains milk and butter, but kouign amann dough does not. It is, rather, a “simple mixture of yeast, flour, salt, and water, with no fat or sweetener,” according to Eater. Kouign amann means “butter cake” in Breton, a Celtic language spoken in Brittany.

How many turns for Kouign Amann? ›

The process of rolling and folding the dough in order to create very thin layers of butter and dough is known as a “turn.” You will complete four total turns to make the kouign amann. Chill the dough after the first two turns to prevent it from becoming too warm.

What is the secret ingredient for Bunuelos in Dreamlight Valley? ›

If you're struggling to figure it out, the missing ingredient is cheese. You can grow or buy Wheat by visiting Goofy's stall in Peaceful Meadow. Then, you can buy Milk, Eggs, and Cheese at Chez Remy.

How do you cook an almost perfect meal in Dreamlight Valley? ›

To cook a nearly perfect meal, you must make any four-star Entrees (appetizers and desserts won't work). To complete this duty, you'll need to cook ten meals in total to get 10 Mickey Mouse Tokens. To cook any dish, you'll need to gather the recipe's ingredients and then interact with any stovetop.

What does kouign-amann mean in French? ›

The name comes from the Breton language words for 'cake' (kouign) and 'butter' (amann), and in 2011 the New York Times described the kouign-amann as "the fattiest pastry in all of Europe."

What is the fattiest pastry in the world? ›

Some Bretons claim that this signature treat (which is pronounced “queen ah-MAHN”), made by artisans across the region, is the fattiest pastry in the world. Epicure & Culture calls the kouign-amann Brittany's equivalent to the Paris croissant.

What is the fattiest French pastry? ›

The Legend & History of the Kouign Amann

This queen hails from Brittany, a region in western France. It is a specialty from the town of Douarnenez in Finistère, Brittany, and originated around 1860. “Kouign Amann” is Breton for “butter cake” (simple, straight, and to the point — we like it).

How to keep kouign-amann fresh? ›

Can you freeze kouign-amann? Yes, you can! Once they are baked you can wrap them individually and freeze them for up to a month. Freezing them helps them retain that fluffy interior without becoming too stale.

How much sugar is in a kouign-amann? ›

Nutritional Information
Table of Nutritional InformationPer serving
Dietary Fiber (g)2
Total Sugars (g)18
Protein (g)6
Calcium (mg)46
9 more rows

Do you heat kouign-amann? ›

The science of butter lamination in Kouign Amann

Science for the win! Kouign Amann are best served fresh from the oven. Unfortunately, they are not the same pastry after they go cold. However, I found that you can reheat them in a toaster oven to restore them pretty closely to their original glory.

What is the hardest to pronounce in French? ›

12 Most Difficult French Words To Pronounce
  • Chirurgien. ...
  • Vadrouiller. ...
  • Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobie. ...
  • Bouilloire. Pronunciation: boo-lwah. ...
  • Fauteuil. Pronunciation: foh-teuy. ...
  • Quincaillerie. Pronunciation: kahn-kay-yeh-ree. ...
  • Caoutchouc. Pronunciation: kowt-schuk. ...
  • Heureuse. Pronunciation: eu-reuh.
May 4, 2023

How do you say one croissant please in French? ›

When asking for a croissant in a less formal way French people would usually say something like “Je peux avoir un croissant s'il-vous-plaît/s'il-te-plaît ?” (s'il-vous-plaît being formal, and s'il-te-plaît not being formal as we say it when we know someone well).

How do you make fruitcake in Disney Dreamlight Valley? ›

To make Fruitcake in Disney Dreamlight Valley, players must collect four ingredients; Wheat, and three random Fruits. It's possible to use three different ones or use the same Fruit three times, it all depends on the players.

What is the most profitable meal in Dreamlight Valley? ›

Many of the most profitable recipes in Disney Dreamlight Valley are those which include rare fish, including White Sturgeon and Anglerfish. However, it can be difficult to come across a reliable supply of the fish unless you are using a Miracle Fishing Bait potion.

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