The Best Recipe for Kouign-Amann
Kouign-amann is a French pastry with a croissant-like dough, laminated with butter and sugar for a flaky, decadent treat with a caramelized outer crust.
This is a perfect breakfast pastry or afternoon snack, and today we are sharing the recipe.
Kouign-Amann
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-amann is 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, slightly burnt sugar exterior.
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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 want 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 at the gastronomic restaurant Écriture in Hong Kong, which received two Michelin stars in a record-breaking 7 months after opening.
To find Monique’s Instagram, click here, and to find her 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 fantastic dessert. You can find the link to the video above.
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 Tart and 1-2-3 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 laminate 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.
You can also use a muffin tin.
Monique made her own “ring molds” from heavyweight aluminum foil. The video includes a complete tutorial on how to make these.
The dough is placed in the molds and baked until brown.
Don’t these look amazing?
Here is the recipe.
Kouign-Amann
The kouign-amann is 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.
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
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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!
The kouign-amann is a great breakfast or dessert pastry.
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I made this recipe today and it came out almost exactly like the picture! I wish I could add a photo here. I was inspired by National Kouign Amann Day on June 20th (but it took a few days to gather everything I needed). Thank you for this recipe – I watched the video and it was really helpful.
Oh I love this! Amazing Beverly, I wish I could see it too- so happy the video was helpful 🥰
Can these be injected with a filling? Thanks!
Yes they can. I have seen pastry chefs fill it. Looks amazing
Have been searching for video on how to make these, to no avail. Has the video been taken down?
,, Thanks for sharing this video and recipe.
I made them today and they came out *perfect*.
Thanks again 💐
Oh I’m so happy to hear that! You’re so welcome!
What is the best way to store these?
I appreciate that these instructions are very thorough. Thank you.
I have a question, however, about the measurements. How do I cut two inch strips from a 16”x10” rectangle to yield ten rolls?
Video link is broken
I would really like to see the video that goes with the recipe. I’ve made the recipe once and will be making again in 2 days but am not at all I sure I have the sugar incorporation correct. The lamination is fabulous and that taste, is to die for. But a hint on where to find the video would be appreciated.
Would salted our unsalted butter be best to work with?
Thank you for this! If I wanted to make a cinnamon roll hybrid with these, would you recommend just doing a cinnamon sugar mix on the dough before rolling, or adding butter to the cinnamon sugar like a traditional cinnamon roll? I wasn’t sure if the extra butter would throw something off. Thank you!
I’ve incorporated the sugar correctly. The taste is incredible, and the lamination is amazing. However, I would appreciate a tip on where to locate the video.
Thanks for the inspiring recipe!
This dish turned out nearly precisely like the photo when I prepared it today! I wish I could include a picture here. National Amann Day on June 20th served as my inspiration, albeit gathering the necessary materials took several days. I appreciate you sharing this recipe; the video was very beneficial.