Kouign Amann

Name: Thermomix recipe: Kouign Amann
Prep time: 8 h
Cook time: 35 min
Ingredients: 8 Grams dried active yeast; 2 Teaspoons raw caster sugar; 940 Grams bakers flour; 2 Teaspoons pink salt flakes; 30 Grams butter; 630 Grams water; 2 x 300 Grams unsalted butter softened; white granulated sugar as needed; pink salt flakes as needed

Makes 2 batches of 12 Prep Time 8 hours Cook Time 35 minutes Rated:

Videos

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OK, not going to lie. This has to be one of my favourite things we have done for Insider Club yet. I first tasted Kouign Amann in the USA and was a bit underwhelmed. BUT, then, I travelled to St. Malo in Brittany on the coast of France where they originate from and had them there. Every day. Sometimes more than once. They are simply THE best thing you can turn yeast, flour, butter and sugar and salt into. Hands down. Prounounced ‘Queeney Ah-marn’ the name comes from the Breton words for ‘cake’ Kouign and ‘butter’ Amann. Which is pretty accurate. Just don’t look at the ratio’s. This is not one of your LCHF recipes...just warning you now!

Marnee Rinaldi from Sugar and Nice cafe in Inglewood makes these every weekend for her die hard fans, who line up for these early as she only makes 24. They sell out in minutes. When you taste one, you will know why...as you reach for another one. They are only good fresh and hot. Don’t try premaking them. Do them to order.

You can pre-do everything but the sugar, salt laminating. So that will help a tad, should you add this to your Christmas morning menu...which you totally should! (Oh and you are welcome to send me congratulatory emails about this one. You’re going to love them!)

This recipe will make 2 batches of 12 Amann each. So prep and freeze both dough slab and butter block. Then you are ready to whip it out next time you need them...which will probably be straight away to be honest!

Keep an eye out for other amazing Marnee recipes on here. She is the Queen of Yum herself. Some of the video audio is a bit quiet, but you can still see everything quite clearly. I think some butter got into the microphone...there was so much of it in the air that day!! Enjoy.

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Need

Dough
8 Grams dried active yeast
2 Teaspoons raw caster sugar BUY
940 Grams bakers flour
2 Teaspoons pink salt flakes BUY
30 Grams butter BUY
630 Grams water
Butter Block
2 x 300 Grams unsalted butter softened BUY
white granulated sugar as needed
pink salt flakes as needed BUY

Do

1: Tear off a large sheet of baking paper and score an 18cm square in the centre of the paper (use a ruler and bend the paper over the ruler running your finger nail along the bend). Set aside.
2: To make the dough; In a small bowl, mix yeast and sugar with a small amount of the water to activate the yeast.
3: Add flour, salt, butter, remaining water and yeast mix into Thermomix bowl and mix 6 sec/speed 6.
4: Knead 10 min/Interval.
5: Tip dough into a lightly greased large bowl. Cover and set aside for an hour.
6: Meanwhile, make the butter blocks; Place 300g butter into the centre of the scored baking paper square and fold edges over the butter along the scored lines, pressing down on the butter if need be. Flip over with folded edges facing downward and roll butter out evenly to the edges of the square. Place butter block into the fridge. Repeat with remaining butter.
7: When the dough has proved, divide dough in half. Place one half of the dough onto an oiled piece of cling wrap (approx 30 cm x 55cm) Fold the cling wrap over the dough to make a 25 cm square envelope. Turn the folded edges over so that you can roll the dough to fill the ‘envelope’ you have created. Use your hands, get it nice and square. (No holes in the wrap is essential!)
8: Put the wrapped and rolled dough onto a tray and into the freezer for at least 30 mintues.
9: When dough is stiff, but rollable, (leave it on bench to warm up a bit if necessary), unwrap it and turn it onto a generously floured bench or board.
10: Make sure edges are squared up to 25cm.
11: Place the butter block onto the dough in a diamond position. Fold over each edge of pastry and crimp edges together well so that the butter is completely covered.
12: Now you need to roll! (Watch the video!!) You want an even rectangle. 25cm width by approx 60cm length. Keep your edges as straight as possible.
13: Fold right hand side into half way (centre). Line up edges and bring in the left side on top of the right hand folded pastry. Again line up the edges. Turn the pastry fold away from you. Repeat the rolling and folding x 3. You can go as many times as you have patience for, up to 8! It will depend on the temperature of your room, as everything must stay pretty cool or the butter will melt and become a problem.
14: Wrap in plastic wrap and place into freezer or fridge until you are ready to roll and bake in the final process. Now repeat the whole process with the other half of the dough.
15: We suggest a Texas muffin tin. (The really big one!) You will need 2 x 6 hole large muffin trays for this amount of dough.
16: Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced.
17: Butter the muffin tin generously with loads of butter! Coat generously with granulated sugar. (Has to be white sugar, the golden caster sugar will stick.) Set tins aside.
18: Generously coat the bench with more granulated sugar.
19: Unwrap your dough and place onto the sugared bench. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more sugar. Sprinkle with a few salt flakes as well.
20: Roll out to the 25 x 60cm rectangle again. Fold as before, into the centre with the RH side and over the top of that with the LH side. Add more sugar to the bend and the dough. Repeat the rolling again. Keep the edges really straight on this final roll.
21: Cut dough into half length ways. Make cuts to create 6 pieces in each half. (Watch the video!! Sound is a bit average at this point but you can see it no problem.) Sprinkle with salt.
22: Take each piece and fold so that you can see the layers. Place into the prepared tins.
23: Allow Kouigns to rest for at least 10 minutes before baking for at least 30 minutes. They need to be quite dark, so depending on your oven you may need to add time or temperature. We ended up adding 20°c (so went to 200°C) in the end.
24: Tip them onto a silicone mat or non stick mat immediately they are out of the oven or they will stick and you will never get them out. Be very careful as the sugar is like molten lava. DO NOT TOUCH THEM or EAT THEM for at least 15 minutes. They are best hot or warm and fresh. I kept a couple for a day or so, reheated them and really nowhere near as good as when fresh from the oven.