Kouignettes
Buttery, flaky little pastries with all the magic of a classic Kouign-amann, minus the stress.
If you only make one recipe from my site, it needs to be this one. OK? Pronounced ‘Queen-ee-etts’ these are a coiled version of Kouign Amann which originated in Brittany and I first discovered when visiting my son who lived on nearby Guernsey. When we visited St Malo (French Brittany) by ferry, the dedicated Kouign Amann pastry stores were everywhere and full of these amazing pastries that I couldn’t pronounce the name for which incidentally comes from the Breton words for ‘cake’ Kouign and ‘butter’ Amann.
I managed to eat a load of them though, praise be to my greediness and then had to figure out the recipe. The kouignettes are also sold aplenty with nuts, caramel, chocolate and fruit fillings. They are easier to roll out, and you can eat two or three instead of just one! I hope you love them. They are a special occasion bake for our house, think Christmas and Mother’s Day! You will eat the lot, so best to have someone over to help you and save your waistline. They are best eaten on the day of baking, so that is your excuse, stick to i!
We have done a video or two with these as the laminating sounds tricky, but really isn't. Watch it and then go for it.
Need
-
The Dough
- 8 Grams active dry yeast
- 1 Teaspoon raw caster sugar BUY
- 470 Grams bakers or strong flour BUY
- 1 Teaspoon pink salt flakes BUY
- 25 Grams butter plus some more BUY
- 315 Grams water
-
The Lamination
- 280 Grams butter softened BUY
- white granulated sugar as needed
- pink salt flakes as needed BUY
-
The Rest
- cacao nibs BUY
- chopped nuts of choice
- fresh berries of choice
- Speculoos or Biscoff Spread Recipe
- Notella Recipe
- more butter for baking
- more white sugar for baking
- more salt flakes for baking
Do
- 1
To make the dough, place yeast, caster sugar, flour, salt, butter, water into the Thermomix bowl and mix 6 sec/speed 6.
- 2
Knead 5 minutes/dough setting.
- 3
Tip dough into a lightly greased large bowl. Cover and set aside for an hour as it proves.
- 4
When the dough has proved, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll the first piece into a rectangle, until the dough thickness is as thin as a sheet of pasta. Using your hands, get the edges nice and square.
- 5
Divide the softened butter into 4 lots of 70g. Take one part of the butter and rub it onto the dough with your fingers until the entire rectangle is well coated in butter. Roll the dough, starting with the long side, to form a long roll. Place onto a lined tray. Repeat with the remaining portions of dough.
- 6
Place the tray with the rolls into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
- 7
Butter 2 x 12-hole muffin tins generously with loads of butter! Coat generously with granulated sugar. (Has to be white sugar as any other sugar will stick.) Set prepped tins aside.
- 8
Spread any excess sugar from preparing the tin, plus some additional salt on the bench. Add more if necessary. (See the video.)
- 9
Take the first roll from the fridge. Flatten it onto the sugared bench without breaking the pastry. Allow it to soften slightly if needed. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more sugar. Sprinkle with a few salt flakes as well. Now you need to roll! You want an even rectangle. Keep your edges as straight as possible.
- 10
Fold the right-hand side of the dough to the far left side, flatten and seal the edges completely. Turn the folded side of the dough towards you and keep rolling until you have a thin rectangular piece of dough measuring around 24cm on the long side of the dough. Roll it up into a coil, away from you, cut into 6 equal lengths and press each piece, cut side up into the prepared tins. Cover loosely and allow to rise for at least 30 minutes.
- 11
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200°C/400°F.
- 12
Bake 22-25 minutes or until dark golden brown.
- 13
Tip the kouignettes 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 of the tin. 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. It is preferable to cook them to order, rather than cook them all and try and reheat. They are better the day they are cooked.
- 14
Before baking you can fill the centres with anything that takes your fancy. They will puff up, so less is more; chopped nuts or chocolate, cacao nibs, jam, or chopped berries, biscoff or nutella all work well.
Served with
Tenina Holder is a wife, mother of five and grandmother of nine, who started cooking in the olden days before Thermomix was even a thing.
Tenina has become the premium go to source for all Thermomix expertise and of course fresh and easy recipes that work. Her cooking classes and foodie trips are sold out in literally hours, her cookbooks appear on the Australian best seller lists and her social reach is in the millions. Her Insider Club is the most fun you can have with a Thermomix and you really should join her! She believes chocolate, butter and salt are health foods. Her food positivity mantra is, eat everything, just not all at once!
