Kouign amann with Spelt

Folded and layered in butter and dusted lightly with sugar, these rich delights, called Kouign amann (pronounced [,kwiɲˈamɑ̃nː] are made in a manner similar to puff pastries. They are light and crisp on the outside with soft layers on the inside and just a hint of sweetness to make you smile.

 

Lien chose these exquisite morsels as the challenge for the 7th Anniversary of the Bread Baking Babes.

Kouign amann originates from Brittany in France, where some Keltish clans moved in the 4th and 6th Century from England. The area still has its own cultural heritage and is officially one of the Celtic nations. They still have their own dialect as well which is why, according to Wikipedia, the name of these wonderful little sweet rolls is related to the Welsh language.

This is a very tasty recipe.  Making the butter block and folding and chilling the dough is similar to how you make croissants, but the baking method is more like that of a puff pastry. You can work out a lot of tension rolling out the dough if you don’t fight with it. Just chill while it’s chilling and things will go much better.

I made my version with spelt. I still need lots of practice with laminated dough so mine are not light and airy like the rest of the babes’ pastries, but they sure were good.  Mine are more like delicious and buttery soft muffins.

 

Kouign amann

adapted from: Paul Hollywood – BBC “The Great British Bake Off”

Makes 12 pastries

Equipment and preparation: for this recipe, you will need a 12-cup muffin tin and a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Prep time:

• 1-2 hours preparation time
• 30 minutes to 1 hour cooking time

Ingredients:

• 300-340 g all-purpose spelt, plus extra for dusting
• 5 g instant yeast
• 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
• 200 ml warm water
• 25 g (2 T.) unsalted butter, melted
• 250 g (2 1/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, in a block
• 100 g caster sugar for sprinkling on the dough (in step 7)

1. Start with 300 grams of flour and place it in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the salt to the other. Add the water and melted butter and mix on a slow speed for two minutes, then on a medium speed for six minutes. Add a little extra flour if the dough is too sticky. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Don’t add too much flour.

2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and shape into a ball. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for one hour in a warm place.

3. Place the cold butter between two sheets of parchment paper and pound it with a rolling pin, then roll the butter out to a 5.5-inch square. Place in the refrigerator to keep it chilled.

4. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to an 8-inch square. Place the butter in the center of the dough diagonally, so that each side of butter faces a corner of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter to enclose like an envelope.

5. Roll the dough into a 18×16-inch rectangle. Fold the bottom third of dough up over the middle, then fold the top third of the dough over. You will now have a sandwich of three layers of butter and three layers of dough. Wrap it with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This completes one turn.

 

6. Repeat this process twice more, so you have completed a total of three turns, chilling the dough for 30 minutes between turns.

7. Roll the dough into a rectangle as before. Sprinkle the dough with the caster sugar and fold into thirds again. Working quickly, roll the dough into a large 12 x 16-inch rectangle. Sprinkle the dough with caster sugar and cut the dough into 12 squares.

8. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin well with oil. Gather the dough squares up by their four corners and place in the muffin tins, pulling the four corners towards the center of the muffin tin, so that it gathers up like a four-leaf clover.

Press the corners together well because they might open up if they aren’t pinched together. Sprinkle the tops with caster sugar and let them rise (at room temperature), covered with a clean tea towel, for 30 minutes until slightly puffed up.

 

9. Preheat oven to 425ºF. Bake the pastries for 30-40 minutes, or until golden-brown. Cover with foil halfway through if beginning to brown too much. Remove from the oven and let them cool for a couple of minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Don’t leave them in the muffin tin too long or the caramelized sugar will harden and they will be stuck in the tin. Serve warm or cold.

 

Note: If you don’t want to eat them all at one time, place them in a bag and freeze them. Before you eat them: Defrost them and place them in a warm oven (350ºF) for about 4-6 minutes or until warm, they will crisp up again.

I’ve been keeping mine in my new bakery box. It’s the perfect size for the muffin puffs. They’ll last for a few days – that is, if you don’t eat them all at once.

 

 

Take a look at the Kouign amann the other BBB made:

• Bake My Day – Karen
• Kouign Amann at blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
• Bread Experience – Cathy
• Feeding my Enthusiasms – Pat/Elle
• Kouign Amann at girlichef – Heather
• Life’s a Feast – Jamie
• Lucullian Delights – Ilva
• Kouign Amann / Kouignettes at My Diverse Kitchen – Aparna
• Kouign Amann at My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
• Kouign Amann at Notitie Van Lien – Lien (HOST)
• Thyme for Cooking – Katie (Bitchin’ Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire)

 

Would you like to join in the fun and be a Bread Baking Buddy this month?

Our host this month is Lien at Notitie Van Lien, and if you’d like to join in, just make Kouign Amann and then send Lien your link (info in her announcement post).  Submissions are due by March 1st.  Once you’ve posted, you’ll receive a Buddy badge for baking along.  Please join us this month! You’ll be glad you did!

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy