Kouign-amann: a classic Breton pastry recipe

Making these fantastic breakfast pastries requires the skill of laminating dough, plus patience and a bit of work. 

The end results are worth it once you taste the layers of flaky, buttery pastry fresh from the oven. 

This recipe will make a plain version, but you can choose to serve these with Matcha Curd (recipe in the book).

You could also add a filling (see ‘Variation’, below) for a great surprise centre to this croissant-like delicacy. 

Ingredients

MAKES 12 PASTRIES

• 6g fresh yeast or 3g instant dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon caster/granulated sugar (if using fresh yeast)
• 130ml warm whole milk
• 40g caster/granulated sugar
• 250g white/strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 160g salted French butter for turns, plus extra for greasing the moulds
• 200g caster/granulated sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons table salt for the turns
• Demerara sugar, for sprinkling (approx. 100g)

Utensils

• stand mixer with a dough hook
• 12 individual 8cm non-stick tart pans or a 12-hole cupcake pan

Method

• Bring the salted French butter to room temperature when you are ready to start rolling out the dough. On a very lightly floured surface, roll the chilled pastry into a rectangle of around 30 x 15cm. Use a pastry brush to dust away any excess flour from the surface of the dough.
• The next day, position the salted French butter between two large sheets of non-stick baking parchment. Use a rolling pin to beat the butter into a flat rectangular shape of around 20 x 15cm. Shape the edges of the rectangle using your hands and try to keep the thickness fairly even. Set aside in the fridge until required.
• Put the flattened, room temperature French butter into the centre of the dough rectangle – roughly two-thirds of the dough should be covered by the butter, leaving the edges of the pastry exposed (see photo B).
• Fold the exposed edges of the dough in on top of the butter then fold the whole rectangle in half. Instead of flour, sprinkle the work surface with the sugar and salt mixture and arrange the pastry on top so that the closed edge is on your right. Roll out the dough again to roughly 1cm thick.
• Fold both edges of the pastry in to meet in the middle, then fold the entire thing in half at the line where the two edges meet as if closing a thick book; this is called a book turn. Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
• Roll out the folded dough (see photo C) and then repeat the whole process twice more: book fold, use the sugar-salt mixture on the work surface, always start with the closed end to your right and remember to chill for 20 minutes between each fold.
• If using fresh yeast, mix the yeast with the 1 teaspoon of sugar and the warm milk. Leave to dissolve for 15 minutes until frothy. Meanwhile, put the 40g sugar, flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. If using instant dried yeast, add this to the bowl now along with the warm milk, or add the frothy fresh yeast mixture and knead for 6 minutes. Add the softened butter and continue to knead for a further 4 minutes. 
• Form the dough into a ball. Put in a large clean bowl and cover with clingfilm. Rest in the fridge for 24 hours. The dough will not rise much overnight and this is fine.
• Once the final 20 minutes resting has taken place, grease the tart pans or the cupcake pan with the salted French butter. Roll the dough out for the last time to around 3 mm/1⁄8 inch thick. Cut into twelve 9 x 9cm squares using a sharp knife.
• To fold the pastries into the classic kouign-amann shape, tuck in each of the four corners of the square to meet in the middle. (If you are using a filling, add a blob to the middle of each one now.) 
• Put each pastry into a pan or mould (see photo D) and sprinkle with a little Demerara sugar. Cover loosely with clingfilm and leave at room temperature to rise for around two hours or until doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas 6.
• Bake the kouign-amann in the preheated oven for around 15–20 minutes or until the pastry has puffed up and turned golden. Allow to cool slightly, then use a palette knife to remove the pastries from their pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

Variation

Try adding a delicious filling to these pastries. 

You could insert a spoonful of matcha custard from the Crunchy Caramelized Custard Buns recipe (in the book) or a little of the apple compote from the Sparkling Sake Apple Crumble recipe (in the book) as you leave the dough to rise for the last time.

This recipe features in the cookbook titled 'Japanese Patisserie' by James Campbell, published by Ryland Peters & Small (£22)

Photography by Mowie Kay © Ryland Peters & Small