Kouign Amann Queen A Mahn Recipes

KOUIGN-AMANN

Steps:

• Combine water, sugar, and yeast in a bowl. Let rest until foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Add melted butter, 2 cups flour, and salt to the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon to form a very sticky dough. Dust your work surface with remaining 1/2 cup flour.
• Turn dough out onto the floured counter. Knead, folding in the excess flour as needed, until dough is soft, slightly sticky, and elastic. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Combine sugar and most of the sea salt together in a bowl. Mix, taste, and add more salt as needed.
• Butter a 12-cup muffin tin. Spoon some of the seasoned sugar into the cups and shake to coat. Turn tin over and return excess sugar to the bowl.
• Transfer dough onto a floured surface and press into a rough rectangle. Roll dough into a rectangle about 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick. Grate cold butter onto the dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Flatten butter using lightly floured hands. Fold rectangle widthwise into thirds. Press gently to square out the edges. Place dough onto a silicone-lined baking sheet. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll dough into a large rectangle again, pulling and stretching the corners as needed. Grate the second stick of butter over the surface. Pat down with floured fingers and fold into thirds. Roll back out into a rectangle and fold into thirds. Repeat rolling and folding one more time. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Sprinkle a generous amount of the seasoned sugar onto your work surface. Place dough onto the sugar and sprinkle more sugar on top. Roll into a large rectangle about 1/8- to 1/4-inch thick, turning and topping with sugar between rolls.
• Use a pizza cutter to trim away uneven edges. Cut dough into 12 even pieces. Sprinkle more sugar on top. Lightly pinch each pastry into a crown shape by bringing all four corners to the center; place into the muffin cups. Sprinkle more sugar on top. Let rest for 10 minutes.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned and puffed, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer onto a cooling rack while still hot. Let cool for 15 minutes.

KOUIGN-AMANN

Steps:

• 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!

KOUIGN AMANN (QUEEN A-MAHN)

Steps:

• 1. In medium bowl, dissolve yeast in water with pinch of sugar. Stir and let stand for about 10 minutes or until foamy.
• 2. Mix flour and salt and gradually stir into yeast. Dough should be soft and not too sticky. Lightly dust work surface with flour and dump dough onto it.
• 3. Knead dough with hands until dough is smooth and elastic, about 3 minutes. If dough is sticky, knead in additional flour, one tablespoon at a time, until dough no longer sticks to your hands.
• 4. Brush medium bowl with melted butter and put dough ball into bowl. Cover, and let rest in a warm place for 1 hour.
• 5. Line a dinner plate with plastic wrap and set aside.
• 6. Lightly flour your work surface and roll dough into rectangle about 12″ x 18″, with the shorter sides to your left and right.
• 7. Dough may be sticky and difficult to handle. Use a metal pastry scraper to coax dough into shape, and a minimal sprinkling of flour, as necessary. (It will all be beautiful later, trust me.)
• 8. Distribute butter in center of dough and sprinkle with 1/4 cup (50 gr) sugar.
• 9. Grab left side of dough, lift and fold it over center, do same with right side (like you would a letter). You should have what resembles a 3-level pastry.
• 10. Sprinkle entire length of dough with 1/4 cup (50 gr) sugar and (without rolling) fold again into thirds, like a letter, as before.
• 11. Place on plastic wrap-covered dinner plate, cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours.
• 12. Wipe excess flour from your work surface and dust with a liberal handful of sugar for rolling out pastry again.
• 13. After chilled, remove dough from refrigerator, gently remove from plastic wrap and place it on your sugar-covered work surface. (Use more sugar than shown in the picture).
• 14.
• 15. Top dough with 1/4 cup (50 gr) sugar, press it in a bit with your hands, and roll into 12"x 18" rectangle again.
• 16. Again, fold into thirds as before and let rest in refrigerator, on plastic wrap covered plate, covered, for 30-60 mins. 60 mins is better as you want the dough good and chilled.
• 17. Preheat oven to 425° F (220° C) and brush a 9-inch spring form pan, preferably non-stick, with melted butter. (NOTE - if you don't have a spring form pan, you can use a pie plate or glass baking dish. This can be made round or square)
• 18. Remove dough from refrigerator, place on sugared work surface and roll into a circle about the size of your pan. Dough will be sticky. Dusting the top with a sprinkle of sugar will help with rolling.
• 19. Once rolled, lift dough and coax it into pan. It's going to want to break, so fold it in half and slide something flat under it, like the metal bench scrape AND a metal spatula and quickly slip it into the pan. If it does break don't worry about it, just piece it back together in the pan.
• 20. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup (50 gr) sugar and drizzle with 1 TBS melted butter.
• 21. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until top is deeply caramelized. Let stand about 5 minutes, then run a spatula or knife around edges to release your Kouign Amann and slide it onto a baking rack to finish cooling.