Kouign Amann recipe

Makes: 12-16 pastries

• Prep time: 50 minutes plus chilling and proving time
• Bake time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients

350g French Strong Patisserie Flour

7g Dried Yeast

220ml Lukewarm Water

1tbsp Butter

1tsp Salt

1tsp Sugar

250g Butter (1 block, cold, for the laminating)

125g Demerara Sugar (for the laminating, plus extra for sprinkling)

3tbsp Milk (for glazing before baking)

METHOD

Place the flour, water, salt, yeast, and caster sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment and mix on a slow speed for 3 minutes until all the ingredients are incorporated

Turn the speed up to a medium-high speed and mix again for a further 8 minutes, taking a break halfway through to add the tablespoon of butter

Once the dough has been well developed, place in a bowl and cover. Leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size

During this time, take your block of butter out of its wrapper and place it between two sheets of baking paper. Use a rolling pin to bash the butter to flatten it, then roll it into a 15cm square before putting it back into the fridge to firm up again

Once your dough is finished proving, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and begin gently rolling it out to achieve a 45cm x 15cm rectangle (all this maths is worth it in the end!)

Now that you have your rectangle in front of you, take your butter square and place it towards one end of the rectangle. This should cover two thirds of the dough, leaving one third free

Fold the empty third down over the butter, then fold the bottom third up over that. This should encase the butter completely in the dough. Wrap and leave to chill for 20 minutes in the fridge

After chilling, take the dough from the fridge and gently roll it out to make a rectangle of about the same size as you started with, before repeating the folding steps again

Do this whole process one more time, but before you fold it up springle it with half of the demerara sugar, then once three sets of folds have been completed, take the dough from the fridge and roll into a large rectangle (I aim for about 45cm x 30cm). Sprinkle once more generously with more of the demerara sugar

Cut the rectangle into squares using a sharp knife, and then fold each of the four corners of the square into the middle before pushing it into a greased muffin tin. The pastry should resemble a clover at this point

Once each of the pastries is in, give them another sprinkle of sugar

Leave lightly covered to prove for 20-30 minutes or until puffy, Preheat the oven to 210 degrees Celsius while you wait

Gently brush each one with the milk, then do a final sprinkle of sugar for the best crunch

Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until puffed up and golden brown on the top. Remove from the tin after 5 minutes and cool further on a wire rack – wait until cooled to room temperature before you enjoy! (If you can wait that long…)

Recipe and image credit: Matthews Cotswold Flour

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