Kouign Amann

(original recipe from David Lebovitz; these instructions by WhiskFlipStir)

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon yeast, not rapid rise

¾ cup warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar, which will be used in 1/4 cup incriments
(Plus an additional bit of sugar for yeast feeding and dough rolling)
1 stick salted butter cut into inch square pieces,chilled
2-3 tablespoons additional salted butter, melted

The step-by-step:

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Feed it a pinch of sugar. Let develop for 10 minutes.
It should bloom like below otherwise you need new yeast.

2. When yeast is ready add flour and salt.

3. Time to knead! Gather up all the flaky dough pieces into a rough ball and place on lightly
floured surface. Knead for 3 minutes until dough becomes smooth and elastic.

4. The dough needs a break. Let rest/rise in a medium sized buttered bowl for 1 hour,
covered, in a warm spot.

5. Ready to roll! Place risen dough ball on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle
about 18 inches long and a foot tall. It should be pretty easy to do, maybe a little sticky. Don’t
over roll, if yours winds up kinda oblong or a weird shape don’t keep trying to fix it.
Overworking the dough could make it tough. Go with what you get.

6. Here comes the butter and sugar! Line up one half of the butter and a quarter cup of the
sugar in the middle of your dough.

7. Fold the right side over the middle and then the left side. This will be easiest if you have a
pastry scraper. If not, a chef’s knife could help separate the dough from your surface.

8. More butter and sugar! Take your remaining butter and dimple the top of the folded dough.
You’ll see bumps where the original layer of butter is, put this layer’s butter around those for
best butter distribution. Top with 1/4 cup of sugar.

9. Now fold up the bottom and fold down the top into a square.

10. A side view of the square. So foldy!

11. Wrap the folded square in plastic wrap and put on a plate. Let rest in the refrigerator for
one hour.

12. After an hour, take the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap and place on a lightly sugared
surface. Yeah, sugared. The French are evil geniuses. At this stage, the dough will be slightly
wet. Sugar the top and sides of the dough. I used my rolling pin (like so) to press it flat before
rolling it out.

13. Just like before, once rolled out, dust with sugar. When done, fold in thirds like before and
top with more sugar.

14. Then fold in thirds again, into the square shape like before. Wrap in plastic wrap and it’s
back in the refrigerator for another (and final) hour. Clearly, Amelie didn’t intend on leaving
the house for the rest of the day.

15. This is a good time to cut the plums. One or two will do.

16. An hour has passed and we are ready for the final “roll” which is really more of a press
and shape. The dough will still be wet and will have a crust. Put dough onto your rolling
surface and flatten into a circle that will fit into a 9 inch pie pan.

17. Top with plums. Make it pretty!

18. Top plums and kouign amann with final 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of melted
butter. BECAUSE IT DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH BUTTER IN IT YET.

19. Bake this baby in a 425º oven for 45 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

This is important: the first 30 minutes of the bake are messy. Sugar and butter leak out, and
at about the :30 minute mark, the leaked sugar starts to burn. I didn’t want to smoke-out my
kouign amann so I swapped cookie sheets and parchment about :30 minutes into the bake.
Be careful, taking the cake out of the oven at this point is dangerous. The pan has very hot,
very liquid butter and sugar mix that could burn you. Once out, I took the pie pan and moved it
to the new parchment lined cookie sheet and returned to the oven. Problem solved! But be
careful!

20. Remove from oven and gaze at it. Let cool for 15 minutes, loosen edges and remove from
pan with a wide spatula. Let cool another 30 minutes. Slice and serve. Good work, baker.

It tastes bread-like with a caramel crust that reminds me of creme brulee. It’s simple.
Reminiscent  of the best coffee cake you ever could imagine.  It tastes very very French. I can
see how this would make a beautiful French girl very popular.

Vive Amelie. Enjoy the cake.