Go to the Recipe: Kouign-Amann
Made these this past weekend, but only after Googling to learn that I can make pastry flour with a 1:1 cake to AP flour mix (none of my local grocery stores carried pastry flour). But, while my lamination could have been better, I'm wondering why this recipe calls for pastry flour when ChefSteps ultimate croissant recipe calls for bread flour as the secret ingredient? https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-secret-to-mastering-croissants-at-home
Kouign Amann is basically a croissant dough, so why the difference? I'm going to give this recipe a try again with bread flour instead in hopes that my laminations just don't dissolve as they did on my first try.
Anyone else use bread flour, instead?
I attempted to split a batch and try both butter blocks. Probably chef error more than recipe, but the butter block from ultimate dough recipe turned out great.
The attempt to add sugar, salt, and flour to the butter block blew a hole in the dough and resulted in me having to toss that batch.
The batch that survived was great!
If we use the ultimate croissant dough recipe, should we also use that butter block or the one from this page that has the addition of salt and sugar?
@Grant Lee Crilly / @Tim Chin / @nobody
Where is the original recipe? Did it call for 400g of pastry flour instead of 600? Was everything else the same?
One of the most important aspects of any laminated dough is to have both the dough portion and the butter portion at the same consistency. Not temperature, but consistency.
Looks like the yield will be around 24 with the above recipe. Still follow the weight per portion and the thickness of the dough upon rolling out. You should get 2 muffin pans worth of final baked pastries.
Is 60g really the right weight for each pastry? How does 1686g of ingredients yield (16*60=900)g of pastries?
Definitely increase the hydration.
The recipe here is not the one used in the the photos and videos. The hydration of this dough (~45%) is extremely low, and the one pictured is cleary much more hyrdrated. Other recipes for this product are much higher, around 60%. I assumed other commentors had trouble because this is a tempermental product, but my experience confirms they were correct.
Hello Renee, This is an old piece of content. The recipe attached is an updated version of croissants. The new recipe does use milk and malt. You will be able to make kouign-amann with success using the attached recipe. I can see how you are confused from the video and the links.
Am extremely frustrated. Where is the recipe shown in the video? You've been asked this question. Where is the recipe? The croissant recipe is completely different than the one shown in the video. Shame on you.
The croissant recipe is different than the recipe shown in the video for Kouign Amann - there was no mention of milk or malt powder in the video - could you please update and share?
@ChefSteps - the laminated dough you call for to make in this recipe (the croissant dough you've linked to) is a totally different recipe than what it shows the chef making in the Kouign-Amann video above. There is milk and malt powder in the croissant but not in this recipe. Also - the butter block he makes here, he adds sugar and flour. In the croissant recipe it's simply butter. Can you please provide the actual recipe he uses for the Kouign-Amann dough?
This is a technique that uses croissant dough. The recipe for croissant dough is here, https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-secret-to-mastering-croissants-at-home.
I literally can’t find the recipe and I’ve clicked on your “Find recipe” link like a billion times. And I submitted my email. Where is this supposed recipe
the recipe is available here. https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/the-secret-to-mastering-croissants-at-home
kosher
Could someone please give me the recipe with the amounts of each ingredient? Thanks
For the salt and sugar mixture, did you use kosher, sea, or table salt?
Not true. Croissant dough contains yeast, puff pastry does not. They are both laminated doughs.
Thank you for the detailed instructions. I learn better this way. I am so glad you guys use butter in many in your recipes. I love butter. its a lot healthier than margarine even though my late grandma preferred it when I was growing up. It taste better too! Now time to buy a bigger chopping board so I can make my dough better with my new found knowledge! Thank you!
How long are these tasty for? Such as, if I bake them the night before and take them into work the next day? Will they still be as delicious?
puff dough and croissant dough is the same thing - both laminated dough
Made some using the Chocolate Kiss suggestion.
NO WAY, because it's too heavy and the flavour of whole wheat is not good in kouign amann. You have to use only white flour.
I am very happy with my first attempt at producing Kouign Amann. Clearly they are not as puffed up and flaky as they could be, but I will continue to experiment. I used unsalted Kerrygold butter, for the record, and mine were not too salty. Definitely very yummy!
I made these with cinnamon sugar in a Texas sized muffin tin. (Tastes like Cinnabon)
Plugra Brand Butter (82-83% butter fat) Rolled out even. Organic Valley Cultured Butter (84% butter fat) would set faster causing the butter to crack when rolled out. You have to adjust the chill time depending on the type of butter you use.
Can I use puff dough instead of croissant dough? Because I made a puff dough this morning, so I'm thinking if i can use it for this recipe.
Because the hot air produced by the melted butter is what makes this puff.
Butter in the US tends to have a slightly lower fat content that European butter. This means there's more whey in US butter. As a result, it is more challenging to laminate as the whey prevents the fat from being truly pliable. You can still laminate with US butter, but your temperature window is considerably smaller.
Why do you not proof these. Can someone let me know or is that why mentioned about in fridge. A slow fermentation???
So on my first attempt my butter cracked and crumbled when making the first fold.... so I went with it and this is the result of that. The center is not as flaky and separate as it should be and it's pretty greasy with butter... I agree with others that said your butter can be too cold, so I think next time I'll let my butter block warm up and become pliable for a few minutes before laminating. Also, those who said this is too salty probably used salted butter... I used unsalted butter and the salt level was perfect, not even remotely overwhelming. I also had the same experience as the person who said their dough was sticky... I had to use quite a bit of flour to keep it from sticking....and wondering if the butter in this recipe is too high. Will try again and pay more attention to temperature of the butter and the dough.
I'm surprised there isn't a final rise in the pan before the oven.... Is there a reason for this?
What are your thoughts on whole wheat pastry flour? It's all we can seem to find locally. Thank you!
I've had great success with this recipe. I did start with quite a significant experience making laminated doughs which where most of the difficulty is found. I like to prepare the dough in the evening and bake the next morning, so ...
Here is the key modifications I made:
Do not put sugar in the butter block. This is just so totally unnecessary. When you do, you make it a race against time to avoid the sugary wet weeping that you will create. Also, there is enough sweetness everywhere else, this is totally unnecessary. Also, I don't bother with the flour.
Its beautiful guys. I've never been to heaven, but I'm guessing this is what it smells like. Its crispy, but soft and flakey inside. Sweet and a touch salty. The caramelized sugar gives it a lovely 2nd dimension in sweetness. The only change I made was to decrease the salt to 6g. I will warn the novice baker though. This dough is not for the easily frustrated or impatient. It is at no fault of this recipe. The factors come from your fridge and room temps. Also the brand/type of your ingredients affect your finished product. BUT, step 6 is missing in the directions for croissant dough so look out for that. Basically, if its your first go at croissant dough, it will take some trial and error. I listed all the hurdles I had to jump over on the comments section of the croissant dough, since turning it into kougin amann itself was fairly straightforward.
Made these today! Though I wasn't patient enough, I didn't wait long enough for the dough to cool in between rolling out the layers. The dough ended up ripping and the butter melted through. In the end they came out quite well, though they are quite dense and the layers don"t show up. Apart from my mistakes, they taste amazing!
If you half the recipe should the butter block be 12 x 6 or 6 x3?
Hrmm, gonna try using the same dough I use for cronuts... because... croissant dough yo.
My first attempt at this came out pretty good.
This was my first try with laminated dough, and while not an unqualified success (there was some degree of butter leakage through the layers), it was a pretty good first effort. Watching the video was very useful! I wanted a large round cake rather than individual portions, so I divided the dough in two and baked two 10 inch rounds. 400 for 20 minutes, then reduced to 325 for 10 minutes worked well (non-convection oven). As noted by Thomas, this is a pretty salty finished product. I'll reduce the salt next time. Thanks ChefSteps for a great recipe and very clear video!
To bake in a single round (rather than individual cupcake sizes), what size pan or ring should be used?
