Kouign-amann (; ''kouignoù-amann'') is a sweet Breton

cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate ...

, made with

laminated dough Laminated dough is a culinary preparation consisting of many thin layers of dough separated by butter, produced by repeated folding and rolling. Such doughs may contain more than eighty layers. During baking, water in the butter vaporizes and exp ...

. It is a round multi-layered cake, originally made with bread dough (nowadays sometimes viennoiserie dough), containing layers of butter and incorporated sugar, similar in fashion to

puff pastry Puff pastry, also known as ', is a flaky light pastry made from a laminated dough composed of dough (') and butter or other solid fat ('). The butter is put inside the dough (or vice versa), making a ' that is repeatedly folded and rolled out befo ...

, albeit with fewer layers. The cake is slowly baked until the sugar caramelizes and the recipe's butter (in fact the steam of the 20 percent water in the butter) expands the dough, resulting in its layered structure. A smaller version, “kouignette”, is similar to a muffin-shaped, caramelized

croissant A croissant is a buttery, flaky, Austrian viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough. Croissants are named for their historical crescent shape, the dough is layered wi ...

. A specialty of the town of

Douarnenez Douarnenez (, ; meaning ''douar'' (land) ''an enez'' (the island) or land of the island), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, northwestern France. It is located at the mouth of the Pouldavid River, an estua ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, where it originated around 1860, the pastry is attributed to Yves-René Scordia (1828–1878). The name comes from the

Breton language Breton (, ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of ...

words for cake ( kouign) and butter (

amann Amann is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Anton Amann (1956–2015), Austrian chemist *Betty Amann (1905–1990), German-American actress * Chris Amann, a doctor for the WWE * Diane Marie Amann, American legal scholar * G ...

), and in 2011 the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the kouign-amann as "the fattiest pastry in all of Europe."

Recipe

The strict original Douarnenez recipe requires a ratio of 40 percent dough, 30 percent butter, and 30 percent sugar. Traditionally, kouign-amann is baked as a large cake and served in slices, although recently, especially in North America, individual cupcake-sized pastries (kouignettes) have become more popular.

Popularity

The kouign-amann has been a staple pastry at many Japanese bakeries after becoming popular in the late 1990s. In 2014, episode 7 of

series 5 Series 5 may refer to: * Aston Martin V8 Series 5, an automobile model * BMW 5 Series, a line of automobiles * GeForce 5 Series, a line of video cards * Psion Series 5 The Psion Series 5 was a personal digital assistant (PDA) from Psion. It ...

of the BBC's '' The Great British Bake Off'' featured the kouign-amann. In 2015, notable bakeries in New York, Washington D.C., Boston, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco began to sell the pastry. In

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, several bakeries offer varieties; some shorten the name to "queen".

References

External links

Kouign amann
some history
Recipe for kouign-amann
an easy recipe on how to make kouign-amanns at home {{DEFAULTSORT:Kouign-Amann Breton cuisine Foods featuring butter French cakes French desserts French pastries Pancakes Pastries

Recipe

Popularity

See also

References

External links