Rose's Alpha Bakers: Kouign Amann

I'm back for another year of baking with the wonderful Heavenly Cake Bakers. Exciting! This year we are: Rose's Alpha Bakers, and we're baking from another book by the amazing Rose Levy Beranbaum, The Baking Bible. Our first recipe from the book is the buttery, sugary, delicious Kouign Amann.

I've made kouign amann once before, following David Lebovitz's recipe. As much as I love David Lebovitz's recipes and his blog, I enjoyed my second go 'round with kouign amann much more using Rose's recipe. The dough was much easier to handle, I liked the individual sized portions better than one large cake, and the finished cakes were lighter and flakier (although Rose's recipe does call for 4 times the butter of David's, so that would explain the extra flakiness!).

These pastries originated in the Brittany region of France and kouign amann translates to cake (kouign) butter (amann)...and a buttery cake they sure are! Definitely use European cultured butter which has a higher butterfat percentage than American butter, and make the small, individualized sized pastries which will give you more caramelization per bite.

As noted in the cookbook, these pastries take about 6 hours from start to finish, so these are an all-day project. I love making laminated doughs though, so I enjoyed the rolling and making turns. My only complaint is that Rose recommends not letting the dough chill for longer than 2 hours, so - while these pastries seem perfect for breakfast or brunch - there wouldn't be any way to make these to serve in the morning (unless you woke up at 3:00am!). They would, however, be equally good for dessert - and that's how my husband and I enjoyed them, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream - but I would love to serve them fresh from the oven at a brunch party. The pastries were pretty good the next day, warmed briefly in the microwave, but they had lost the caramelized crunch on the bottom of the pastry. The recipe says to store them in paper bags, but I wrapped each one, individually, in wax paper...not only did they stay fresh, they looked like they came straight from a French pâtisserie.

Here are my photos from my first Rose's Alpha Bakers adventure:

a few simple ingredients combine to make a sweet, buttery, flaky creation!

my ball of dough. A very easy dough to work with - not sticky or tough!

my 5" butter square

instead of rolling it, I just pressed and pulled my dough into an 8" square...easy!

the butter square gets outlined...

and then the four corners get rolled into long "tabs" or flaps

the butter square gets placed on the middle "pillow" of dough...

and the four flaps get folded over (just like an envelope) and edges are pinched shut

At this point, you make two "turns" of the dough (folding the dough in thirds and rolling out) which creates a laminated dough (layers of dough and butter). The third turn is rolled out with sugar, instead of flour, which helps to create the sugary, caramelized layers.

about to roll the third turn in sugar

the dough is rolled to an 8x16" rectangle and then cut into eight 4" squares

you can see the layers here

each square is rolled to 6" and then the four corners are folded into the middle

the other four corners are then folded into the middle (over the original four corners)

each bundle is placed into a baking ring and set aside to rise

the baked kouign amann are buttery and caramelized...yum!

crunchy and delicious on the outside...

while still soft and tender on the inside (this was cut into while still warm...I couldn't wait!
So the layers are a little smooshed)

we added a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoyed for dessert

here is a picture from the next morning.
You can see the layers more clearly but it doesn't look quite as moist.
Still yummy though, after a quick warming.

Bye for now...

Homemade puff pastry becomes...pithiviers

Hello blog! It's been so long since I've posted. I apologize to any readers who may have visited me this spring and summer. I've been so negligent and really do miss posting. It's just been difficult keeping up with full-time work, graduate school, trying to be healthier, have a happy marriage, and on and on.

But, it was my birthday last week and I had a dinner party for family and friends and cooked and baked up a storm. So I'll be posting those pictures soon. My garden is also blooming away and I took a trip to Iceland in the spring...so lots to catch up on! Even though I haven't been posting much lately, I do think of my lonely blog and any readers who may be visiting. Don't give up on me!

Getting to the point at hand for this post...pithiviers!

my freshly baked pithiviers

Have you heard of this dessert before? Me neither! However, during my puff-pastry making obsession over the winter, I was looking for something else fun to do with some of the puff pastry and I found this amazing pastry creation. It's puff pastry on the outside and delicious almond cream on the inside. So yummy.

The almond cream recipe is courtesy of Chef Delphin Gomes and comes from one of the baking classes I took many years ago at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. It's very simple!

You'll need 1 pound of puff pastry (see my recipe for puff pastry here), 1 recipe almond cream (below), and 1 lightly beaten egg for the egg wash.

Almond Cream
8 oz granulated sugar
8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
8 oz almond flour (see directions below)
2 oz all-purpose flour

To make the almond flour, put blanched almonds in a blender and pulse until crumbly and "flour-like." It's easier to do this in small batches. Make 8 oz worth and set aside.

mise en place for my delicious almond cream!

first...making the almond flour. Grind small amounts of almonds in a blender...

...until it looks like this - sandy, light and fluffy

To make the almond cream, cream the sugar and butter (beat in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment) until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Mix the almond flour and all-purpose flour together and then slowly add to the egg-sugar-butter mixture. And...that's it!

For the pithiviers filling, line an 8" tart ring with plastic wrap, and scrape the almond cream into the ring. If you don't have a tart ring, use a 8" pie plate or just draw a circle on parchment and use that as a guide. Then simply spread the almond cream to fill the 8" circle. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

making the pithiviers filling

use an offset spatula to smooth the top

chill and then remove the tart ring

While the almond cream is chilling, roll out your puff pastry. You want two circles, one at least 1" larger than the other. I used a 9" tart ring to make the smaller circle and a bowl with a 10" mouth to make my larger circle. Chill your puff pastry circles for about 15 minutes.

tracing the 10" circle

the bottom circle of pastry, 9" around

and the top, 10" around

Now, we assemble. Using something solid for your base (I used a cooling rack covered in aluminum foil), place the smaller puff pastry circle down first. Next, peel back the plastic wrap from your chilled almond cream disk and place it in the middle of the 9" puff pastry.

my almond cream round goes in the middle of the puff pastry base

Next, place the larger round over the top and seal the edges with the egg wash. Brush the entire top with the egg wash. Be careful not to let the eggs drip over the cut edges of the pastry or the layers will not puff properly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

sealing the edges...don't let the egg drip over the sides

After chilling for at least 30 minutes, use a sharp knife to carve a design in the top dough. Mine is a bit messy, but not bad for my first try! Be sure to cut a hole in the middle to allow steam to escape.

Refrigerate for another hour or two (at least). You can also freeze the dough at this point, which is what I did. Before you bake the pithiviers, give it a final egg wash. Again, be careful not to let the egg drip over the edges.

a bit off-kilter, but here's my free-form design

Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes, or until puffed up and golden brown. Let cool for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving. So beautiful! Next time you go to a dinner party, volunteer to make dessert. Bring this to the party - frozen - and bake it while you're eating dinner...your friends will be impressed! I served mine at a family holiday party and it got rave reviews!

my golden brown pithiviers

time for a slice...flaky pastry and light and delicious almond cream filling

With my leftover dough and almond cream (and some chocolate chips added!) I made 3 small, individual-sized pithiviers with different designs in the top dough.

cutting out and filling the dough for the small pithiviers

a flower pattern

the one on the bottom left is a bit wonky, but it baked up fine

voila!

look at all those layers...

all the chocolate chips sank to the bottom during baking

but it was still delicious! Chocolate and almonds are a perfect combination.

Bye for now...

Homemade puff pastry becomes...parmesan twists and palmiers

Using the scraps from my homemade puff pastry recipe I made some parmesan cheese twists and palmiers. I should really write it this way, "palmiers," because I just free-handed the shape as opposed to making them the traditional elephant ear shape. I basically just rolled them into circles and they ended up looking like shrimp because the "tail" separated a little during baking.

For the cheese twists, I simply grated some lovely Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, brushed with egg and then pressed the cheese onto the dough, twisted, and put on the pan.

They were both delicious, buttery little snacks. Here are some photos:

a close up of my parmesan cheese twists

my little palmiers look like shrimp...but taste like sugar!

a little egg wash, some parmigiano-reggiano cheese and these are ready to bake

done! smells so good

check out all of the layers inside

just missing a glass of red wine

so yummy

baking up the curly palmiers

caramelized sugar...what could be better!

choices choices choices...which one to try first?

Bye for now...