Here in the Touraine we are part of that great band of lard that stretches across the middle of temperate Europe. Here the pig is king and local delicacies tend to feature lard and include preserved meats of great inventiveness and variety (charcuterie). In the Touraine, a layer of lard is key to the preservation process, as we are not a salt producing province.
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| Fresh out of the oven. |
To our south the olive dominates the landscape and the cuisine. In the west duck fat replaces lard. But north of us, la vache (the dairy cow) is queen and butter the favoured culinary fat.
Kouign Amann (Butter Cake in Breton) is designed to use a substantial lump of butter to transform a simple flour, water and sugar concoction into something irresitably caramelly. It's all in the folding and layering and the subtle, sparing application of sea salt crystals, another Breton speciality.
It is quite tricky to produce an authentic result, especially outside of Brittany, but a few years ago I decided to give it a go. I was moderately successful and have been making it occasionally ever since. I habitually add apple slices to the recipe, which is not traditional, but which we prefer.
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| The dough folded for the first time. |
Kouign Amann is somewhere between cake, bread and pastry, with lots of caramelised sugar both gooey and crunchy.
Ingredients
12 g dry yeast
175 ml warm water
250 g flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
200 g sugar, plus extra sugar for rolling the dough
100 g butter, cut into 2 cm cubes and chilled, plus extra butter, melted
An apple, cored, peeled and sliced
Method
1. Dissolve the yeast and a pinch of sugar in the water in a medium sized bowl, stirring to mix well, then cover and leave in a warm place to develop a foam for 10 minutes.
2. Gradually add the flour and salt, until you have a soft, rather sticky dough.
3. Sprinkle flour on your work surface and knead the dough for several minutes until silky and elastic. You can add a bit more flour if necessary, if the dough is sticking to your hands.
4. Brush a bowl with melted butter and put the dough in, cover and leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours.
5. Cover a large plate with plastic wrap.
6. Roll the dough out into a 30cm x 45cm rectangle, with the long side parallel to the edge of your work surface.
7. Distribute the cubes of butter evenly over the dough and sprinkle with a quarter cup of sugar.
8. Distribute apple slices evenly over the dough.
9. Fold the short sides into the centre, as if you are folding a sheet of A4 paper into thirds to put into an envelope.
10. Sprinkle the folded dough with a quarter cup of sugar and fold into thirds again, perpendicular to the first folds.
11. Put the folded dough on the covered plate and refrigerate for an hour.
12. Wipe down your work surface, then sprinkle it generously with sugar.
13. Put the dough on the work surface, sprinkle it with a quarter cup of sugar, and roll it out into a 30cm x 45cm rectangle.
14. Fold the dough again as in Steps 9 and 10.
15. Put the dough on the plate and refrigerate for an hour.
16. Line a 20cm diameter cake tin with a sheet of baking paper or coat a pie plate with butter.
17. Heat the oven to 220C.
18. Sprinkle more sugar on the work surface, put the dough on the sugared work surface, sprinkle the dough with sugar, and roll out to roughly the size of your baking tin.
19. Manoeuvre the dough into the baking tin or pie plate.
20. Sprinkle the dough with the remaining sugar and about a tablespoon of melted butter.
21. Bake for 45 minutes.
22. The cake should be deeply caramelised, leave to cool for 10 minutes then take the cake carefully out of the pan and put on a rack to cool.
23. Serves 8-10.
I keep calling it a cake, but it is clearly of the bread family. The tell tale signs of yeast acting on gluten are there in the interior of the cake once its cooked and the feel of the dough before.
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2 comments:
It sure looks appetizing. I wonder what the taste is like? More or less a chausson aux pommes?
This is why I once referred to you as a fearless cook! I don't think I would have attempted it myself!
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