This Kouign Amann pastry recipe, pronounced “queen a-maun”, is my recipe for the classic French Pastry. This pastry is always at the top of pastry lovers lists and for good reason! It’s heavenly!
It’s buttery, sweet and slightly salty with a crisp caramelized outside and a tender, flaky interior that melts in your mouth. It is so indulgent and truly an experience.
It deserves the title of the “best pastry” in my opinion. My kids also agree with this and when I made this batch my son declared this his new favorite dessert.
This batch makes 15 medium kouign amanns and my kids ate 2 each before I had to hide the rest, then my daughter packed on in her lunch the next morning, and everything else she packed was centered around the pastry.
Making these at home may seen intimidating but rest assured, it isn’t as technically hard as much as it just takes time to make. Most of that time the dough is resting and your job is to roll it out and then place it back into the refrigerator.
I break from traditional French cooking in my recipe by using salted butter. I personally just love baking with salted butter and then I adjusted the salt in the sugar and salt mixture to balance out this adjustment. The salted butter gives a little more flavor to each bite in my opinion.
What is a turn? What is Lamination?
A turn refers to the rolling out and fold process that is used in pastry and I use this term in the recipe. It’s a simple step and how we “laminate” the dough. Lamination refers to the process of getting lots of thin layers of dough and butter. This is how the dough in this kouign amann pastry recipe gets flaky and layered.
I use a butter square method to achieve this. This is where I press butter into a square and then freeze the butter for a few minutes so it is firm and can be added to the dough without the dough absorbing it. The process of lamination is all about temperature and keep in that butter cold.
Here are a few other pastry recipes you may also enjoy:
Cinnamon Danish Pastry
Raspberry Danish Pastry
Cardamom Golden Raisin Sourdough
Chocolate striped croissants
Chocolate French Macarons
What you need to make this Kouign Amann Pastry Recipe (Queen A-maun): (printable recipe is below)
Makes 15 medium pastries or 8 large pastries
For the butter square:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons salted butter – slightly colder than room temp to make into a butter square.
For the dough:
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon dry active yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons melted salted butter
1/4 cup milk
3 cup flour – plus more for rolling (about 1/8 cup to roll in)
For the sugar mixture:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions for Kouign Amann Pastry Recipe:
Instructions to form the butter square:
- Place slightly colder than room temperature butter onto a sheet of parchment paper then form into a 6 x 6 inch and ~1/2 inch thick butter square. fold the sides of the parchment paper over the sides or place another sheet of parchment paper on top, so the butter is fully covered. then place into the refrigerator until it is cold and firm. Work on the dough while it is chilling.
Instructions to make the Kouign Amann pastry recipe:
(pictures that show the steps are below the instructions)
- In a mixing bowl, add warm water, dry active yeast and sugar.
- Stir and let sit for 2 minutes.
- Add salt and stir again.
- Add melted butter, milk, and stir.
- Slowly add flour, one cup at a time until a wet but not too sticky dough forms.
- Knead dough with an electric mixer dough hook for about 3 minutes or knead by hand for about 4 minutes or until dough feels elastic and smooth.
- Place 1/8 of a cup of flour onto a clean surface and roll dough out to form a square roughly 12 x 12 inches.
- Remove the butter square from the refrigerator and unwrap it and place butter square so it looks like a diamond in the middle of your dough square.
- Fold in the corner to form a box with the butter enclosed in dough.
- Roll dough out to a rectangle roughly 14 by 16, then fold into 3 layers, each side folded in towards the center.
- Wrap tri folded dough in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Remove plastic wrap or parchment paper and roll out again into roughly a 14 X 16 inch rectangle. Fold into thirds again, wrap again and refrigerate for 20 minutes again.
- repeat the same step again 4 more times, each of these folds is referred to as a turn, so we want a total of 6 turns.
- After the final turn and refrigeration time, remove the wrap from the dough and roll out into a 14 x 16 inch rectangle again.
- Mix together the sugar and salt mixture and sprinkle a generous about of it over the rolled out dough on each sides. Use the rolling pin to press it into the dough.
- There are two ways to prepare these, one is to bake it in a muffin tin in a classic crown shape, another is to do a roll up. They both taste the same, it is just preference.
- If making into a crown shape: lay parchment paper squares into muffin tins. I use two parchment squares but use whatever parchment paper shape or muffin tin liner you prefer.
- Place about 1 teaspoon of the sugar mixture on the bottom of each liner.
- Cut the dough into roughly 3 x 3 inch squares and dip each side of the cut squares into the sugar mixture then pull all corners towards the top center and place into the lined muffin tins.
- Sprinkle the tops with more sugar mixture.
- To make the roll up shape: Add about 1 teaspoon sugar mixture into the bottom of a muffin liner or onto a cut square of parchment paper.
- Cut the dough into about 2 inch by 6-7 inch strips and roll them up into a roll.
- Dip each side of the roll into the sugar mixture.
- Place into a muffin tin liner or onto parchment paper square and on top of the sugar, sprinkle the top with a little more sugar.
- After the pastries have been rolled and placed into their cooking containers, preheat the oven to 400 F..
- Bake for ~22-26 minutes or until tops are golden brown. If making bigger ones, add 5 minutes and then check for that golden color.
- Enjoy!
Kouign Amann Pastry Recipe
Equipment
- parchment paper
- Rolling Pin
- Muffin Tin Optional
Ingredients
For Butter Square
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons salted butter slightly colder than room temp to make into a butter square.
For Pastry Dough:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons melted salted butter
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 cup flour plus more for rolling, about 1/8 cup to roll in
For Sugar Mixture:
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Instructions for Butter Square:
- Place slightly colder than room temperature butter onto a sheet of parchment paper then form into a 6 x 6 inch and ~1/2 inch thick butter square. fold the sides of the parchment paper over the sides or place another sheet of parchment paper on top, so the butter is fully covered. then place into the refrigerator until it is cold and firm. Work on the dough while it is chilling.
Instructions for Dough and Pastries:
- In a mixing bowl, add warm water, dry active yeast and sugar.
- Stir and let sit for 2 minutes.
- Add salt and stir again.
- Add melted butter, milk, and stir.
- Slowly add flour, one cup at a time until a wet but not too sticky dough forms.
- Knead dough with an electric mixer dough hook for about 3 minutes or knead by hand for about 4 minutes or until dough feels elastic and smooth.
- Place 1/8 of a cup of flour onto a clean surface and roll dough out to form a square roughly 12 x 12 inches.
- Remove the butter square from the refrigerator and unwrap it and place butter square so it looks like a diamond in the middle of your dough square.
- Fold in the corner to form a box with the butter enclosed in dough.
- Roll dough out to a rectangle roughly 14 by 16, then fold into 3 layers, each side folded in towards the center.
- Wrap tri folded dough in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Remove plastic wrap or parchment paper and roll out again into roughly a 14 X 16 inch rectangle. Fold into thirds again, wrap again and refrigerate for 20 minutes again.
- repeat the same step again 4 more times, each of these folds is referred to as a turn, so we want a total of 6 turns.
- After the final turn and refrigeration time, remove the wrap from the dough and roll out into a 14 x 16 inch rectangle again.
- Mix together the sugar and salt mixture and sprinkle a generous about of it over the rolled out dough on each sides. Use the rolling pin to press it into the dough.
- There are two ways to prepare these, one is to bake it in a muffin tin in a classic crown shape, another is to do a roll up. They both taste the same, it is just preference.
- If making into a crown shape: lay parchment paper squares into muffin tins. I use two parchment squares but use whatever parchment paper shape or muffin tin liner you prefer.
- Place about 1 teaspoon of the sugar mixture on the bottom of each liner.
- Cut the dough into roughly 3 x 3 inch squares and dip each side of the cut squares into the sugar mixture then pull all corners towards the top center and place into the lined muffin tins.
- Sprinkle the tops with more sugar mixture.
- To make the roll up shape: Add about 1 teaspoon sugar mixture into the bottom of a muffin liner or onto a cut square of parchment paper.
- Cut the dough into about 2 inch by 6-7 inch strips and roll them up into a roll.
- Dip each side of the roll into the sugar mixture.
- Place into a muffin tin liner or onto parchment paper square and on top of the sugar, sprinkle the top with a little more sugar.
- After the pastries have been rolled and placed into their cooking containers, preheat the oven to 400 F..
- Bake for ~22-26 minutes or until tops are golden brown. If making bigger ones, add 5 minutes and then check for that golden color.
- Enjoy!
