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Seldom found in French bakeries in America, kouign amann (pronounced (kween ah-MAHN) is a Breton pastry (from Brittany, a region in France).
This laminated pastry is time consuming to make, but the payoff is something distinctive and wonderful. If you’re a baker, bake some. Or splurge and have them sent from a top baker as a treat.
> See our full review to learn more about kouign-amann.
> June 20 is National Kouign Amann Day.
Below:
> The history of kouign-amann.
Elsewhere on The Nibble:
> The different types of pies and pastries and the history of pastry: a photo glossary.
> The year’s 15+ pastry holidays.
THE HISTORY OF KOUIGN-AMANN
Kouign-amann is a rich, buttery regional specialty of Brittany, France. It was created in the town of Douarnenez around 1860 by a baker named Yves-René Scordia.
The name is a compound of the Breton words kouign (cake) and amann (butter). In the Breton language*, compound words are sometimes hyphenated to indicate that they form a single concept.
Thus, kouign (cake) and amann (butter) are hyphenated to describe a specific type of cake or pastry rather than a generic butter cake.
According to the story handed down, Scordia, faced with a shortage of ingredients for cake, improvised by using an abundance of butter and sugar in a bread dough.
He folded the dough repeatedly in the fashion of laminated pastry†, creating layers similar to puff pastry, and then baked it slowly. This caramelized the sugar and butter and created a crisp, golden crust.
Kouign-Amann is often described as a denser, more caramelized cousin of perhaps the most famous laminated baked good, the croissant, with a crisp outer shell and a soft and layered crumb (interior).
Kouign-Amann remained a regional specialty of Brittany until after World War II. Then, improvements in transportation made Brittany more accessible, leading to a tourism boom. Visitors from France and beyond discovered Brittany and its foods.
By the late 20th century, prominent chefs and food writers helped to promote Breton dishes, particularly in Paris, where many regional French restaurants were established.
In the 21st century, interest in traditional and artisanal foods surged worldwide. Breton pastries like kouign-amann began appearing in bakeries across Europe, Japan, and U.S. High-profile chefs and food TV shows further increased their visibility.
The pastry has become a staple in many French bakeries and has been featured on culinary shows like The Great British Bake Off, cementing its place in the pastry pantheon.
In the U.S., artisan bakeries began to craft varieties with fruit and chocolate.
Traditionally, it is made in large “family size” rounds, but modern bakers also make individual-sized portions (like Danish pastry).
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*Breton is its own language, not a dialect of French. It is a Celtic language, closely related to Cornish (spoken in Cornwall, England) and Welsh. French is a Romance language derived from Latin.
†Laminated pastry refers to any dough that is made by incorporating layers of fat and dough through the process of lamination: Butter is shaped into a flat, rectangular block and placed atop a rectangle of dough. The dough is folded, rolled out, and folded into thirds (like a letter) or a book fold (folding both ends toward the center, then folding in half).
Croissants, puff pastry, Viennoiserie, and similar doughs are made in this fashion. The layers that puff up when baked due to steam from the butter and water in the dough. Here’s more about it.
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