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6 days ago
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Puff Pastry, Kouign Amann, and More Palmiers
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Every year, I make a resolution to master, or at least become proficient in, a culinary process, ie, candy-making, bread-baking, that sort of thing. Well, 2010 was the year for puff pastry, and on Saturday, I began the process. I have not mastered the process nor would I consider myself proficient, but the puff pastry did achieve puff, and it was mighty tasty. I made cheese palmiers, even though I just made a batch 2 weeks ago; however, that initial batch was made with store-bought puff pastry, and this batch was made with my made-from-scratch batch. The difference is measurable, let me tell you, incredibly flaky, so buttery, and just wholesome; I impressed myself, actually.
It's not a difficult process, but it is a time-consuming process. I used the entire batch, but plan to make another batch within the next week or so and freeze it for later use. As I said, I made palmiers again, but I also made Kouign Amann or Kouing Aman (kween ah-maan) a delicious pastry from Brittany. I had never heard of Kouign Amann until I saw this episode on The Best Thing I Ever Ate; the bakery is Les Madeleines in Salt Lake City, and as I've no plans to travel there anytime soon, I knew I had to make it myself. Along with the rolling and folding process of puff pastry, sugar is incorporated in the layers, creating a delicious caramelized pastry. While the flavor was exquisite, I wasn't overly pleased with the texture, as I'm assuming that the texture should be more flaky, but this was more bread-like. Delicious, however, just not the texture I wanted, or at least, think I should have created. I've since found David Lebovitz's recipe, and I plan to try it out, too.
I used Florian Bellanger's recipe, which can be found here, the difference is that prior to incorporating the sugar, I halved the dough and only added sugar to one half, using the other half to make the palmiers. When I added the sugar, I halved that as well, and I made 8 pastries, rather than 15. I made 36 palmiers with the other half of the dough, and I used the same recipe that I posted here
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It looks delicious! I've been trying puff pastry lately and I should be taking lessons from you after seeing this. Interesting with the texture, bet it's delicious anyway!
ReplyDeleteI am certainly NOT a baker and completely admire you making this from scratch!! It look super flaky and delicious!! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Pam,
ReplyDeleteThank you and welcome to my blog! Definitely give puff pastry a try - it's not hard, just a bit time-consuming, and it tastes incredible!
Welcome Debbie! I've wanted to try my hand at puff pastry for so long, and I don't know why, but I woke up Saturday and decided that it was time to tackle it!
ReplyDeleteHey there, I found you through Reeni over at Cinnamon Spice, and I am so glad I have. I love your site! I am actually from Salt Lake City and Kouign Amann are amazing. They are light. Home made puff pastry is a huge undertaking but worth every crumb...way to go on a fabulous post. I'll be back for sure.
ReplyDeleteI, too am impressed that you made your own puff pastry! I never heard of Kouign Amann - looks scrumptious. And your pastry is so light and fluffy - like a cloud!
ReplyDeleteHi Louanne, I had to stop by and tell you the strangest thing. My Mom just came and brought with her a postcard she came across from a trip to France with a cake on the front. She wants me to make it for her - the name of the cake? Kouign Amann! We have now entered the Twilight Zone...
ReplyDeleteCue weird music....we have, indeed, entered the Twilight Zone...
ReplyDeleteReeni, that's just beyond coincidental. I know you are going to make an awesome Kouign Amann, and I can't wait to see it!