In case you haven’t heard, butter is cool again. And it’s back with a bang (see Mark Bittman’s article on the new research showing that the heavenly creamy substance was framed in the first place). As far as I’m concerned, butter is where it’s at and always has been, because well, I CAN believe You Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter isn’t actually butter. And really, which sounds healthier — creamy food that came from an animal and is all-natural, or semi-creamy non-food made with chemicals and weird processes? I pick option one every time. And you know who else would choose option one? Every chef ever. And every French person ever. And you should too.
Everyone’s talking butter these days, from The New York Times to Bon Appétit, and somewhere along the train of being thrilled to see butter back in cooking magazines, I ran into a recipe for Kouign-amann, that unpronounceable pastry from Britanny that took the Food Network by storm a few years ago via Les Madeleines in downtown Salt Lake.
We’re talking layers of buttery, sugary, salty, pastry today. You know croissants? This is better than those. Chocolate croissants? Also better. Eclairs? Also better. The newsroom can attest … but you? You’ll just have to make it to find out.
 
Bread Recipe
 
2 Tbsp yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water
3 Tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp canola oil
6 to 6 1/2 cups flour
 
Add yeast and sugar to 1 1/4 cups of water to proof. Add remaining ingredients and 3 cups of the flour. Add the rest of the flour and knead until smooth. Place in greased bowl, and let rise until double.
Split the dough in half. At this point, you have two options — you can either make two kouign-amann (as I did, and trust me, once you taste it, you’ll wish you made two), or you can make one kouign-amann and one loaf of bread, which is cool because you could make soup and salad for dinner, and have bread and dessert out of the same batch of dough. Major coolness. If you choose this option, one half will become kouign-amann, and the other one will make a pillow-like loaf of bread. For bread, roll out the “bread half” and place in greased pan to rise until doubled. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.
 
For one kouign-amann, you’ll need:
 
1 1/2 pounds risen dough (see above)
1/3 pounds ice-cold salted butter
About 3/4 cup sugar
About 2 Tbsp salted butter, melted
 
On a lightly floured surface, flatten the dough to a 12” x 6” rectangle. Slice butter and divide in 3 equal portions. Place 1 portion of butter over 2/3 of the dough. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar over the butter. Fold the bare third of the dough over the middle section of the buttered dough and then fold the buttered section over the top (like folding a letter). Flatten the dough again to a rectangle, and repeat with the 2nd portion of butter and 1/4 cup of sugar. Fold like a letter, and repeat with butter only. Place the dough in a lightly greased cake pan. Flatten and shape into a round about 9 inches across and place in a cake pan (not a spring form, or the butter will escape). Cut 2-inch slits all the way through the dough in a starburst pattern. You must cut all the way down to the pan — the cuts should be deep. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle a tablespoon of butter over the top, then brush the butter around. Sprinkle with sugar, brush with more melted butter, and sprinkle with sugar. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes. Place a cookie sheet to catch the dripping melting butter, or your smoke alarm will go off and the kitchen will fill with black smoke, because melty butter is spilling over the top of your masterpiece and burning on the bottom of the oven. That’s not delicious. The pastry, however, is. Remove from oven when bubbly and crispy — it will be dark, as there are lots of layers to bake.