Think back to grade school. Do you remember getting those fun little assignments with a list of… say, twelve instructions listed? The teacher has been hinting all week that you should ALWAYS read through the instructions first before beginning anything; now you are being tested. They were all the same; I vividly recall having this lesson multiple times… tell me I am not the only one. Items 1-11 would be telling you to write out or draw something, only to get to item 12 that told you to completely disregard all prior instructions. You should have read the instructions and then sat patiently with a blank sheet of paper. What child were you; the one sitting smugly with a blank sheet or the one scrubbing furiously at the paper with your big pink eraser?
Did you take this lesson learned into adulthood? If you didn’t it is high time you did. Why? Because you need to make Kouign Amann. No, really you do. I admit I was completely ignorant as to what the heck it was when I read about it on David Lebovitz’s blog Click Here a few months back, but after finding out that it was a caramelized, butter filled pastry I was a woman on a mission. The roll-in and folding is similar to making croissant dough with the addition of sugar in the Kouigan Amann. I cannot stress enough the importance of reading through the full recipe and instructions a few times before beginning. David’s pictures are great and the instructions are easy to follow. Just prepare yourself for the time that will be involved. (it’s worth it!)
This is my finished Kouigan Amann.
I made it in a silicone cake pan. I think this helped consideralbly with clean-up.
Croissants
Croissant dough is a wet or soft, bland laminated yeast dough containing 25 to 50 percent roll-in fat. A classic croissant uses unsalted sweet butter for the roll-in fat. Croissants should be light and flaky, with a moderately open grain and a distinctly layered texture. Well-developed doughs that are rich in fat will provide these characteristics. The ingredients for croissants include bread flour, to keep the dough strong enough for shaping; cold water or milk, to retard yeast action and keep gluten relaxed; yeast, as the primary leavening mechanism; and salt, for flavor, for gluten strengthening, and to retard yeast action. Dry milk solids are used when milk is not, and along with granulated sugar; both soften the curst and give it color. Butter or shortening is adde3d in the cough stage to lubricate gluten strands. Eggs may be used for additional color and richness, although they are not used classically
Croissants usually receive an initial threefold, or single turn, and then three more threefolds to complete the roll-in procedure. Too many folds in a croissant can make the pastry heavy and chewy, rather than light and flaky.
Danish pastry
Danish pastry was originally made in Denmark and was brought to the United States by Scandinavian pastry chefs around 1919. There are five basic differences between Danish and croissants. Danish is flakier, has more flavor, has more roll-in fat, is more tender, and is softer.
The amount of roll-in fat in Danish dough is of great importance in terms of appearance of the finished product. In the production of real, high-quality Danish pastry, the mixed dough is weighed, and then enough roll-in fat is used to equal half the dough’s weight.
Danish, like croissant, is a wet dough- both use between 50 to 60 percent liquid in their formulas. Danish dough is semisweet to sweet; the dough is rich in eggs and further enriched with the use of milk. Cardamom is characteristically used to flavor Danish dough.
Types of Danish
The three types of Danish are American, Scandinavian, and European. The basic difference among these types is the amount of roll-in fat used in their production. American Danish is 10 to 20 percent roll-in fat; European Danish is 25 to 40 percent roll-in fat; and Scandinavian Danish, which is considered to be the best Danish, is 45 to 55 percent roll-in fat.
American Danish
Because there is a low amount of roll-in fat in American Danish, the flavor of the dough must be obtained through other ingredients. American Danish generally has a large amount of sugar and salt and an increased amount of yeast. Spices, shortening or margarine, and eggs are added to the dough for added flavor. American Danish is baked at 375 because the oven spring is not as important given the low percentage of roll-in fat.
Scandinavian Danish
Scandinavian Danish is a wet (soft), bland, laminated yeast dough containing between 45 and 55 percent roll-in fat. Butter, or sometimes puff-pastry shortening, is usually used as the roll-in fat, to produce very crispy, flaky dough. Scandinavian Danish should be baked between 425F and 450F.
European Danish
European Danish is less crisp than Scandinavian. European Danish is baked at moderate temperatures, slightly above 400F.
Croissants and Danish
Many of the same procedures and guidelines used for making a puff pastry are used for making croissants and Danish- the main difference is the yeast and in how they are folded and made up into individual pastries.
Guidelines for Laminated Yeast Doughs
- Laminated doughs should not be over mixed. The ingredients should be mixed into a smooth mass of dough without overdeveloping the gluten. Gluten development takes place mainly during the rolling-in process, rather than in mixing. If the dough is mixed too much, gluten is developed, and the dough will be hard to roll out. The final product will be tough and chewy. Laminated doughs can be mixed by hand or by machine on low speed with the paddle or hook. The paddle implement incorporates fats in the dough better. If using a dough hook, the gluten should be allowed to form a little, and then the fat is added.
- Laminated dough should be kept cold during folding and makeup for three important reasons: to keep the yeast activity down (making the dough easier to handle), to help relax the gluten strands, and to keep the roll-in fat in condition and maintained in its appropriate place. If the dough becomes warm, the roll-in fat will melt out from between the layers when laminating.
- As with puff dough, the dough and roll-inn fat should be of the same consistency. The reason for maintaining the same consistency is that when the product is baked, the layers of dough and roll-in fat should move together. If the dough is too stiff, the fat will melt, and the product will lose its flakiness.
- Enough dusting flour must be used to prevent dough from sticking to the table during the roll-in process, but it is important to brush the excess off the dough between each fold. If the flour is not removed, the dough will be tougher and not rise properly in the oven.
- When rolling the dough care must be taken that the structure of the layers is not ruptured with the use of too much force- the dough should be handled very gently during rolling and folding.
- Both croissant and Danish dough will be easier to work with if the dough is allowed to rest for several hours between the roll-in procedure and the actual makeup of the individual pastries.
- Knives and other tools needed to cut croissants and Danish must have sharp edges to cut the dough. A dull knife or cutter will press edges together and result in lower volume and uneven baking. The knife or cutter should be held at a sharp 90 degree angle so the edges of the dough remain perfectly straight for baking.