Kouign-Amann

Andrew Janjigian’s selected kouign-amann is a large Breton butter cake made by folding butter and sugar into a lean bread dough. King Arthur describes a caramelized, crisp exterior around a soft, multilayered buttery interior.

Flour, table salt and instant yeast mix with water to make a shaggy dough, which rises until puffy. Separately, cold salted butter is made pliable and worked with granulated sugar into a uniform block that chills in parchment.

The butter-and-sugar block is enclosed in the rolled dough. A generously floured surface and dough exterior keep the packet from sticking as it is pressed, rolled and folded in thirds, with excess flour brushed away.

The folded dough is rolled into a square, gathered into a disk and rolled into a round. A diamond crosshatch and small holes mark its top before it enters the cake pan and receives an egg wash.

Baking turns the top deep golden brown. The complete cake cools before slicing and is served while still a little warm, preserving the contrast between its caramelized outside and soft butter-and-sugar layers.