For all those who’ve put off getting their hands dirty with laminated doughs, kouign amann is a great place to start. Somewhere between a bread and a Danish, it only requires a couple of “turns” of the dough, and they need not be perfect. This is a rustic pastry, so your standards need not be […]
READ ONIt isn’t possible to make it in America. At least not as it’s made in Brittany. The reason: ingredients. Traditionally, kouign amann is a layered (laminated) pastry with a special difference: it’s got sugar layered into it along with butter. This is a major no-no where laminated doughs are concerned, at least in America. Why? […]
READ ONKouign amann. Say it with me: KWEEN yah-mon. The words mean “butter cake”, but they don’t sound very French, do they? That’s because they aren’t French, they’re Breton. And just who are the Bretons? you might well ask. In fact they are an ethnic group native to Brittany (Bretagne) in northeastern France. This group speaks […]
READ ONThis week we’re off to the Middle East, the region where — most historians agree — the first layered pastries were invented. Laminated sweets have come a long way since then, but they still don’t get much more decadent than kouign amann, a Lebanese speciality so sweet and delicious that…oh no wait, that isn’t right. […]
READ ONI look forward to the Kentucky State Fair every year. I eat pork chop sandwiches, check out the odd frisbee or balloon blowing exhibition, but mostly survey the cream of this year’s agricultural crop. I never fail to be amazed. Who knew the Commonwealth of Kentucky produced so much stuff? I could spend an entire […]
READ ONThis post is all about housekeeping. I’ve received quite a few requests for a pâte brisée recipe lately. I’ve had one on the site for quite a while now, but it’s been filed under “quiche.” This dedicated post on the subject will make it easier to reference. Pâte brisée is one of the simplest of […]
READ ONJust when it seemed like egg producers were getting this under control…
READ ONI don’t go nuts on plating as you know. Yet I’m uptight enough to have an aversion to desserts that simply land on a plate in a heap. That’s what happens most of the time with tiramisu, since it’s normally made in a large dish. Try as you might to cut tiramisu into neat squares, […]
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