Kouigns Amann

The aroma from these Kouigns Amann pastries is intoxicating!  Who knew such simple ingredients; flour, sugar, yeast, salt and butter could transform into something delectable?  Okay, the butter was of the extra luscious variety namely the highest butterfat possible but still.....no spices, no filling, no nothing and yet the alchemy of Rose's magical recipe turned these few staples into something I seriously doubted, mostly because the thought of working with yeast was a bit intimidating.  I should have known better, oh moi of little faith.  So this is the type of dough that Starbucks has filled their pastry cases with from La Boulange but no where near as flavorful.  Truly, I am stunned.

After shopping and collecting the ingredients, I eyed them suspiciously for two days, cursed myself for telling Marie to count me in, cursed yeast, cursed not having any idea where in my house this dough could possibly rise, and seriously questioned my sanity.  What was I thinking?  Summing up the inner fortitude to tackle yeast I opened the packet and promptly spilled it.  Baking with yeast baffles me.  It seems to require secret skills I know nothing of.  But that's the thing I should know by now with Rose; she makes it possible to bake extraordinary things with very little in the way of training, skills or talent.  She doesn't hold back, instead divulging all her baking knowledge in such a way that no matter how many mistakes I make, and believe me these KA's were no exception, it all seems to turn out in the end.  The foreboding task of rolling and folding and turning quickly turned into a relaxing, stress relieving activity.  The cold autumn days kept the butter from melting too quickly and it never broke through the dough although the plastic wrap didn't fare as well with the overzealous butter smackdown.  The biggest conundrum was  where to put the dough for the warm rise in this chilly house.  Preheating the oven automatically warms the broken top double oven so after emptying my mishmash collection of baking pans, I popped them in.  

Still, I didn't really hold out much expectation only hope the stapled foil rings would hold, but as for anything edible, not really.  And then, it happened.  Wafting waves of deliciousness started to fill the house, from one end to the other.  Well, it smelled good, but there was no way this could possibly taste good, not the way I rolled out the dough never sure which direction was correct and  flung sugar everywhere.  No one was more surprised than I how extraordinary these little pastry gems turned out.  Honestly, never before have I been so ecstatic over any other thing I have baked because now, a new world of yeast has opened up.  With all the rolling,  fear of pie dough has no hold over me now.  So little KA's, I have a special place in my buttery heart for you.