Katherine Spiers

socalfood:

Food Face Off: Kouign Amann

France, as we all know, has a proud pastry tradition. Austria may have invented the croissant, but France perfected it and kept going, adding pain au chocolat and chausson aux pommes to the menu of flaky, buttery morning treats. One lesser-known, but perhaps even more delicious, member of the pastry pantheon is kouign amann, a specialty of northwest France that translates from Breton (the area’s native, Celtic language) to “butter cake.”

This sugary treat is relatively labor intensive, which might explain why it’s so hard to come by. For many years, one specialty bakery in Salt Lake City appeared to be the only place in the western U.S. to find kouign amann. But last year two bakeries in Los Angeles began serving them, and as with all trends originating in L.A., it is now something of an obsession among the fooderati. But which version is best?

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