Salted-butter recipes | Destination Pays Bigouden, Brittany – Official website of the tourist office

Crêpes: Breton pancakes

With their endless variations, the crêpe is Brittany’s favourite dessert, snack and breakfast, and can even make up a three-course meal!

Recipe for 4 people

Ingredients :

250 g flour
½ litre milk
50 g melted butter
4 eggs
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Steps:

Mix the flour, salt and sugar.
Make a well and pour in the eggs.
Stir gently. When the mixture becomes thick, add the milk a little at a time, then stir. The mixture should be fluid.
Then add the cooled, melted butter.
If you have a billig (round hotplate), that’s perfect! Otherwise, cook the crêpes in a lightly oiled frying pan. Pour a small ladleful of batter into the pan and use the ladle to spread the batter over the entire surface.
Tip: it’s when the edge of the crêpe turns golden that you know it’s time to turn it over.
Leave to cook for a minute on the other side and you’re done!

Bigouden kouign cakes

A kouign is a small, puffy treat that looks like a pancake. It’s made from a recipe very similar to pancakes, with baker’s yeast to give it a brioche flavour.

Recipe for 8 people (about thirty kouigns)

Ingredients

1 kg flour
500 g sugar
6 eggs
1 litre of milk
1 cube of baker’s yeast (approx. 42g)

Steps:

Warm the milk in a saucepan.
Crumble the yeast cube into the milk.
In a very large bowl, beat the whole eggs with the sugar by hand.
Gradually add the flour, eggs and sugar. When the dough becomes quite thick, add a little milk to make it easier to mix. Alternate until there is no more milk or flour.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave it in a warm place (next to the fireplace or heater, in a pan of hot water, at the bottom of your bed, or the more modern method: in a car exposed to the sun).
Leave the dough to rise for two or three hours. Be careful: in a hot environment, it may spill over the edges of the bowl!
Then pour a ladleful of batter onto a buttered or oiled hotplate (180° approx.) or frying pan (medium heat). Leave to cook for about a minute (the bubbles will appear slowly), then turn it over.
Cook for about a minute on the other side too, so that the inside is cooked through.

Caramel with salted butter

On crêpes, kouigns, or in a Breton cake, salted-butter caramel suits even the most gourmet cravings.

Ingredients :

160 g sugar
80 g semi-salted butter
200 g full cream

Steps:

Pour the sugar into a saucepan.
Over a low heat, leave the sugar to caramelise without stirring (don’t touch it yet).
Then add the semi-salted butter and stir until thickened.
Once the mixture has thickened, add the full cream.
Leave to cook for around 5 minutes over a low heat while continuing to stir.
Leave the caramel to warm up for 20 minutes. Yes, good things take patience!

Gâteau Breton

A real childhood memory, Gâteau Breton is a must, similar to shortbread. With its golden crust and delicate buttery flavour, it can be enjoyed at any time of day. It can even be topped with salted butter caramel. It’s simply divine, so why not make your own?

Ingredients

750g flour
500g sugar
500g melted butter
2 packets vanilla sugar
9 egg yolks (8 in the pastry and 1 for glazing)
A small jar of salted butter caramel
1 pinch of salt
A splash of rum (optional)

Steps:

Mix the sugar, salt, vanilla sugar and rum with the egg yolks and melted butter.
Add the flour to the above mixture. Use a whisk at first, then a spatula. When the mixture comes away from the bowl, it’s ready.
Divide the dough in two.
Spread the first dough in the bottom of the tin and press down by hand.
Empty the small jar of salted butter caramel into the centre and spread lightly.
Cover with the second pastry, spread and smooth with the back of a spoon previously dipped in hot water, so that the top of the pastry becomes smooth.
Brush with egg yolk and with the back of a fork, make designs on the top.
Bake for ½ hour at 200°C and ½ hour at 150°C (depending on the oven).

Kouign des gras

Kouign des gras, halfway between bread and brioche, originated in the Bigouden region. This Mardi Gras speciality is also found in Cap Sizun and the Douarnenez region, and has been around since the 1930s.

Ingredients :

700 g flour
200 g butter
400 g caster sugar
1 sachet baker’s yeast
200 ml milk
5 eggs
1 pinch coarse salt
100 g sultanas soaked in rum

Steps:

Melt the butter in the milk in a large bowl.
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, eggs and sugar.
Add the butter-milk mixture and mix by hand. The dough will be quite sticky, which isn’t very practical but is to be expected!
Cover the terrine with a clean cloth and leave to stand in a warm place for 2 hours.
Soak the raisins in the rum during this time.
Add the drained grapes and mix well.
Brush with egg yolk (optional, but recommended).
Bake for 50 minutes at 180°C. Do not overcook.