If there was an award

If there was an award for the country producing the world’s best pastry, France would steal theprize, a cliché in its predictability. But while we all love to indulge in the sweet delights of Frenchpatisserie – many of the greatest cakes came into being by pure good luck says Ally Mitchell.Let’s take a look at three of France’s crowning achievements, glittering in buttery splendour, andsugary sumptuousness to assess just how amazing it is that we have these iconic cakes at all!Three IconicCakes of FranceKouign AmannDescribed as “de l’or en beurre” – gold inbutter – the kouign amann (kween a-mahn)is likely to be the best pastry most visitorshave never heard of. While its Breton namereveals its origins, it easily confuses non-French speakers as the ancient language isso dissimilar to anything resembling classicFrench. Kouign means “cake” or “bread”, andamann means “butter”, getting to the crux ofthe pastry’s ingredients.The kouign amann originates from Finistère,literally meaning “end of earth” at the very tipof Brittany, where in 1860, in a boulangeriein the port town of Douarnenez, history wasmade – almost by accident.Baker Yves-René Scordia had run out ofcakes to sell, so decided to improvise withleftover flour, butter and sugar, laminatingthe layers as he did with croissants, twistingthem into puff pastry swirls. Their success wasimmediate thanks to the custardy soft centreand the caramelized, chewy crust. Equal partsbutter and sugar, it is far more calorific thanit looks. The New York Times even describedit as “the fattiest pastry in all of Europe”. Itis, after all, the ideal crunchy, sticky vehicleto flaunt the region’s gold – Brittany’s saltedbutter. The ratio is still followed to this day:30% butter, 30% sugar, 40% flour.While there has been inevitable disputeover the kouign amann’s exact origins, in2017, a plaque was unveiled in Douarnenezstating that the pastry “was invented righthere, in 1860, in the Crozon bakery byYves René Scordia.”Determined to preserve the pastry’s heritagewhen faced with poor modern-day copies,Douarnenez’s boulangers united in 1999to form an association for the “authentickouign amann”, forever marking thisdelicious happenstance with a strict listof specifications. They also choose not toparticipate in Brittany’s annual competitionfor the best kouign-amann, as, even thoughthe competing pastries are acknowledged tobe excellent, they are “not kouign amann”.44 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 45