Kouign-amann originated more than a century ago in Brittany, where it was made with leftover bread dough that was layered with local salted butter and sugar to create a rich, caramelized cake. (Kouign means “butter” and amann means “cake” in Breton.) Contemporary bakers have created a flaky caramel-crusted interpretation that has taken the pastry world by storm. Our goal was to come up with a clear, straightforward method to prepare these exquisite pastries. The process is similar to that of making croissants, where butter is folded and rolled into yeasted dough in “turns.” Our challenge was to determine the best method for incorporating the sugar so that it would produce a delicate caramel crust without burning. We achieved the best texture when we first completed two turns of dough with only butter, followed by two turns in which we incorporated sugar; this ensured that the sugar didn’t puncture our dough and compromise the pastry’s distinct layers. To work the sugar into the layers, we dusted the counter and the dough with it, as we would with flour, when we rolled out the dough. As we shaped individual dough pieces into bundles, we gave them a fine coating of sugar. And, finally, we sprinkled sugar and sea salt over the tops before baking. Many bakeries use ring molds to shape individual kouign-amann, but we scaled our recipe to fit into a 12-cup muffin pan.