Chocolate Kouign Amann

Kouign Amann comes from Brittany, France, they have been making these since the 1860's. Kouign means "cake", and amann means "butter". It is a flakey yeast cake, made with layers of butter rolled in, very similar to a danish dough. The dough is then rolled in sugar and put in sugared dishes and baked. In the baking process the dough gets caramelized from the sugar, making the outside crispy, and the inside chewy and flakey. The original cakes are not made with chocolate, but it adds a deliciousness, then these are also filled with chocolate chips, giving the inside a buttery-chocolatey gooiness. These cakes are not quick to make, but the finished result is worth it. 

Measure 3/4C of warm water, about 110F and put 5g of active dry yeast in to the water. Let it sit for 5 minutes until it has dissolved and bubbles.
In a large mixing bowl, put 3C of all purpose flour,
2T cocoa powder
1 3/4t salt
1T melted unsalted butter
Combine and mix with your hands, then add the yeast water, mix for about 5 minutes with a dough hook attachment on low until everything comes together. The dough should be elastic, don't over mix.
With a sharp knife cut an X on top of the dough, about 3/4" in to the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, let it rest in a warm area, rise a little for 30 minutes. After this refrigerate the dough until it is fully chilled for about another 30 minutes. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap.

Now make the butter block that will go inside the dough.

1 stick of soft unsalted butter

1/2C sugar.

Cream these together till nicely combined. Form a square and wrap it in plastic wrap. Put in the freezer for about 10 minutes. It must be cool, not too stiff though.

Take out the chilled dough, roll it into a square on a little flour so it doesn't stick. Put the butter block diagonally on top of the dough.

Take the sides of the dough and squeeze them together with your fingers to form a square.

Brush off the excess flour, turn the square over, and with a rolling pin roll the square in to a rectangle, about 1/2" thick.

Now fold over the dough in 3, like an envelope, fold one side, then overlap the other side of the dough on top of that.

Brush off the excess flour. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, place it in the fridge for 30 minutes and repeat this process 2 more times, each time letting the dough rest for 30 minutes. You are creating lots of layers by rolling the butter in to the dough. Now weigh the dough and divide it into 8 even dishes, butter and sugar each dish.
Roll the small pieces of dough into very thin squares on sugar. Put this square in to the dish, fill it with a 1/4C of bittersweet chocolate chips.

Fold over the edges again into a square, pinch the edges.

Repeat with all the dishes. Now put them in a warm place for 1 hour. Let them rise.

Turn on the oven to 350F and bake them for 35-40 minutes. Take them out of the molds immediately, or they will stick because of the sugar.

Let them cool fully to really taste the different layers of butter and chocolate. Below you can see the sugar crust on top, and the shiny edges from the caramelized sugar in the molds and the dough.