This simplified version of a classic cake from Brittany originated in Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s book Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World, as further refined by Food and Wine magazine, and then as I further adapted it.  I made it the first time per the recipe with store-bought pizza dough (from Publix) although I found that the Publix dough was not very extensible, which made rolling out the dough a challenge.  Nonetheless, the final product was very tasty, even if it does not look like much, which is amazing since all it consists of is bread dough, butter, and sugar.

I made a second batch with home-made dough, which as expected, was much more extensible.  I made a scaled down version of the KAF baguette, consisting of the following:  Preferment  – 3.4 oz. all purpose flour, 3 oz. water, pinch of yeast.  Final Dough: Preferment plus 6.6 oz. all purpose flour, 3.25 oz. water, 1 tsp. yeast, 1 tsp. salt.  I made the raw cake on a Friday, and baked it in a Dutch oven while camping on Saturday.  (The photo at the end shows the camping version, which took about 35 minutes in a cake pan floated in a 12 inch Dutch oven by a layer of aluminum foil ropes, and with 31 coals on the top and 10 on the bottom.)

1 lb. bread or pizza dough

1 stick (4 oz.) chilled salted butter, divided

1 Tbs. melted salted butter

7/8 cup sugar, divided

The first few steps are all about getting the dough into a large thin rectangle.  How hard this will be will depend on the dough being used.  First, on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and roll it into a rough 8 inch by 12 inch rectangle.  Cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to rest for 25 minutes.  Second, on the lightly floured surface, sprinkle the top of the dough again with flour and further roll it out into a rough 14 inch by 18 inch rectangle.  Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 25 minutes.   Third, on the lightly floured surface, sprinkle the top of the dough again with flour and further roll it out to as large a rectangle as possible.  (With a more extensible dough, I was able to do this with only one rest vs. the two rests above.)

Divide the chilled butter into 16 pats.  Further divide each of the pats into quarters, so that there are 64 pieces.  Scatter 20 of the butter pieces over 2/3 of the surface of the dough and sprinkle the same area with ¼ cup of sugar.  Fold the naked third of the dough over half of the butter/sugar covered dough, and then fold the remaining third on top, creating three layers.  Rotate the dough 90 degrees, lightly flour the top and roll the dough into a rectangle for the second time.  Again scatter  20 of the butter pieces over 2/3 of the surface of the dough and sprinkle the same area with ¼ cup of sugar.  Fold the naked third of the dough over half of the butter/sugar covered dough, and then fold the remaining third on top, so that now there are 9 layers.  Rotate the dough 90 degrees, lightly flour the top and roll the dough into a rectangle for the third time.  Now scatter  the last 24 butter pieces over 2/3 of the surface of the dough and sprinkle the same area with ¼ cup of sugar.  Fold the naked third of the dough over half of the butter/sugar covered dough, and then fold the remaining third on top, so that now there are 27 layers.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees

Grease a 9 inch cake pan, and insert the dough into the cake pan, folding the dough under as needed to put the rectangle of dough into a round pan.  Cut 6 slits 2 inches long fully through the layers of the dough in a star pattern.  Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes while the oven warms up.

Brush the top with the tablespoon of melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.  With a spatula, transfer the cake to a large round plate to rest for at least 30 minutes before serving.  (This photo is of the second batch, baked in a Dutch oven while camping.)

The cake will be best the day it is made.