Recipe #304
This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was Kugelhopf, chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl. This was new to me, I’ve never heard of it before nor knew what it was supposed to taste like. Therefore the perfect recipe to try! I’m always up for a challenge and to try new things. Of course, I’m also always up for shopping for new kitchen toys, so I headed to Sur la Table for the traditional turban-shaped kugelhopf pan. 😛
This recipe took FOREVER to make. After I mixed the ingredients, I was supposed to knead the dough until it started to climb up the dough hook and pull away from the sides. This, I read, would be in 10 minutes or so. Nope. Didn’t happen. Actually, it took closer to 30 minutes. This recipe really made me thankful for my stand mixer. 🙂
I was worried that I kneaded the dough too long and inadvertently created too much gluten, but I proceeded on faith basing my belief on the words of Peter Reinhart who says it is almost impossible for a home baker to over-knead bread. The dough rose perfectly during primary fermentation and then it went into the refrigerator for an overnight rest.
The next day I took the dough out of the refrigerator and placed pressed it into the kugelhopf pan to proof until ready for baking. Again, it took longer than indicated in the recipe and never really rose to the top of the pan. I let it rise for 4 1/2 hours and then impatiently placed the cake in the oven to bake.
It’s really a sweetened yeast bread not a cake, which makes it perfect for breakfast. I liked it and think it makes the perfect breakfast bread, not too sweet and not too rich. I like the way it looks, golden and crispy. The ridges of the cake create the perfect cutting guide for the right-size portion.
