TWD: Kugelhopf

Now, there were some people last week who were a tad unfamiliar with rugelach. This week was my turn to scratch my head. Here is an excellent NY Times article that gives some good information. I figured out that it is a sweet yeasted bread, similar to a brioche, but a little different. It even has its own pan. Which I did not buy. I had a lovely nine-cup Bundt Festival

This is a finished kugelhopf.



Anyway..... This was a good recipe, but I don't feel the need to really make this again. Now, had I actually really followed the recipe, I might have liked it better. To start, READ THE RECIPE! The ingredients weren't very fussy. I didn't have whole milk and used the skim that I had. I have a five-quart KitchenAid mixer. There wasn't quite enough dough to really follow the directions. My dough hook (the new one!) wasn't quite reaching the ingredients in the bowl. I used the flat beater instead. The mixing times were, to put it nicely, slightly long. I'm pretty sure that my mixer was running for a good 20-25 minutes. There was an interesting instruction: beat the dough until it climbs up the hook. You know my new dough hook? DOUGH DOES NOT CLIMB IT! But after all the mixing, it looked pretty good. I added my dried mixed fruit (blueberries, cranberries, golden raisins, and cherries) and set it aside to rise. It did actually double in about 90 minutes. Then for the next two hours you have to slap it around until is stops rising. I did this Friday night, and put it in the fridge to be ready to bake on Saturday.

Well, Saturday came along, and I just threw my bowl from the fridge into the oven (unlit. that's where I put dough to rise) to do its two hour rise. This is where reading the recipe would have been a good thing. See, I was supposed to put the dough in the pan and then let it rise. Because when you let it rise in a bowl and then transfer it to a pan, it deflates. I figured at that point that I didn't have much to lose. So I stuck it in the fridge and left it for Sunday.

Sunday morning, I put the dough, now in the pan, back in the oven to rise. Three hours later it had risen some. I set the oven, took over the wax paper, and hoped for the best. I followed the baking instructions, and what I got was a pretty nice looking bread. I did the butter/sugar topping, and we let it cool as long as we could. I forgot the powdered sugar, but I don't think it mattered. The boy, the girl, and the husband all gave it a big thumbs up. I enjoyed it as well. It certainly didn't last long. It was a cross between a croissant and a brioche. Kind of flaky and buttery with a delicate crumb. The four of us finished it in a day. While I did enjoy it, I thought it was quite fussy for what it was. Yes, I made a mistake. Even so, for all the rising time and slapping and mixing, it wasn't worth the work. I'm glad to have made it, though. Now I know!

The finished product. Golden brown and delicious.


The boy's slice.



A cross section of the finished kugelhopf.



The girl's slice.



(If I posted one child's slice and not the other's, it would get ugly around here)

I'm glad that Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl chose this, because I never would have picked it out on my own. You can get the recipe at her site if you'd like to try this one for yourself. Next week is not one I'm looking forward to. It's Arborio Rice Pudding. Rice pudding is not a food I ever want to eat. We'll see if Isa of Les Gourmandises d'Isa can get me to try it.