Kugelhopf

R E C I P E S

Kugelhopf

By Edward Behr

The turban-shaped kugelhopf, a form of brioche, is made in a swath of Europe that includes Austria (its point of origin may be Vienna), Switzerland, southern Germany, and the French region of Alsace, where it’s made especially well and perhaps best. The first part of the name may refer to headwear, and ‑hopf likely means yeast; the many spellings run from kougelhoupf to kouglof and gouglouf. In Alsace, the cake used to be made only at home, once with a sourdough and now almost always with commercial yeast. Recipe amounts are highly variable, but compared with a Parisian brioche an Alsatian kugelhopf contains less egg and butter and more milk, and where a typical brioche has the merest suggestion of sweetness, a kugelhopf is definitely sweet. It’s perhaps a little less salty than typical brioche (though a little more so than most cakes), and its texture is more compact, so it keeps better. In fact, however, the kugelhopf is a little austere: you might go so far as to debate whether it’s more cake or bread. Compensation for that mild austerity is raisins, which are usually soaked in eau-de-vie, often specifically kirsch (cherry), and an almond tops each curving spiral of the turban. Even the single one that might be on your slice is a surprisingly effective complement. A final dusting of powdered sugar gives, as sugar almost always does, an impression of extra moisture. There’s one more, though subtle thing. The ceramic kugelhopf molds, though tiny cracks in the glaze, slowly become impregnated with butter, which contributes a characteristic, subtle, pleasing rancid note. A slice of kugelhopf is good for breakfast and, with whipped cream, for dessert. At the end of or apart from a meal, it’s perfect with a glass of late-harvest Alsatian wine, whose golden color might set off by an old-fashioned green-stemmed Alsatian wine glass.

The sponge and the four-hour fermentation in the recipe below deepen the flavor and enhance the keeping. The baker James MacGuire, who learned to make kugelhopfs when he spent a period at the Auberge de l’Ill in Alsace, once commented to me, “For lack of fermentation, sliced kugelhopf too often looks like pound cake. The holes should be larger and the baked dough have stretch marks almost like panettone but denser.” Kugelhopf dough is stiffer and therefore a little easier to handle than brioche dough. You can use a mixer (or your hands, if you have energy and patience) to knead to the point where the dough detaches from the bowl or work surface, but I opt for a no-knead approach, which is better for flavor (there’s less oxidation), although the baked texture is more tender. During the final rise and baking, the dough commonly swells to completely cover the center post — the shapes of molds vary — and the center, even if fully cooked, remains pale as if underdone. If you use almonds in their skins, blanch them while the dough rises: place them in boiling water for no more than 1 minute, drain, and pinch each one to pop it out of its skin. The eau-de-vie for the raisins could come from Alsace; a number of the region’s wine producers produce it. The quality makes a difference. You taste it especially on the second day, after the fresh-baked flavors have diminished.

The ideal container is a traditional earthenware kugelhopf mold, such as made by Poterie Friedmann in the pottery town of Soufflenheim in Alsace. The amount of dough in this recipe fits one about 20 cm (8 in) in diameter and holding about 2 liters (8 to 9 cups); you can also use a metal kugelhopf mold, a Bundt pan, or a rectangular loaf pan.

125 gr (¾ cup, lightly compressed) raisins

25 ml (2 tablespoons) kirsch or other eau-de-vie or water

Combine the raisins and the eau-de-vie or water; cover.

for the sponge

100 gr (¾ cup) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 gr (¼ teaspoon) instant dry yeast

100 ml (½ cup) water, about 80° F (27° C)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and warm milk, cover, and leave this sponge to ferment at 10° to 21° C (50° to 70° F) — for 4 to 5 hours or, optionally, leave the sponge in a warm place for a couple of hours and then refrigerate it overnight, and before proceeding warm it to about 21° to 24° C, or 70° to 75° F.)

for the dough

150 ml (7/8 cup) milk at room temperature

3 large eggs at room temperature (only 150 ml egg, theoretically, but it doesn’t hurt to use it all)

85 gr (3/8 cup) sugar

6 gr (1½ teaspoons) instant dry yeast

10 gr (1½ teaspoons) salt

400 gr (3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour

150 gr (5/8 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature

whole blanched almonds, one for each flute in the mold

confectioner’s sugar, for garnish

Whisk the additional milk, eggs, sugar, yeast, and salt, into the room-temperature sponge. With a rubber spatula or one hand, mix in the flour until it’s all wet. Let the dough rest, covered, for 20 minutes. Incorporate the soft butter fully, squeezing and stirring with your hand, which may take several minutes.

(Ideally, during the fermentation the dough will warm gradually, rising from 24° to 27° C, or 75° to 80° F, and staying below 28° C, or 82° F, the point where butter begins to melt. The fermentation itself produces a little heat, and you can always put the bowl of dough in a pan of warm or cool water, as needed.)

Let the dough rise, covered, until it roughly doubles — about 1 hour. Using a plastic spatula or your hand, stir it vigorously to stretch and deflate it. Let the dough rise again at the same temperature until it has roughly tripled — about another 1 hour. Knead in the raisins (if you add them earlier, they’ll discolor the dough), cover, and allow the dough again to roughly triple — about 45 minutes. To prevent the dough from sticking, cover it.

With a brush, coat the kugelhopf mold thickly with very soft or half-melted butter, and place an almond in the bottom of each curving flute. Use a spatula to fill the mold with the still-loose-and-sticky dough. (If the dough were fully kneaded, you would instead roll it lightly into a ball, make a hole in the center of that with your thumbs, and press it lightly over the central post and down into the mold.) Cover with buttered parchment or wax paper (to prevent sticky dough from sticking), and let the dough rise in a warm place until it reaches the top of the mold — 1 to 1 ½ hours. About 15 minutes before the dough is ready, heat the oven to 400° F (200° C).

Lower the oven setting to 375 ° F (190° C). Bake the kugelhopf until it shrinks visibly from the mold, about 1/16-inch (15 mm) all around — about 45 minutes in a ceramic mold. (Cooked further, it dries and loses flavor.) It will have browned and risen an inch or so above the top of the container. Immediately turn the cake out of its mold and set it upright on a rack to cool. Shortly before serving, dust the top with confectioner’s sugar, putting a few spoonfuls in a fine sieve and tapping as you move the sieve over the cake. The kugelhopf is at its best a few hours after baking, very good for 48 hours, and good for a day or two after that. Keep it at room temperature wrapped in plastic. Makes one kugelhopf weighing about 1175 gr (2½ pounds).

From issue 112

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