Tuesdays with Dorie – Kugelhopf

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Kugelhopf and it was chosen by the lovely Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl. I had no idea what a Kugelhopf was before a few days ago. When I read Dorie’s description it really didn’t clear things up for me. Part brioche, part cake… what? But that’s just what it is! It looks just like a cake but takes like brioche! And it is freakin’ awesome. I finally finished it yesterday (two day process) and there’s only two thin slices left. Everyone in my house loves it, which rarely happens around here.

The process was a little annoying. First, my dough looked more like batter. I was convinced I had screwed it up. It took about 5 hours to rise (I think Dorie said it should take 2) and then I put it in the fridge overnight. We keep our fridge really cold and it didn’t occur to me to turn it down. So my dough basically froze. It came out in clumps but I put it in a bundt pan anyway and after about 6 hours, it had risen about halway up the pan. I gave up on it ever making it to the top and baked it then.

It was well worth all the trouble and I’ve actually started the hunt for a real Kugelhopf pan so I can make this over and over again. And this is probably the first and last time I will ever say this: The raisins made the bread/cake. They were AMAZING.