The Hills are Alive!

Today we’re visiting the German/Austrian cousin of the babka.  We’re having Kugelhopf!

How do you pronounce that? KOO-guhl-hopf.

Kugel is ball in German and hopf means jump, as in the dough jumps or rises.  This is ironic considering that it seems to be a pretty common challenge to get kugelhopf dough to rise in the pan. (There seems to be very little trouble getting the first rise. It’s the second rise in the pan that is troublesome).  What pan do you ask?  A kugelhopf pan. This may or may not be easy to find.  A lot of people just use whatever bundt pan they have available but it should be noted that a bundt cake (rising with baking powder and baking soda) is very different from a kugelhopf (a yeast rising bread). I did manage to acquire the appropriate pan but I can see that my storage space in my kitchen leaves much to be desired and I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out where to put it now that my kugelhopf experiment is complete.

The kugelhopf is like a less-rich brioche with raisins and almonds and unfortunately, I find it goes stale pretty quickly. The remedy for that is slicing, toasting and topping it with butter and honey or jam. Add that to a nice pot of tea and breakfast is served. It’s no wonder that Marie Antoinette brought the recipe with her to France.  It’s still an iconic bread in Alsace and the French still say it was their idea.

A trick for next time would be to soak the raisins in kirschwasser (cherry brandy) before adding them. For now, I’ll just sit down and enjoy my breakfast.