
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons warm water (105–115°F)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter,
- cut into tablespoon pieces and softened
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups golden raisins (sultanas)
- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange or lemon zest
- About 20 whole blanched almonds (1/2 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
- Special equipment: a standing electric mixer with paddle attachment; an 11-cup kugelhopf mold (9 1/2 inches in diameter)
- Use a light-colored metal pan because they retain more heat.
- Dark metal pans, OTOH, including nonstick, will make your baked goods darker while also decreasing the baking times. These are best for dark (chocolate) cakes and brownies.
Preparation
- Stir together yeast and water in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.)
- Heat milk with 6 tablespoons butter and granulated sugar over low heat, stirring, until mixture is warm (105 to 115°F), butter is melted, and sugar is dissolved.
- Sift together flour and salt into bowl of standing mixer. Make a well in flour and add yeast mixture. Add warm milk in a slow stream, mixing at low speed with paddle attachment.
- Increase speed to medium and beat in eggs 1 at a time, then beat in raisins and zest.
- Continue to beat until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Dough will be very sticky.
- Put 1 almond in each depression in bottom of mold (the almonds are only decorative; you can skip them altogether if your mold has no depressions), then scrape spoonfuls of dough evenly into mold (dough will be very elastic).
- Cover top of mold with oiled plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm place until it fills pan, about 2 hours.
- Bake kugelhopf in middle of oven 15 minutes, then loosely cover mold with foil and continue to bake until golden and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes more.
- Cool in pan 2 minutes, then invert cake onto a rack to cool completely, about 1 hour. Dust with confectioners sugar.