Kouglof
The Alsatian yeast cake baked in its characteristic ceramic mould with twisted flutes. In this recipe two things separate it from an ordinary sweet bread. The dough rises eight hours in the fridge — cold fermentation gives it a flavour and structure closer to brioche. And a whole almond sits in each groove of the mould, forming a ring on top once turned out. A ceramic mould is best, though a metal one will do.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Soaking the raisins 60 min
- Dough 25 min
- Cold rise 480 min
- Shaping 10 min
- Rising in the mould 120 min
- Baking 45 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the raisins in rum for an hour
Cover the raisins with warm rum and soak an hour, then drain and dry. Dry raisins pull moisture from the dough as it bakes and leave dense, dry rings of crumb around themselves.
Ingredients: 150 g raisins · 60 ml rum · 20 pcs almonds
Knead the dough without butter
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk. Mix the flour with the yeasted milk, eggs, sugar and salt and knead 8 minutes before adding any butter. The gluten must develop first — fat added at the start coats the flour and badly hampers it.
Ingredients: 450 g strong bread flour · 180 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 20 g fresh yeast · 70 g sugar · 1 tsp salt · 130 g butter
Add the butter piece by piece
Add the soft butter one piece at a time, waiting for each to be absorbed. This takes another 10 minutes. The dough first breaks down and looks wrong, then suddenly turns smooth and glossy.
Ingredients: 450 g strong bread flour · 180 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 20 g fresh yeast · 70 g sugar · 1 tsp salt · 130 g butter
Butter piece by piece — then the dough turns glossy.Fold in the raisins last
Mix in the drained raisins briefly, at low speed. Added earlier they break up during kneading and tint the whole dough grey instead of staying as distinct dark points.
Ingredients: 150 g raisins · 60 ml rum · 20 pcs almonds
Rise eight hours in the fridge
Cover and refrigerate 8 hours. The cold fermentation develops flavour and leaves the dough firm and easy to shape — warm brioche dough is far too sticky to move.
Ingredients: 450 g strong bread flour · 180 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 20 g fresh yeast · 70 g sugar · 1 tsp salt · 130 g butter
Butter the mould and set the almonds
Butter the ceramic mould very thoroughly with soft butter and a brush, reaching every flute, and set one almond in each hollow of the base. A missed spot means sticking and a torn top.
Ingredients: 30 g butter · 3 tbsp icing sugar
An almond in every groove and butter in every flute.Shape a ring and rise to the rim
Shape the dough into a ball, push a finger through the centre and stretch it into a ring, then lower it into the mould. Rise 2 hours in the warm, until the dough reaches the rim — no higher, or it overflows in the oven. Towards the end of the rise heat the oven to 175°C.
Ingredients: 450 g strong bread flour · 180 ml milk · 2 pcs eggs · 20 g fresh yeast · 70 g sugar · 1 tsp salt · 130 g butter
To the rim, no higher — or it overflows in the oven.Bake 45 minutes and turn out promptly
Bake 45 minutes at 175°C, covering with foil after 30 if the top darkens. After 5 minutes turn it out of the mould onto a rack — left longer inside, the cake steams and the crust softens. Dust with icing sugar once cold.
Ingredients: 30 g butter · 3 tbsp icing sugar
Before you start
A ceramic mould, not metal
The Alsatian fired-clay mould heats more slowly and evenly, so a dense enriched dough cooks through before the outside scorches. In metal, drop the temperature by 10 degrees and cut five minutes off the time.
There is a savoury version
Alsace also bakes kouglof salé — with bacon, walnuts and onion instead of raisins, served with wine as a snack. The same dough with the sugar left out and a pinch of nutmeg added.
Three days, then toast it
Kouglof keeps three days wrapped in film and, like all enriched breads, stales from the outside in. On the fourth day slice it, fry it in butter and serve with jam — a good use for leftovers.
