Rachel Khoo's version of the standard Alsace recipe for a sweet, enriched bread, made in a ring tin with a hollow centre (she substitutes prunes for the traditional raisins). You'll find the tin called different things - search online shops for kugelhopf, kugelhoff, bundt, savarin ring. Not something you'll use very often but it does make for an attractive finish.
Ingredients
300g strong white bread flour
40g sugar
1tsp table salt
5g instant dried yeast
125ml milk
1 egg, beaten
70g butter, softened and cut up
8-10 blanched almonds (one per groove in your tin)
70g pitted soft prunes (I chopped them up and soaked them in rum)
1 egg and 2tbsp milk to glaze
Icing sugar, to serve
Method
- Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast
- add beaten egg and milk, mix until smooth
- add butter slowly whilst continuing to mix
- leave to rise slowly in a cool place (Rachel recommends overnight in the fridge)
- grease the kugelhopf tin
- place blanched almond at the end of each spiral groove (see picture for finished article)
- knead the prunes into the risen dough
- shape dough into a ball then poke a hole through it to make a large ring shape
- push this ring of dough down into the kugelhopf tin
- brush the top (which will be the bottom when turned out) with milk/egg glaze
- cover and leave to rise
- preheat oven to 200C
- when risen, glaze again
- bake for 30 minutes at 200C
- cool for 10 minutes
- turn out onto a cooling rack
- dust with icing sugar
This can be served on its own like a pannetone, but was also very good served as a desert at christmas supper with a light custard flavoured with rum!
Credit - Rachel Khoo, published in various places including Daily Mail - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2452651/Le-pudding-Kugelhopf-Kugelhopf-prunes.html#ixzz3E1vkEkkt