Brioche
Description
Delicious baking for the whole family. The brioche “Kuglof” looks very festive and elegant, and it’s also very tasty. Making “Kuglof” is not difficult, especially if you follow the step-by-step recipe and recommendations. Serve warm or chilled. Perfect with tea.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients.
- 2
Step 2
Pour boiling water over the almonds and raisins. Let stand for 5–10 minutes, after which the almonds will peel easily and the raisins will rinse well and soften.
- 3
Step 3
To make the sponge starter, pour about 100 ml of warm milk into a bowl, dissolve the yeast, add about 3 tablespoons of flour, mix, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place for 1 hour.
- 4
Step 4
Peel the almonds, then dry-toast them in a skillet.
- 5
Step 5
Drain the water from the raisins, rinse them, and pour over with 1 tablespoon of rum (or cognac).
- 6
Step 6
Pour the remaining warm milk into a large bowl for kneading the dough, crack in the eggs, and mix.
- 7
Step 7
Add the butter to the milk and egg mixture and mix.
- 8
Step 8
Add the flour and salt, knead the dough.
- 9
Step 9
Knead the dough by hand for at least 15 minutes, but you can knead it much faster using a mixer.
- 10
Step 10
After an hour, the sponge had increased in size and was covered with bubbles.
- 11
Step 11
Add the starter to the dough you mixed earlier.
- 12
Step 12
Knead the dough, cover with a lid, and leave to ferment for another 1 hour.
- 13
Step 13
After 1 hour, the dough had increased in size by at least 1.5 times.
- 14
Step 14
Lightly toss the raisins with flour and mix. Prepared this way, the raisins blend well into the dough and will not sink to the bottom during baking.
- 15
Step 15
Add the raisins to the dough and fold them in.
- 16
Step 16
Grease the baking dish with butter and dust lightly with flour. Shake off the excess flour. Spread the almonds on the bottom of the dish.
- 17
Step 17
Fill the mould about two-thirds full with dough. After filling the mould, I had dough left over, which I divided among small moulds and baked in the oven at 180 degrees for 30–35 minutes.
- 18
Step 18
While the small brioches were baking, the dough rose to the top of the pan and is ready to bake. Bake the “Kugelhupf” at 180°C for 50 minutes.
- 19
Step 19
If the brioche starts to brown during baking and the baking time is not yet up, cover the top with foil. Check for doneness with a wooden skewer — it should come out dry. To remove the brioche from the pan easily, place it on a napkin soaked in cold water for 10 minutes.
- 20
Step 20
Turn the brioche over and cool to room temperature.
- 21
Step 21
Before serving, dust the “Kugelhopf” with powdered sugar.
- 22
Step 22
The brioche turned out very tender, with a pleasant buttery flavor. It is truly a festive bake.