Alsace Kougelhopf, a recipe by master Piergiorgio Giorilli. A fragrant cake to bring to the table for the holidays, shaped like a bundt cake about 6 inches high, with pleated edges, baked in a special mold, usually made of glazed ceramic. Typical of the Alsatian tradition, also very popular in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and in some northern Italian cities. Its origin is not very clear, there are few testimonies about it, one says that it was the Magi themselves who made this cake in its ceramic mold, to thank the baker of Kugel who hosted them on a cold night. Another story says that Marie Antoinette imported this cake to France from Austria, after her marriage to Louis XVI. Finally, the story of the Polish king Stanisław Leszczyński, who settled in Alsace in the 1700s, bringing with him his cooks and pastry chefs, with their recipes. It seems that this cake is the father of the Babà, which Neapolitan pastry chefs imported from Poland. The Polish king, tired of eating the dry Kougelhopf, soaked a slice with rum. Its origins are not very certain, but what is certain is that it is a really good cake.

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium
Rest time: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: French
Seasonality: Autumn, Winter

Ingredients

4 cups flour (W300)
2/3 cup whole milk
0.7 oz fresh yeast
3.5 oz eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
6 oz butter
1 cup raisins
1.5 tbsps white rum
blanched almonds
powdered sugar

Tools

1 Mixer
1 Bundt pan

Steps

Soak the raisins in warm water and rum. Soften the almonds in water for 10 minutes. In the mixer bowl, mix the flour with the yeast. Add the milk and half of the eggs.
Halfway through the process, add the eggs with the salt and sugar little by little.
Work until obtaining a smooth and homogeneous dough.
Only when the dough is properly mixed, add the butter in 3 parts, without losing the consistency.
Add the previously soaked and then drained raisins.
Work for a few minutes to incorporate the raisins into the dough.
Let the dough rise for an hour at 80-81°F. Transfer the dough onto a work surface and round it.
Let it rest for 15 minutes. Butter a 11-inch mold.
Place some water-softened almonds at the bottom of the mold.
Place the dough in the mold and let it rise at 75-78°F until it reaches the edge.
Bake at 356-392°F for 35 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Spray with rum and dust with powdered sugar.