Kugelhopf!

Wow...baking with yeast....not something I have ever tackled before. It wasn't that bad! This week with TWD, Yolanda from The All-Purpose Girl chose Kugelhopf for us to make. I read all the comments before starting this one and was a little apprehensive and not quite sure what to expect. Some had sticky dough, some not. Some got the dough to rise, others had flat dough. Some had the pan...most didn't. Well, I had nothing to lose.
I started the dough Monday morning and thought I killed the yeast right away with milk that was a little too hot. I kept going and got really wet and sticky dough. After mixing with the dough hook, I took the others' advice and switched to the paddle when I added the butter. I switched back to the hook to finish mixing. It looked ok to me, but then again...I wasn't quite sure what it was supposed to look like.
I followed the recipe exactly except for the raisins, I added dried cherries. I scraped it into a bowl and set it in my oven to rise...or not.
Having never baked with yeast before, I guess I expected the dough to rise a lot more. I slapped it down a couple of times and then put it in the fridge overnight.

The next morning it went into my bundt pan and into the oven (not on) for the final rise. After 2 hours I took it out and the dough was almost to the top of the pan but not quite. I had also put the dough into the pan unevenly so it was a little lopsided. Oh well.

While it was baking my house smelled so good...like sweet bread..mmmmm. That smell was nice on a cold, overcast morning like today.

When it came out of the oven it was nice and golden brown. I put it on a rack and poured the melted butter over the top. ( I didn't have time to brush it on, we were on our way to see Madagascar 2!) My oldest son quickly sprinkled the sugar over the top and we hopped into the car with our bread. We were heading to some friends house after the movie and wanted to share the goodness. Let me tell you, the inside of the car smelled of warm, just-baked bread...soooo good.

I had to hurry and take photographs before everyone dug in. Everybody liked the taste, not too sweet. The kids preferred the top with the sugar crust of course. It reminded me of brioche..with some dried cherries in it. Not very exciting. I think I will try it tomorrow morning, toasted with some butter...we'll see how that goes.