Das Kuchen (rezept und fotos)...
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Like
many Americans, ancestrally speaking I am a mixed breed. My dad's
family is Lebanese—straight from the “Old Country”—hence the
Lebanese-inspired recipes on this blog. My mom's family is German
(with maybe a bit of French, too...my grandfather's family was
Alsatian); they've been in this country since about 1830 the best
that I can tell. And this—I believe—is where I inherited my love
of baking; from my mom's good baking.
When
I think of Thanksgiving and Christmastime as a child my mind’s eye
sees these memories through rose colored glasses...it looks sort of
like a Norman Rockwell painting. We were poor, that’s for sure (not
that I realized it then), but there was always plenty of
food…especially homemade baked goods.
My
mother—like many Buffalonians of German decent—grew up on
Buffalo’s east side. She took pride in her baking skills, and even
though she had a houseful of kids and worked full time she still
managed to bake mountains of cookies and trays of kuchen for
the holidays. Kuchen (pronounced kooken) is the German word
for cake, and is more closely related to coffee cake than they are
traditional cake or flaky pastry. I’m sure there are as many
variations as there are those who make them. But this is about the
one I grew up with.
I
made kuchen at work the other day, and whenever I make it—and
especially when I eat it—memories come flooding back. I made them
in straight logs so they were easy to slice, but those that my mom
made were always in a ring shape.
What’s
distinctly unique about kuchen to many other coffee cakes is that
it’s made with yeast-leavened dough rather than a
chemically-leavened batter (quick bread). And though the dough is
rolled flat, filled, and rolled into a log or crescent, it’s not a
strudel because strudel utilizes a buttery unleavened flaky dough
that more close resembles phyllo.
I
can still picture the brown terracotta bowls resting on the radiator
with a towel shrouding the pillow-like dough. I was told not to touch
the bowl or leave the kitchen door open too long, lest it become
drafty and the dough fall. It was such a mystery, seeming almost
magical, how the dough would grow. It may be then that my fascination
with yeast dough was first planted.
My
mother learned to make the dough from her mother, who likely learned
it from her mother, and so on. The handwritten recipe that was given
one of my sisters and then to me was simply titled “foundation
dough,” because it’s a basic one that can be used for a number of
other things including the famous German doughnut, fastnachts (click here for the recipe),
which are eaten on Shrove Tuesday just before Lent. Fillings for
kuchen are left up to the baker and can encompass a wide variety of
sweet ingredients (fresh or dried fruits, nuts, chocolate) just as
long as the dough is first layered with melted butter, sugar, and
cinnamon. The kuchen in the photos was made with dried dates, but my
favorite is the one listed in the recipe below...cherry and walnut.
Yum!
Cherry
and Walnut Kuchen
Yield:
3 kuchen
For
the dough:
1
cup water (room temperature)
1
cup milk (room temperature)
1/2
cup granulated sugar
4
tablespoons yeast
6-7
cups all-purpose flour, divided
3
large eggs
1/2
cup unsalted butter, melted
1
teaspoon salt
For
the filling:
melted
unsalted butter
granulated
sugar
ground
cinnamon
maraschino
cherries, rinsed and chopped
chopped
walnuts
Topping:
1
egg mixed with a little milk
poppy
seeds
powdered
sugar
milk
To
make the dough, combine the water, milk, sugar, yeast, and two cups
of flour in a large bowl. Allow to rest for 1 hour, or until the
yeast is fully active. Transfer to an upright mixing bowl with a
dough hook. Add the eggs, melted butter, salt, and 4 cups of flour.
Run the mixer on low for 1 minute (if the dough seems too sticky add
the remaining cup flour) then turn to medium and knead for 5 minutes.
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rest at room
temperature for about an hour, or until double in size. Preheat an
oven to 350F. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and cut
into three pieces. Shape into balls, cover and let rest 20 minutes.
Roll into large ovals about 1/4 inch thick. Brush with melted butter
and sprinkle liberally with sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle with
cherries and walnuts. Roll into logs then shape into crescents.
Transfer to baking sheets lined with oiled parchment. Brush the with
the egg/milk mixture and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Make small slices
about every two inches. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a skewer
pulls out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool 15 minutes. Mix
powdered sugar with just enough milk to make an icing the consistency
of heavy cream. Drizzle over the kuchen and let dry for 15 minutes
before slicing.
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