Life really does seem to come unglued sometimes doesn’t it, I mean especially this time of year.  Even when I’ve got things pretty much under control, I can still feel like I’m going to fly off in all directions.

Take this morning, Gorn said “Yeah, waffles sounds good for breakfast.”  Now, that may seem like nothing to you but for me that’s a really special morning because most mornings my guy would rather skip breakfast.  So, I was excited.  And I thought I had the kitchen in controlled mode.  Hey, I had everything on the table ready for the waffles.  The coffee was brewing.   I had the plates warm for the waffles.  I had the milk warmed and frothed for the coffee.  With two waffle irons, I had a waffle ready for both of us at the same time.  I went to pour the coffee . . . I had coffee all over the floor and the carafe sitting neatly beside the coffee maker.

Not the best of starts for a day but if you can remember to put the coffee carafe in the proper place this Kugelhopf will start your day beautifully.  It’s sweet but not overly so and it’s just moist enough to not be dry.

This is from Peter Reinhart’s Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers.  I believe it was his first book after he published Brother Juniper’s Bread Book.

The evening before make a sponge:

84 g  (2/3 cup) (3 oz)  unbleached bread flour

1/3 teaspoon yeast

88 ml  (6 tablespoons)  (3 oz) milk @ room temp

Stir together to form a smooth batter.  Cover & leave at room temp for about 3 hours then refrigerate overnight.

Also the night before place:

260g golden raisins & dried cranberries

(more than 1 1/2 cup or more than 8 oz)

90 ml rum (about 1/3 cup or 3 oz)

to soak in a bowl an cover, leaving at room temp overnight.

456g (3 1/2 cups) flours

(I used 1 cup white whole wheat and the remaining AP flour)

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon yeast

256g  (1 cup) milk

5 large eggs (8 oz)

all of the previous nights starter/sponge

113g butter (1 cup)  (8 oz) room temp

2 tablespoons soft butter for mold

sliced almonds for “dusting” bowl

Combine flours, sugar, salt, yeast, milk, eggs and starter/sponge in bowl - I used my kitchen aide.  Mix to form a smooth batter that’s clearing the bowl sides. 

Add the butter in three or four pieces and allow to incorporate before adding the next.  You end up with a very smooth but very tacky dough, again clearing the bowl sides.

Add the raisins (all of my rum was absorbed but if not add the rum).  Knead until the raisins are evenly distributed.  The dough will still be very sticky. 

Cover with plastic wrap.  Allow to rise an hour.

Remove from bowl and degas.  Give the dough a kneading turn or two.  Reform into a ball and return to bowl, cover.

Allow another 45 minute to an hour rise - it should swell noticeably.

Preheat to 375°

Heavily butter the pan or pans and “dust” with sliced almonds. 

The recipe will make a 10 inch ring mold.  My kugelhopf mold is about a 6 inch.  I also was able to fill two mini tube pans with dough giving me 3 kugels.  Oh the joy of sharing all those calories.

The recipe talks about poking a hole in the middle of the ball and dropping that over the center tube.  My dough was very soft so it more poured into the molds.

Mist the tops of the batter in the mold with cooking spray/oil and cover tightly with plastic.  Allow to rise to fill the mold.  Mine took about 2 hours.

Allow to cool 5 minutes before turning out of mold.  The bottom of the cake is now the top.  Allow to cool un-molded before cutting for 45 minutes.

Dust with confectioner’s sugar if desired.  I loved the almonds without.

I’m sending this to Susan at WildYeastBlog for the weekly YeastSpotting.  Thanks Susan!

Festive is the theme for Bread Baking Day #15, so I’m sending this to Annarasa of at AnnarasaEssenceOfFood.  Bread Baking Day was started by Zorra at Kochtopf 15 months ago!

Hope your coffee is ready in the pot and not on the floor.