Kougelhopf Alsacien

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white bread flour
• 20 g fresh yeast or 7 g instant dried yeast
• 200 ml warm whole milk
• 80 g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 10 g fine salt
• 150 g soft butter, plus extra for the mould
• 100 g raisins
• 3 tbsp kirsch
• 12 whole blanched almonds
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Before you cook

• Soak the raisins in the kirsch with 2 tablespoons of hot water for at least 30 minutes
• Take the butter and the eggs out of the fridge an hour ahead
• Butter a 22 centimetre kougelhopf mould very thoroughly, getting into every flute

Steps

1. Whisk the yeast into the warm milk with a teaspoon of the sugar and leave it for 10 minutes, until it froths.
2. Mix the flour, the remaining sugar and the salt in a large bowl.
3. Add the eggs and the yeasted milk, then knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Work in the soft butter a piece at a time, kneading for another 10 minutes until the dough is glossy and pulls away from the bowl.
5. Drain the raisins and knead them through the dough briefly.
6. Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place for one and a half hours, until doubled in size.
7. Press one almond into the base of each flute of the buttered mould.
8. Knock the dough back gently and shape it into a thick sausage.
9. Lay the dough into the mould in a ring, pressing the ends together around the central funnel.
10. Cover and leave to rise for one hour, until the dough reaches within two centimetres of the rim.
11. Bake at 180C for 40 to 45 minutes, until deep brown and hollow-sounding when tapped.
12. Let the kougelhopf sit in its mould for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack.
13. Cool it completely, dust heavily with icing sugar and cut thick slices.