Savoury Kugelhopf | We Knead to Bake #7

A Kugelhopf of gugelhupf is the German term for a marble or bundt cake. It traditionally consists of a soft yeasted dough with raisins, eggs, nuts etc baked in a circular pan with a central tube. Rather the bundt pan with which we are familiar is derived from the kugelhopf pan. All this time I didn't know about the savoury version of Kugelhopf aux Lardons (Kugelhopf with ham and walnuts) from Alsace, France. Thankfully Aparna made a vegetarian version of this for this months We Knead to  Bake and here it is.

The ham has been replaced by tomatoes and bellpeppers and this makes it colourful or a jewelled. Eggs are there in this recipe but can be replaced and I have used Ener G egg replacer as usual.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour : 3-3.5 cups

Instant Yeast: 2 tsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Unsalted Butter: 6 tbsp /75 gms room temp

Milk: 3/4 cup

Eggs: 2 or Ener G Egg: 1 tbsp powder + 4-5 tbsp water

Filling: 

Oil: 1-2 tsp

Onions: 1/3 cup chopped

Tomatoes: 1/3 cup chopped and deseeded

Green bellpepper: 1/3 cup chopped

Thyme: 1.5 tsp +/-

Pepper: 1.5 tsp

Salt: as per taste

Cheddar Cheese: 1/3 cup diced

Walnuts: 1/3 cup + more for garnish

Preparation:

In a food processor pulse for a few times flour,salt and yeast.Add in butter little at a time and pulse again.

Add in milk and egg and pulse again till we get a sticky sort of dough. Do add tablespoonsfuls of flour and continue pulsing till the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Still the dough might be sticky. Do not add more flour though. Pat the dough into a round and keep it covered in an oiled deep bowl turning once to coat with oil until it doubles in volume which is almost 2.5 hrs!

Meanwhile prepare the filling or stuffing. Finely chop onions, tomato and bellpepper. Make sure you remove the pulp of the tomato before chopping.Heat oil in a deep pan and saute the tomatoes and bellpepper adding a pinch of salt and pepper for 1-2 minutes while the raw smell goes but they're still crunchy and colourful. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and keep aside. Add more oil to the pan if needed and saute onions adding little salt, sugar, pepper and thyme. Once golden brown remove from fire and mix in with the bellepepper and tomato. Do the taste test and add more salt and seasoning if needed.

Once the dough is doubled deflate it gently and flatten it. Flattening helps in stuffing the bread.Spread the filling on the dough along with diced cheese and walnuts, fold it over to cover the filling and knead it gently so that the filling is evenly spread. 

Turn the dough into a log and place it in a greased bundt pan which has already been sprinkled with walnuts

Here for me atleast the dough became tough to manage with the filling pouring out from every side of the dough. Somehow I turned it into a log. Instead of the bundt cake I had gone for smaller muffin pan and even mini bundt pan.

So I pinched pieces of the dough placed in a walnut studded muffin pan. For the mini bundts, I pinched pieces, rolled them out and placed the piece circularly in the mould and pinched the edges together to close the circle.

Once this is done, let the dough sit covered in plastic wrap until it rises again for another hour or so.I went for 2 hrs again but still the dough rose but didn't exactly double.

Bake in a preheated oven at 190C for about 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and they sound hollow when tapped.This is how it was for me as I went for smaller sizes. If going for an 8" bundt pan, then go for 35-40 minutes at 200C.

Cool for 5-10 minutes and then invert these on a wire rack to wait until consumption.

Snack on the mini bundts or kugelhopf muffins whatever you call them. Perfect with tea or with anything or as such anytime. 

They look crispy but were soft with a little crunch of the nuts while biting. Atleast thats what I got. But since they are yeasted cakes, I suppose I got it right. I had a perfect tea with  savoury cakes. They can also be consumed for breakfast, and also served with soup for dinner.Now lets see whats happening with others. Drop in at Aparna's and enjoy the stories on kugelhopf.