Alsatian Kugelhopf

Recipe
Ingredients for the cake
4 Cups All purpose flour
2 sticks butter
2/3 cup sugar
8 Tsp dried instant yeast
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup raisins soaked in water or Kirshwasser (Brandy)
Method for the cake:
In a sauce pan, heat up the milk, sugar and butter until it is lukewarm. Add the yeast and let it stand for 2 minutes. Check to see if there are bubbles. If there are bubbles, that means that the yeasts are alive and working. Add a pinch of salt to this mixture.

Next, in the bowl of a standmixer, add flour. Using a standmixer with a dough hook attachment, add egg, and the yeast/milk mixture and mix on medium speed (Setting 4 or 5 on a Kitchenaid Standmixer) for 5 minutes.
The dough will be ready once it pulls away from the sides of the bowl and is no longer sticky. At this point, the dough should be also be quite elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball, and place it in a lightly floured bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm place, until it has doubled in volume.

Punch the dough down and knead in the raisins.
Butter and lightly flour the Kugelhopf mold. This is such a beautiful cake, be sure to flour carefully into all the corners of the pan. This will help ensure that the cake releases beautifully. Shape the dough ball into a doughnut shape to fit the size of the pan and place the dough into the Kugelhopf pan.

Let the dough rise until it reaches the edge of the mold.
Bake the Kugelhopf for 45 minutes and tent with aluminum foil should it start to get too brown.
Let cool and sprinkle icing sugar all over the Kugelhopf cake before serving.

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