Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Kugelflop -- Tuesdays with Dorie


Welcome to my 21st TWD post! Wow! It seems like I just started this blog in the hopes of baking along with everyone every week and I am happy to be able to say I haven't missed a week yet :) The recipe of the week is Kugelhopf, chosen by Yolanda of The All-Purpose Girl , thanks for a fun pick, Yolanda!
Would you believe me if I told you I bought a silicone kugelhopf pan a month or so ago, planning to make a Christmas kugelhopf and wanting to be ready when this recipe was selected for TWD? It's true! Trying to make this kugelhopf ended up being the second and third time I've used this pan, the first being a lovely Cranberry Cardamom Cake I made last month.
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On to the baking...okay, I'm sure I won't be the only one calling this a kugelflop this week. What went wrong? I don't know! I made this twice, the first time I accidentally added the butter at the beginning in one big schlop. I went ahead with the recipe, the kugelhopf rose well, I thought we were going to be okay. After about 1.5 hours on the last rising I put it in the oven, I left about an inch, maybe two, before the top of the pan because I assumed it would rise a lot. Dorie let me believe it would rise a lot. It didn't. Hmmm.
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Here are some photos from attempt #1
(yeah, that's my pink dyson hiding in the background)
In this recipe there was no "let cool on wire rack" direction just "unmold and let cool" ... I think that had a lot to do with why mine crumbled and cracked too much. You know, I thought to myself, this should probably cool in the pan on a rack, but since the recipe didn't say to I just followed the directions. I've made that mistake before with a bundt cake, you were supposed to unmold it right when you took it out of the oven, and let it cool unmolded on the rack, well, for whatever reason I let it cool in the pan, which resulted it a stuck to the sides mess. I didn't want that to happen with the kugelhopf so I decided to play it safe and unmold it right away. Too bad it crumbled.
I let my second attempt at this kugelhopf cool in pan on a wire rack before unmolding and had no problem. It looked pretty, of course not as gorgeously high and I had pictured, and tasted just as I'd expected (think "less moist panettone") a perfect not too sweet treat to have with tea for breakfast. The kids especially loved it :) I'm just baffled about why it did not rise in the oven after rising so well out of the oven. I've worked with yeast a lot and have never had that happen, I've dealt with bad yeast, not rising in the oven, etc. but never rising well out of the oven but not while baking. Oh-well. I have another kugelhopf recipe bookmarked and plan to try it before the holidays and hopefully I can get that tall beautiful shape I expected.
Kugelhopf #2
Forgot to add that on my second try I did not do the foil because I thought that maybe me opening the oven on the first kugelhopf to remove the foil made it fall or not rise or something...there is my reasoning, although it didn't seem to make a difference at all. For them both I skipped the butter soak, I was planning to do it with my big beautiful kugelhopf but it seems like it would have been a waste (of calories and butter) to bother with it on these poor little guys.

Even though I'm not happy with the 'not rising in the oven' and can't figure it out, this was a fun TWD week and a fun challenge. I'm really ready to try another kugelhopf recipe and see if I can figure out what has been happening, I want this to work!!

23 comments:

CB said...

Kugel-flop indeed for me. It wasn't a favorite Dorie recipe but way to go on making it 2x! Glad you and the kiddies enjoyed the recipe!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

Nancy/n.o.e said...

You know that we had similar rise/no rise experiences with this. OK, so I am totally impressed that 1. you made this twice and 2. that you're going to make more. My husband is over the moon with this cake, and I'm not sure when I can fit it in again. I think you'll like it even better with the butter/sugar.
Nancy

Judy said...

The only time I have bread failures is when I use silicone pans, so I've stopped using them. Maybe that's the problem. Even so, it still looks delicious.

Anonymous said...

Your kugelhopf looks good. I liked this recipe. It was the perfect challene.

NKP said...

I didn't have trouble with the rise but I left it out for almost 4 hours before baking. It is cool here so I gave it more time. Perhaps weather affects it.
Sorry you had trouble with it.
Good for you for giving it another go, though. :)

Dewi said...

I love Kougelhopf, I always make this (the Alsatian version) during christmas time. I actually made this in summer, if you are interested, you can check out the Alsatian Kougelhopf http://elrasbaking.blogspot.com/2008/06/kougelhopf.html
Cheers,
Elra

Flourchild said...

Wow you made it twice..I could barely get through the first time! I love the last picture the best..yum! My kids loved it too. So far Im reading that tons of kids love this bread!

Jayne said...

Bravo for making it twice! My kids (and husband) loved this recipe, too.

PheMom said...

How fun is that that you already had the pan. Way to go for not giving up! Now... where did you find your pan? : )

Eleganza Strings/ The DeLadurantey Family said...

Glad you liked it....nice pan!

Laura said...

Mine didn't rise in the oven either and I wonder what I did wrong. Your silicone pan sure did make pretty fluted sides on your kugelhopf though!

Jamie said...

Your kugelhopf looks delicious! I have never baked in silicone, I may need to give it a try.

Di said...

I wouldn't call it a flop--it looks lovely! I did brush mine with butter, but only half of what the recipe called for, and it was still quite good. If you find another recipe you like, I hope you'll share it with everyone!

Anonymous said...

You went through waaaaay too much trouble! You're a much more patient person than I am (especially since you haven't given up on ME yet...)
~Cat

Cathy said...

First, you KNOW that I believe that you bought a silicone kugelhopf pan even before this recipe was chosen! As soon as I saw that this was one of the November picks, I thought "I bet Andrea already has a pan." If you make that other kugelhopf recipe you've bookmarked, I hope you'll post about it -- I'll be curious to read about the comparison. I think yours look great, even if they weren't as tall as you were hoping! I admire your dedication!!

TeaLady said...

Kugelflop! Not really. People keep telling me and I pass it along. It's the taste that counts. The texture looks good and the whole kugel looks really pretty with all the powdered sugar on top. (Amazing what it hides, huh?) And to have made it b4. Wow!! Maybe the next one will turn out. LOVE the pan.

Jessica said...

I can't believe you did it twice - good for you! That's determination.

Jacque said...

That's a cool looking pan. Sorry this recipe gave you fits, but it still looks pretty. Hopefully the other recipe works out better.

Kimberly Johnson said...

I had the same problem with mine not rising in the oven but I thought it was just me. Yeast is not my friend. Yours looks tasty though!

Rebecca of "Ezra Pound Cake" said...

Same problem here. I really think it was the weather. Looks like everything turned out beautifully, though!

Shaheen said...

21 weeks of TWD? I'm jealous. I can't wait to receive my book in December to make some of her recipes too.

Bungalow Barbara said...

Mine didn't rise in the oven either, but the crumb was nice and light -- just like yours. Maybe that's just the way this recipe works?

Jules Someone said...

Mine didn't do too much rising in the oven. I'm not a fan of silicon pans. I have trouble getting stuff out.

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