Kugelhopf: choco - citrus frangipane - espresso currant
Inspiration
I made a cranberry lemon kugelhopf two weeks in a row. I was very pleased with it so obviously I needed to blow it up with something crazy. I wondered whether I could make a kugelhopf with a citrus frangipane rolled inside it. And while I was at it, why not make it chocolate with hand-pulled espresso from my home-roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans? And why not use lots of little currants instead of large cranberries?
Recipe
The recipe comprises two major parts: making the kugelhopf and making the citrus frangipane.
adapted from: https://www.my-weekend-in-alsace.com/kugelhopf-recipe-kouglof/
INGREDIENTS FOR KUGELHOF
- 130g espresso (I used 4 shots x 11g beans pulled long, 33g each)
- 160g dried currants
- 2 eggs, room temperature, beaten
- 200g milk, lukewarm
- 125g butter, softened
- 500g flour
- 10g salt
- 100g sugar
- 1 Tahitian vanilla bean seeds
- 50g high-fat (20-24%) cocoa (10% flour weight)
- 10g instant dried yeast
- 50g almonds
- tube mould for baking
/// Night Before ///
STEP A: CURRANTS AND KUGELHOF DOUGH
- Soak currants in espresso overnight
- Set out eggs, milk, butter to come to room temp
- Food process vanilla and sugar until caster fine (I added old vanilla pods as well then sifted the bits out at the end)
- In separate bowl, mix the processed vanilla sugar, salt, 100g milk, then beat in 2 eggs
- mix in 400g flour
- mix dough low speed 10 mins
- Incorporate bits of soft butter while mixing until it's well blended
- sift in cocoa in stages while mixing until well blended in a dark rich colour
- Place dough in fridge overnight
/// Next Day ///
INGREDIENTS FOR CITRUS FRANGIPANE
https://www.davidlebovitz.com/galette-des-rois-kings-cake-recipe/
- 100g sugar
- pinch salt
- zest of orange
- 100g almond flour
- 100g unsalted butter, cubed, room temperature
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
STEP B: FRANGIPANE
- food process sugar, salt and orange zest to maximize flavour
- add almond flour and process mixture
- turn out mixture into a bowl
- incorporate butter
- Stir in eggs one at a time
- refrigerate to firm up
STEP C: KUGELHOF / FRANGIPANE ASSEMBLY
- Allow dough to come to room temperature
- Mix yeast into 100g of warm milk
- Mix in 100g of flour and let double or triple to form levain
- Mix levain into dough until cleans bowl
- Cover and let rise (about 1.5 hours with cocoa)
- take out frangipane to warm up
- Stretch dough into rectangle on work surface
- Spread frangipane over dough
- Sprinkle frangipane-coated dough evenly with fruit
- Roll up dough into long cylinder
- Roll cylinder in sliced almonds
- Butter mould
- Fit cylinder into mould and pinch ends together
- Let dough rise second time, until above edge of mould (about 1.5 hours with cocoa less preheat time, e.g. 15 mins)
- Preheat oven 180°C (350f)
- Bake 35 minutes (until top is dark brown) [NOTE: change this to foil on top, baking sheet below, and baking until knife comes out clean... guessing ~52mins?]
- Remove from mould to cool (keep crust solid so loaf doesn't shrink)
PROCESS
Night Before
The night before, I poured four lungo espresso shots over a bowl of currants. Lungo means "long." Normally I would pull a 33g shot using 16g of coffee but here I pulled four 33g shots using 11g each. Fresh pulled espresso means a rich coffee flavour with coffee oils included.
Also the night before, I made the enriched dough. I started by food processing sugar with old vanilla bean pods that I had previously scraped the seeds out of in other recipes. This produces a vanilla infused sugar and reduces waste.
After processing, I sifted out the pod bits and discarded them.
Next, I incorporated the vanilla sugar into the other dough ingredients to make the enriched dough, and then I added the softened butter in chunks and continued mixing until incorporated.
Then I sifted high fat cocoa over the dough and continued mixing until it was well integrated. I added cocoa last to avoid it taking up moisture from the dough during gluten formation. I put the dough in the fridge overnignt.
Next Day
Next morning I took the dough out to warm up and I made the frangipane. Here are the pieces of the puzzle: almond flour, eggs, butter, sugar and orange zest.
To maximize orange zest flavour (thanks Naturaleigh) I food processed the zest with sugar.
I then added nutmeg, vanilla seeds, and then incorporated almond flour and lastly the eggs. I put the frangipane mix in the fridge to firm up.
When the dough had warmed up, I made the instant dry yeast-flour-milk levain. After the levain expanded 2-3x, I then used the mixer to incorporate it thoroughly into the enriched dough.
Here it is after mixing slowly for ten mins or so.
Here it is puffed after 90 mins fermentation. Note that it took an extra 30mins vs a kugelhopf without cocoa,
The next part was assembly. Here are the pieces of the puzzle: dough, espresso-soaked currants, and citrus frangipane.
I rolled out the dough (using a rolling pin) to make a large rectangle.
I spread the frangipane evenly over the dough.
I sprinkled the espresso currants evenly over the frangipane.
I then rolled the dough up into a tube. NOTE: there was a lot of extra moisture in there vs previous kugelhopfs. Moisture came from the frangipane and espresso.
I rolled the dough tube in sliced almonds and fit it into a buttered silicone mold. Note that it was juicy at the ends where I pinched it together. The espresso juice currants had bunched up in the core. Below you can see the dough proofed after 90mins which is again 30 mins more than the previous kugelhopfs without cocoa and frangipane.
I baked for 37 mins. That was NOT enough and it needed further baking. I suggest covering its top in foil and setting it on a cookie sheet or foil sheet so it can be baked longer without burning or drying out, The sharp fins bake on the bottom so they need protection.
Here is a slice that was individually rebaked after wrapped in foil.
You can see that although the kugelhopf did puff up during proofing, it collapsed as it cooled. Longer foil-wrapped baking might offset that.
Results
I knew this was risky and I expected it might turn into a dense lump. However, it turned out to be quite tasty. I got a soft chocolate flavour with orange from the frangipane, and the currants were nicely plump with espresso. It all went together nicely in the rebaked slices which were moist and delicious. It was still definitely a dessert bread and not a cake based on its texture.
I don't have a recommendation for baking time. Perhaps a shielded (sheet below, foil on top) bake should be extended from 37 to 52 mins or so. That might produce a more even bake throughout. Another option would be to drain the currants or firm up the frangipane.
Comments
temp down to 160°C or 320°F for the bake baking longer would help against burning. What do you think?
Sounds like a great idea, thanks.
I have a small oven so the fins on the bottom of the mould and the pouffy oven spring can both get a bit singed. Foil + lower temp + more time sounds great.