plum kuchen
Author: 
Recipe type: breakfast
 
Ingredients
  • 2¼ teaspoons or 1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast
  • ¼ cup warm water (105–110 degrees F)
  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
  • 1 cup sugar, divided
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (at least 2% fat)
  • 1 large egg, warmed in shell in warm water five minutes
  • 1½ teaspoons grated lemon zest (don't skip this!)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1¼ sticks (10 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and softened, divided
  • ¾ pound firm-ripe plums (or cherums) (about 4 or 5 small), halved and pitted
Instructions
  1. Stir together yeast and warm water in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about five minutes. (The original recipe recommends if mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)
  2. Add 2 cups flour, ⅔ cup sugar, salt, yogurt, egg, zest, and vanilla to yeast mixture and mix at medium-low speed 1 minute. Beat in one stick of the butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Beat at medium speed until dough is smooth and shiny, about five minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.) Scrape down side of bowl and sprinkle dough with remaining two tablespoons flour. Cover bowl loosely with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1½ to 2 hours.*
  3. Spread remaining two tablespoons butter in bottom of an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan (I used an 8x8) and sprinkle with remaining ⅓ cup sugar. Cut each plum half into six slices and arrange in one layer in pan.**
  4. Stir dough until flour is incorporated, then spread evenly over plums. Loosely cover with buttered plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled, about 1½ hours.***
  5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with oven rack in middle. Bake until kuchen is golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes (mine took 30 minutes). Cool in pan five minutes, then invert and unmold onto a rack to cool completely.****
  6. Serve with additional yogurt, lightly sweetened, or sweetened crème fraîche. I liked the cake without any additions, but also tried it with yogurt and sweetened almond pulp. Magnificent.
Notes
* Mine did not double. It barely did anything. I had a warm kitchen, a plastic wrap and a towel atop the bowl, and a tea towel wrapped around the bowl. So I balked. Balked! I baked it without the plums the first time: just a sprinkle of cinnamon. It puffed marvelously in the oven and it tasted like a moist, buttery coffee cake, without being heavy. Second time around (the next morning): not much action again. Since my yeast-water mixture foamed both times, and the cake baked up fine on the non-plum version, I figured I'd be okay the second go-round. It was perfect. ** I had extra, especially since I decided the plum "heels" weren't cake-worthy. Grub and I ate them. *** A little more rise noted here on the plum version. But still it still did not double until I got it into the oven and poof!, like magic. **** Yeah, easier said than done. I gave it exactly 5 minutes, flipped the pan over, and the kuchen wouldn't budge. After waiting a little longer and thwacking the pan a few times, then it released. A few plum slices dislodged from their bed of cake crumb, which were easily tucked back into place. I almost lined the pan with parchment, because I feared cake release would be difficult, but held back because I thought it might affect how the plums cooked into the cake.
Recipe by story of a kitchen at https://www.storyofakitchen.com/breakfast-recipes/plum-kuchen/