Mamie Gilberte's kougelhopf
For more than sixty years, Mamie Gilberte baked kougelhopfs, three or four a week. Hers was the one waiting for guests when they arrived at the gîte. Here is her recipe, photographed in her kitchen.
Mamie Gilberte passed away in March 2025. Her recipe stays here, for the guests who tasted her kougelhopf and for those who would like to bake it at home.
The photos and handwritten captions were taken in her kitchen in 2013; the recipe is reproduced as she dictated it (captions in French).
- 45 minPreparation
- 2 × 1 hResting
- 50 to 60 minBaking
- 2 medium kougelhopfsMakes
Ingredients
- 500 g flour
- 75 g sugar
- 150 g butter
- 2 eggs
- 250 ml milk
- 1 sachet vanilla sugar
- 1 sachet baker's yeast
- 150 g raisins (currants and golden), generously soaked in kirsch
- 50 g whole almonds
- Icing sugar
The recipe in pictures
Follow the steps in order; the two rises in a warm place make all the difference.
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First of all, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
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Make the starter: mix the yeast, half of the warm milk and just enough flour to get a soft dough. Leave to rest in a warm place.
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In a large earthenware bowl, put the rest of the flour, the vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt; mix well.
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Add the rest of the milk, the eggs and the starter.
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Add the softened butter, then knead vigorously for 15 minutes to aerate the dough.
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Knead until the dough is soft and comes away cleanly from the bowl.
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Knead for a few more minutes.
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Flatten the dough in the bottom of the bowl.
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Cover the bowl with a cloth and leave to rest for one hour in a warm place, about 40 to 50 °C.
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After an hour in the warmth, the dough has risen well.
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Add the sugar and the kirsch-soaked raisins, and work them into the dough.
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Butter the kougelhopf moulds thoroughly and place a whole almond in the bottom of each groove.
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Pat the dough down, then divide it between the moulds. Leave to rise again in the same conditions, 50 to 60 minutes at 40 to 50 °C.
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Bake for 50 to 60 minutes at gas mark 6/7 (190 to 210 °C), depending on the size of the mould and the oven. If needed, cover with baking paper during baking.
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When baked, turn the kougelhopfs out onto a rack to cool.
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Dust with icing sugar.
Kougelhopf in Alsace
A yeasted brioche baked in a glazed earthenware mould with twisted grooves, kougelhopf is the cake of Sundays, christenings and feast days. It is eaten at breakfast, at tea time, or with a glass of Alsatian white wine.
Moulds from Soufflenheim, the potters' village, are sold on every market in the region; a useful souvenir to bring home from your stay.