Recipe for Kuchen from Lauralee Bliss

In Time Will Tell, Connie Ortiz makes the fragrant German bread, Kuchen. Author Lauralee Bliss is pleased to pass along this recipe from her father who received it from his mother, the late Alice R. Braun. It's certain to brighten a holiday or anyone's day.

Old Fashioned Kuchen

1. Scald 3 cups of whole milk. Add 3 heaping tbsp. of shortening to the milk. Cool to lukewarm.
2. In a measuring cup soften 2/3 cup of raisins in hot water. Drain and let cool.
3. In a large bowl, combine 3 heaping cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 tbsp. salt.
4. Soften 2 packages of yeast in 3 tbsp. of warm water and 1 tsp. of sugar.
5. Stir lukewarm milk into flour mixture.
6. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, mixing carefully each time. Add yeast mixture and stir until smooth.
7. Sprinkle flour lightly over the top of the mixture, cover with a towel, set in a warm place to rise to nearly the top of the bowl, about 1 hour (this can be done inside an oven warmed to the lowest temperature and then turned off). Mixture will be soft.
8. Stir in 2 cups of flour. Add softened raisins to batter top and sprinkle raisins with a little flour before mixing them in.
9. Stir in additional 2-3 cups of flour to make a stiff batter. Add enough flour so dough doesn't stick to hands. Knead dough lightly on floured surface until smooth. Replace dough in greased bowl, cover and let rise to 3-4" above the bowl
10. Grease 4 cake tins. Punch down dough, divide into four sections and let rest 10 minutes. Pat dough into the cake tins slightly more than 1/2 full.
11. Melt one stick of margarine and brush the tops of each cake. Sprinkle each kuchen with 1/3 cup of sugar, then shake cinnamon on top of the sugar. Dip pastry brush in additional melted margarine and sprinkle generously over the sugar/cinnamon topping. Cover cakes and let rise until twice its bulk.
12. Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 20-25 minutes until crust is brown. Remove from pans and set on wire racks to cool. Makes four breads.

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