Our House, On the Corner of Our Street: Kuchen in the Kitchen

So my friend Robyn posted about Kuchen when she went to North Dakota. Then the other day she posted a picture of the last one that she had brought back...she was eating it that night.

I was intrigued...It looked delicious but I had never had one (I had never had any kuchen aside from the pannekuchen that I make in the fall)

The crust of these resembles a pie.bread hybrid
it is yeasty (like bread) but you can't handle it too much, like pie

The custard covering the whole fandango sealed the deal for me....yummmmmmmmmmoriffic

Today I made sour cream raisin pie...I am not a fan of sour cream or raisins but everyone on the planet seems to like it and I found a recipe that included BROWN SUGAR meringue...and we all know my weakness for brown sugar

OK...
I scoured the planet (well Internet) for a good, easy sounding kuchen recipe and found one online from a woman named Carol Just.

Thank you Carol...she says she can do it all in 2 hours...I was not that good but the kuchens were delicious.
Of course, I improvised on some things and next time I might do a few things differently but all in all...mighty tasty

GERMAN / RUSSIAN CUSTARD KUCHEN

begin by making a sweet roll doll.
I am assuming that your favorite sweet roll dough would do just fine

as I don't have a definitive favorite...I decided to try out the one given
next time, I might try a different dough...this one wasn't quite as bready as I would have liked...

Sweet Roll Dough
4 Cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening (I used lard because I am an old German/Irish woman)
1/2 cup sugar
1 pkg yeast (I used the regular old quick active dry yeast...you know...Fleishmans)
3 room temperature eggs, beaten
1 Cup warm milk (heat in the microwave like you are warming milk for a baby...not that anyone does that in the microwave anymore for goodness sakes...but pretend)

mix flour, salt, sugar and lard like you would for a pie crust (so mix it up until it is sort of crumbly...it won't be really crumbly because relatively speaking, you didn't use that much lard...) make a well in the center (you will add the wet mix to that later)

dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm milk. I waited until the yeast got foamy before I added all the other jazz...I needed to put in a tsp of sugar to get it going too...the yeast should double in size...I have burned by bad yeast before so I didn't want to waste the other stuff if I had to use a different package

the liquid should get foamy and the yeast should double in size. Add the eggs and the remaining milk to the yeast mixture. once the yeast has achieved the desired foaminess, you can add it to the flour mixture.

I mixed this all together with my hands (like I do for pie crust) but you can use a pastry blender or spoon or whatever. It should make shiny ball...not smooth but ball like. If the dough is too dry, you can add some more milk but add sparingly. Let it rise in warm place until double it's size.

To get a more bread type crust, you can punch the dough down after it has risen and then let it rise again...the more you knead a crust, the chewier and tougher it will be. This crust was a like English muffin bread maybe...very light and airy...I think perhaps I might try a denser crust (achieved by punching it down and letting it rise again) but this crust was VERY good as is (with no punching down)

I waited until the dough had already risen before making the custard but Ms Just says to go ahead and do it while it rises...maybe she lives in a warmer climate...It took at least an hour (closer to an hour and a half at least) for my bread to double in size...maybe yours will go faster...either way, there is no need to rush to make the custard...the bread won't rise that much in the time it takes to make it

The trick in making custard (I think) is to use fresh eggs and a double boiler. You don't have to have a double boiler to use the double boiler method...I don't have one...but I don't like putting anything with cream or eggs directly on a heat source...you can too often scorch the ingredients.

First, I find a pasta pan that a saucepan can fit into...I eyeball how high the water should be to sort of surround the sauce pan without overflowing then I add water to the pan and get it boiling.

I add all my ingredients to the sauce pan and then cook it in the pasta pan with the boiling water. The boiling water will cook the sauce pan ingredients without the possibility of easy scorching...I am sure it can still scorch...I just haven't done it so it must be fairly idiot proof.

OK Custard
the secret to custard (aside from fresh eggs and a double boiler) is to KEEP STIRRING...you want to get it to thicken to the consistency of pudding

6 eggs
1 1/2 tbsp of flour
1 1/2 cup sugar (I did 1 cup and it was plenty sweet)
3 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
cinnamon for later

mix everything together (except for cinnamon) and cook double boiler style until thick and creamy like a custard (I mix it with a hand mixer in the sauce pan and then put it in the double boiler)

so, now your crust should be double the size you started with. You need to use a sharp knife and cut it into 6 equal pieces. Rub some Crisco or lard on your hands (so the dough doesn't stick). Take a hunk and work it into a ball that you then will flatten like a pancake. Once it gets into a pancake shape, put it in a pie pan and flatten it to the sides...work a little of it up the sides if you can but don't worry if you can't. (by the way, this recipe makes 6 kuchens but the custard only is enough for 5...I made a kolacky with the extra one)

repeat for all pie pans (5 9inch pie pans or 6 8inch pie pans)

then top with the desired fruit of your choice...
I used prunes (bought dried prunes then soaked them in hot water for a couple of minutes then I tore them in half), 2 apricots (they make a canned fruit filling that is great...half a can for each kuchen seemed right) poppy seed (same canned version) and then I left 1 plain

after your fruit is assembled, add two ladles full of the custard over the fruit. Tilt a little so you cover all the fruit, then top each one with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar.

bake at 350 for 20 minutes (since I was cooking them all, I did 35 approx.) I checked them every 5 minutes after the 20 min time...basically you want the crusts a delicious brown. Remove from oven and let rest. We waited a whole 15 minutes before we cut into one

Apricot Kuchen

yummmmmooooooooo

I can't make this turn :[ but these are 4 of the kuchens

these kuchens were yummy!!!!

On to today's sour cream raisin pie.

I have never tried to make this before (as sour cream and raisins are two of my not so favorite things and the honey bread wasn't honey-esque so the fact that this was a pie still made me nervous)

I thawed out one of my pie crusts (remember??? they are enough for a double crust pie so I knew I would have enough for pie crust cookies which is sort of what convinced me to go through with it) and got to cooking

preheat oven to 400

roll out your dough as you would normally and cook for 7-10 minutes (you can also buy a premade 9 inch crust and cook according to directions...cheater)

4 1/2 tsps cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 egg yolks beaten
1 cup raisins
1 tbsp lemon juice

Meringue Topping
3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
6 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

in a medium sauce pan mix together cornstarch, sugar, salt and nutmeg. Mix in the sour cream until smooth. Add beaten egg yolks, raisins and lemon juice (I did NOT have lemon juice....do you believe it? I used lime juice instead and maybe a tsp instead of a tablespoon...ugh)

cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it thickens (like pudding)

Pour into prepared crust

in a large bowl (preferably glass or metal but it you are like me, go ahead and use plastic...you may need some extra cream of tartar...i used about 1/4 tsp extra after I started mixing so 1/2 tsp altogether) mix egg whites with cream of tarter until it is foamy. Add the brown sugar, 1 tbsp at a time and keep beating until it is glossy and stiff peaks form (this takes FOREVER but it does happen) when stiff peaks form, beat in the vanilla.

top your filling and pie crust with the meringue making sure to seal the edges of the meringue to the pie crust. You can get all fancy and make swoopy peaks on top of your pie...it looks pretty that way

bake in 400 degree oven for about 12 mins. or until the peaks are a nice golden brown

let pie cook and eat...

ours is for dessert tonight...I will let you know if it is good...Finn liked the meringue for sure!!!