Gabi’s Streusel Kuchen

This is our favorite breakfast treat while staying at Gabi and Erdmann’s hotel in Idstein, Germany. Of course, it is good for brunch or an afternoon snack, as well. The base of the kuchen (pronounced koo-hen with a guttural h) is a sweet yeast bread which is covered with fruit and then topped with a streusel (pronounced stroi-sel). Gabi says you can use any kind of fruit you want or have on hand, but peaches and cherries seem to be more traditional. She suggests sliced apples are a tasty version, however, in many areas of the country, no fruit is used at all.

Bread Dough:

1 cake fresh yeast (42 g) or 1.5 pkg (7 g each) dried yeast       450 grams flour 3¾ cups 15 ounces 100 grams butter ⅜ cup 3.5 ounces 100 grams sugar ½ cup 3.5 ounces 1 large egg         1 pinch salt         250 ml milk 1 cup

Streusel:

375 grams flour 3¼ cups 13 ounces 250 grams sugar 1¼ cups 9 ounces 250 grams butter 1⅛ cups 9 ounces 1 pinch cinnamon (optional, Gabi doesn’t use it)         65 grams sliced almonds (optional, Gabi doesn’t use it) ¾ cup 2 ¼ ounces

Fruit Topping:

1 can sliced peaches (820g jar, 465 g peaches drained)   2 cups 1 jar Schattenmorellen cherries (680g jar, 350 g cherries drained) 2⅓  cups

Bread Dough:

Place flour in a large bowl and crumble the yeast over the top (if using dried yeast, add it to a bit of the milk (warmed) and let set 5 minutes before mixing in with the rest of the ingredients).
Add butter (cut into chunks), sugar and salt.
Mix egg and milk and mix into the dry ingredients.
Knead until smooth and elastic.
Leave in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled.

Line a 40 cm x 34 cm [16” x 13.5”] baking pan (or use two 9” x 13” pans) with parchment paper.
Punch down the risen dough and roll out or press into the pan.
Leave to raise for 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the Streusel and Fruit toppings.

Preheat oven to 350°F [175°C].

Streusel:

Mix all ingredients together blend with your hands until crumbly.

Fruit:

Pour the fruit into separate strainers and let drain.

Construction:

After the dough has risen the second time, arrange the drained fruit evenly over the top. The peaches should cover about 2/3 of the area with the cherries covering the other 1/3.
Distribute the streusel evenly over the fruit (using your hands).

Bake in a preheated oven for 20-30 minutes. The streusel should be just turning golden around the edges.

Quick Variation:

For a quick bread, use 1/2 recipe Blueberry Buckle dough.
Place in 9” pan.
Place one jar [680g) of drained cherries on top.
Sprinkle with streusel: 6 Tbs flour, 2 Tbs butter, 2 Tbs sugar
Bake at 375°F [190°C] for 35-40 minutes.

Notes:

For the 2 of us, I make a 1/4 recipe using one full jar of cherries (we like lots of cherries!). I also use only 1/2 the reduced quantity of streusel. If the streusel is too thick, the top of the bread will not cook properly, especially in the center. Form it into a 9” or 9½” [23-24 cm] shallow round pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

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