The Magnificent Cook

Here is a video of my grandmother baking one of her favorite desserts: Kuchen. It was filmed on a 8 millimeter camera and has all the quirks that come with that. This video is fun and even involves a bit of magic. A big thank you to my Aunt Kathleen and my Uncle Tom for sending these along.

Below, I have the recipe for Kuchen. The video really does help when trying to figure out the construction of the master piece. I will try to explain to the best of my ability as well.

Kuchen (Swedish Tea Ring)

Mix together:

1 1/2 cups warm water and 2 packages of yeast

Mix together:

1 1/2 cups of lukewarm milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp of salt, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 of 7 1/2 cups of sifted flour.

Directions:

Mix both mixtures together until smooth. Add flour to handle easily, mix by hand. On a lightly floured board, knead until smooth (5 minutes). Round up in a greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place (85 degrees) till double in size (1 1/2 hours). Punch down and rise again (30 minutes).

Construction:

Roll out dough on floured surface. Brush with butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, apples and cinnamon. Roll up into a log roll. Pinch ends together to form a ring. Using kitchen shears, cut at 1 inch intervals toward the center of the ring, twisting sections as you go --forming a daisy like pastry. Video demonstration helpful here.

Bake on a lightly greased baking sheet at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes- until golden brown. Enjoy!