Method

Soaked Raisins

1. Into a small saucepan, add all the ingredients for the soaked raisins. Bring it to a boil and then pour the mixture into a tupperware. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours, ideally overnight.

Brioche Dough

1. For the brioche dough, add all the ingredients, except the butter, to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.

2. Mix for 10 minutes on a medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

3. After 10 minutes, add the butter slowly, a few cubes at a time. It helps to squeeze the cold butter in between your fingers gently just before you add it into the mixer. 

4. Once all the butter has been added, continue to mix the dough until it is pulling away from the sides of the mixer and the dough passes the windowpane test. 

5. Right at the end, drain the soaked raisins and briefly mix these in. We don’t want to knead them for too long or it will discolour the dough.

6. Scoop the dough out of the bowl, and shape it into a round ball using a dough scraper before lifting it into a lightly oiled bowl.

7. Allow the dough to proof for 2 hours at room temperature. It should double in size. 

8. While it is proofing, lightly butter your Kugelhopf tin and coat the inside with flour, before tipping out the excess.

9. Once the dough has proofed, remove it from the bowl, knocking out the air.

10. Cut it into two equal 400g pieces of dough. 

11. Carefully shape each piece into a ball, then with one of the dough balls, use your fingers to press a hole in the middle, creating a donut shape. 

12. Confidently lift it into the greased tin and cover the tin with cling film. 

13. With the other piece of dough, simply shape it into a ball and place it back into the bowl. Cover the surface of the dough and the bowl with cling film. Place both the tin and the bowl in the fridge overnight. 

14. The next day, leave the tin at room temperature and proof for 2-3 hours, while leaving the other dough in the fridge. 

15. Before baking, preheat the oven to 170C/355F Non-Fan Assisted.

16. Once proofed, the dough should have doubled, to just below the top edge of the tin. Bake the dough for around 35 minutes, it should be a golden colour and register 95C/203F when a digital thermometer is inserted in the middle.

17. Allow it to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then flip it out and use a pastry brush to cover the entire dough in melted butter, before rolling in sugar. 

18. Allow to cool before serving. 

19. You can now remove the second dough from the fridge, and re-use the tin. Shape it into a donut again by piercing a hole in the centre and lift it into a the lightly greased tin.

20. Cover the tin with a tea towel and allow it to rise again until doubled – about 2-3 hours at room temperature. Bake as per step 16/17.