VERA'S APFEL KUCHEN

VERA'S APFEL KUCHEN image

Yield 16

Number Of Ingredients 16

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dough:
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (12oz)
7 oz butter, melted, lukewarm
filling:
5 lbs tart baking apples (ie Granny Smith), peeled and cored
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 egg white
glaze:
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp water
Don't worry if the bottom crust of this apple kuchen, from Jewish Soul Food by Janna Gur, is soggy. Janna told me it is more like a cake than a pie (her grandmother Vera's recipe) and her aunt, the guardian of their family's recipes, uses margarine instead of butter for a slightly crisper crust. Janna still prefers butter and my husband Ray says it's supposed to be soggy like that - just like his mother's. I have been trying to make an apple cake like his mother's for thirty years - 'it's not really a pie, it's not really a cake ' and this is the closest I have come!

Steps:

1. Mix yeast with sugar and warm milk in a bowl. Let stand a few minutes until mixture bubbles. 2. Place flour in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Add melted butter and yeast mixture and knead 5 to 6 minutes for a soft, shiny dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours. 3. Remove dough from refrigerator and knead briefly on a floured board. Divide in half. Roll one piece to fit in the bottom of a 10x15" rimmed sheet pan or a slightly larger pan. 4. For apple filling grate apples on a coarse grater with large holes and squeeze out the juice well. Combine with sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add egg white to make filling more stable. Evenly spread apples on dough. 5. Roll out remaining dough to the same size and cover apples. (Dough will be quite thin.) Combine egg yolk with water and brush on surface of dough. Using a fork make a crisscross pattern on the glaze about 1" apart. 6. Place in a preheated 425F oven for 10 minutes and turn oven down to 350F. Bake 40 to 45 minutes longer or until top is browned and cooked through. (If top is too brown cover loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.) 7. Cool and cut into squares. Delicious cold or at room temperature.