Best yeasted Gugelhupf – Recipe

This heavenly tasting savory Gugelhupf with bacon is so soft and moisture that it is very hard not to eat the whole thing at once. A yeasted Gugelhupf can be made sweet, hearty or something in between like our version below. It is a perfect companion to a glass of prosecco, dry wine or beer while gathering with friends and family. But be aware, this traditional Gugelhupf from my hometown region at the German-French border is addictive and won’t last long!

Is it a cake or is it a slightly sweet bread? It can be both. The shape gives it the name since it is baked in a specific Gugelhupf pan or a high bundt cake pan. The name has several variations of writing depending where you see it. From French Alsacé and Southern Germany to Switzerland or Austria, all the following names are valid:

Gugelhupf – Guglhupf – Guglhopf – Kugelhupf – Kugelhopf –
Elsässer Gugelhopf or Alsatian Kugelhopf

And to make it even more confusing, it can be made as a classic cake (batter) or as a traditional yeasted version. But now, let’s finally dig into our savory bacon Gugelhupf. You can easily leave out the onion-bacon mixture and bake it plain.

How to make a moisture Gugelhupf

We recommend making this dough with a kitchen machine (e.g. Kenwood, Kitchen Aid) and the dough hook to ease the handling of a longer kneading process and a soft dough. NOTE: Use a digital scale to measure ALL ingredients in gramm (or oz NOT fl.oz)! TiP: use unsalted Irish, French or New Zealand butter and organic fine cane sugar

You need:
1/2 bag of EINBACK bread mix

Pre-Dough:

150 g / 5.3 oz of the bread mix

150 g / 5.3 oz milk (whole or 2%)

Main Dough:

Remaining bread mix

(15 g / 1 TBS Cane Sugar – optional)

100 g / 3.5 oz milk

100 g / 7 TBS butter

2 egg yolks

1 egg, whole

Mix-Ins:

1/2 cup / ca. 1/2 onion white or yellow, diced

85 g / 3 oz smoked turkey bacon (sugar- & nitrat-free), cut in thin stripes

1 TSP oregano

0.5 TSP olive oil

Instructions to make a soft yeasted Gugelhupf

STEP 1 – Pre-Dough: Very gently warm up the milk (use a small fry pan) to just slightly warm (baby-safe) and mix it with the 150 g of flour to a smooth batter. Cover and let rise for ca. 1 hour (or more in the fridge then until it has 2-3x the size).

STEP 2 – Prep Mix-Ins: Sear all ingredients on low temperature until the onions turn translucent, set aside to cool.

STEP 3 – Milk-Butter-Mix:  Put the remainig milk and butter In the same small fry pan, warm it up just until the butter starts to melt. Turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit (<40°C/100°F), the butter will melt further.

STEP 3b – Eggs:  whisk them together

STEP 4 – Main dough:  Add the extra sugar and the remaining bread mix into the bowl of your kitchen machine, add the pre-dough and the milk-butter mixture and start to mix on low until it’s 75% combined. Then add slowly the eggs, mix further until incorporated. Turn up the speed +1 and knead for a total of ~15 min. The dough is very soft and will stick to the bottom of the bowl and the edges, but turns away and to a dough ball towards the end.

Then add spoon-wise the bacon-onion mix until fully incorporated. (3-5 min)

STEP 5 – When finished kneading the dough is warm and soft. When you lift the dough hook, the dough will stick to it. Take the dough out of a slightly with flour dusted counter (not too much!) and fold it gently together, flip it over, shape a ball and put it back into the bowl. Cover and let rise for 100-120 min, about 3x the size.

STEP 6 – Grease your Gugelhupfform / pan with butter, sprinkle with breading or flour.

STEP 7 – When the dough has risen enough, punch it down, bring it back on your counter and shape it. No flour should be needed. Carefully flatten the dough into a round shape and poke a whole into the middle point. The dough is very soft, so don’t pull too much. Now you have a ring. Just fold the ring in itself to end up with a more narrow ring that looks like a crown. Lift that ring and put it in the Gugelhupf baking pan.

TiP: Check out our little video about the folding.

Cover and let rise short before the edge (~30-45 min). Turn on the oven to 400°F.

BAKE: for 10 min at 400°F on the rack in the middle of the oven. Open & close the door once, then turn down the theat to 350°F and bake further for about 20 min. The core should measure 90-95°C / 194-203°F.

Let the savory Gugelhupf cool in the pan on a rack for ca. 10 min, then flip it over and remove the pan. Let it cool completely, at least 1-2 hours to give it a chance to develope the flavor it is famous for.

Show us your savory traditional Gugelhupf!

Don’t forget to tag us when you’ve made it! 
@breadista.world on Instagram and Facebook.

Whether you want to serve it for your next brunch table or a reception, this delicious Guglhopf with bacon is a fantastic pairing for any occasions. 

You need only 1/2 of a bag of the EINBACK bread mix, and so you can use the other half for e.g. fluffy Cinnamon Rolls or a typical German Hefezopf.