Plums!

I saw this recipe for Plum Kuchen in Gourmet months ago, and it has been on my mind ever since. It looked like a lot of work, and I've never cooked with plums before, so I had some doubts. However, thinking about the different options for the Stone Fruit Tea Cake, I felt a little guilty for not wanting to try any fruit other than cherries in it. As my loyal follower, Nick, pointed out - plums are actually an easier choice, because you don't have to pit a million of them to get the necessary amount. (Plus he said that they tasted good.) Needless to say, when I got a flyer in the mail from my favorite grocery store advertising a deal on plums I ran out and bought some.

This recipe is complicated only in the sense that you have to organize your time well (it requires two 1 1/2 - 2 hour rising times). Other than that it is simple, tasty, and pretty. The plums are really good, they get sort of jammy when they cook and dress the whole thing up.

Plum Kuchen

2 1/4 teaspoons (or 1 1/4 ounce package) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water (105°-110°)

2 cups flour (+2 Tablespoons, separate)

1 cup sugar (separated into 2/3 and 1/3)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plain yogurt (not nonfat, greek style works well) at room temperature

1 egg (warmed in shell in warm water for 5 minutes)

1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3-4 plums (depending on size of fruit, and pan), halved and pitted

Stir together the yeast and warm water and let stand until foamy (about five minutes). If the mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast

Add 2 cups of flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt, yogurt, egg, zest, and vanilla to the yeast mixture. Mix for a minute. Beat in 1 stick butter, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Beat until smooth and shiny, about five minutes. Scrape down the bowl, and sprinkle the dough with the remaining 2 Tablespoons of flour. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm (room temperature) draft-free place until doubled (1 1/2 - 2 hours).

Spread the remaining 2 Tablespoons butter in the bottom of a 9-inch square baking pan** and sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 cup sugar. Cut each plum half into 5 or 6 slices and arrange in 1 layer in the pan. Stir the dough until the flour is incorporated, then spread evenly over the plums.

Loosely cover with buttered plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let rise in a draft free place at warm room temperature until almost doubled (about 1 1/2 hours).

Preheat oven to 375° with the rack in the middle.

Bake until the kuchen is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (30-35 minutes).

Cool in the pan for five minutes and then invert it and unmold it onto a rack to cool completely. (Be careful with this step, some of my plums stuck to the bottom of the pan.)

*I did not use lemon zest because I did not have an organic lemon, but I think that it would have been a nice addition, because the yeast tasted a little strong and the lemon would probably have tempered it. Update: I used the lemon zest the second time I made it and as I suspected it was a nice addition. Not only did it cover the taste of the yeast, but it also accentuated the tangy flavor of the plums.

**I used an 8-inch pan and it worked fine, but you would get more plums with the larger pan.