Maudy's Cooking Journal!

Blech: sheet. Kuchen: cake. So a Blechkuchen is a German cake that is baked in a large baking sheet then cut into rectangular shapes.


I came across this recipe when I flipped through a Mennonite cookbook, More-with-Less. I was looking for a new recipe for our weekly cake/bread supply and interested in the unfamiliar title of the recipe. Searching on the internet, I found that the first page was dominated by foreign language, German. Aha! I guessed it right.

A day before, we bought some Red Delicious apples from Market Square Farmers' Market. The apples didn't look so appealing, so we were not sure if we wanted them. But the lady cut one for us to try, and maaann...it was delicious! She pointed to another basket of apples and told us that those were less sweet and the ones next to it were sour. We got combination of those three different sweetnesses and filled hubby's backpack with them.

Raised Coffee Cake (Blechkuchen)
Adapted from: More-with-Less

Ingredients:
2 pkg. dry yeast
1 c. warm water
3 cup warm milk
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp salt
1 egg
6 cup flour1 c. raisins combined with 3/4 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Combine all of the ingredients except the raisins until dough is smooth and satiny. Stir in raisins, and fold the dough gently.
Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.

2-3 red apples, thinly sliced

With back of spoon spread the dough thinly onto 2 greased 10x15" cookie sheets. Arrange the apple slices on top of the dough.
Bake 20 minutes at 375º. Cut to rectangular shapes.