Rich Coffee Cake Dough
To give this rich, breadlike coffee cake a tender crumb and a melt-in-your-mouth texture, use plenty of butter, mix the dough very thoroughly, and make sure you let it rise twice.
Gather Your Ingredients
Before You Begin
The finished cakes made from this dough freeze beautifully, so we like to make the full amount of dough, bake two smaller cakes (as the smaller pieces of dough are easier to work with), and freeze one for later. You can use the full quantity of dough to make one large cake if you prefer (increase the baking time to 35 to 40 minutes if you go this route), or the recipe can be halved, as it must be if you opt to mix the dough in a food processor rather than a standing mixer. Between rising, shaping, and proofing, preparing these cakes is time-consuming, though not at all labor-intensive. An early morning start will let you make, rise, shape, proof, and bake the dough all in one day. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the shaped, proofed loaf overnight and bake it the next morning for breakfast.
Instructions
1.
Sprinkle yeast over warm water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle; stir to dissolve. With mixer set on lowest possible speed, mix in sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla until well combined. Add 3 1/4 cups flour and salt, mixing at low speed until flour is incorporated, about 1 minute. Increase mixer speed to medium-low and add butter pieces one at a time, beating until incorporated, about 20 seconds after each addition (total mixing time should be about 5 minutes). Replace paddle with dough hook and add remaining 1 cup flour; beat at medium-low speed until soft and smooth, about 5 minutes longer. Increase speed to medium and beat until dough tightens up slightly, about 2 minutes longer.
2.
Scrape dough (which will be too soft to pick up with hands) into straight-sided plastic container or bowl using plastic dough scraper. Cover container tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rise at warm room temperature until doubled in size, 3 to 4 hours. Punch dough down, replace plastic, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 4 or up to 24 hours. Alternatively, for a quick chill, spread dough about 1-inch thick on baking sheet, cover with plastic, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours.
3.
For further instructions, see any of the three related coffee cake recipes.
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