The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

bakerking's blog

bakerking's picture
bakerking

I wasn't going to bake this weekend because I made some 'San Jooaquin Sourdough' with flax and sunflower seeds during the week. Last night my wife mentioned seeing a recipe for Stollen in the latest Martha Stewart magazine and I have noticed a number of TFL posts on Stollen lately . I recalled seeingĀ  recipes in BBA and also Crust so I drug them out and compared ingredients and decided to go with Reinhart. I have made his cinammon raisin bread twice before, it was a big hit, so I decided as long as I'm going to spend the day I might as well do it in a big way. I've never made Stollen before but I decided to triple the batch and make some Raisin bread. My wife said she had some little containers that would work for the Stollen for smaller gifts, so I divided 4- 5oz. pieces out. One of the other recent posts mentioned not being able to understand Peter's directions for folding the dough before baking, I agree, I was clueless. Yesterday there was a link to a grandmother making Stollen on a video and she just folded it over, it is supposed to represent the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths. Good enough for me. I iced the Stollen I put in the small loaf pans and powdered sugared the big ones. Instead of candied fruit I used Sunmaid's raisin/cranberry/golden rasins, dried apricots and dried cherries. Reinhart also gives lemon and orange zest as an option. I used Penzeys Spices' California Minced Lemon and Orange Peel. All I can say is 'WOW', what a burst of flavor when you bite into a piece, couldn't quit 'till I had four.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Baking,

Steve

bakerking's picture
bakerking

We are headed 300 miles tomorrow to visit our daughters so I had to bake last weeekend. The loaves in the back are Susan's Sourdough with kalamata olives and rosemary. The darker loaves are toasted pecan with blue cheese inspired by PR. The rolls are Floyd's sweet potato. It has been a great 9months of learning to bake. Thanks for the recipes and inspiration, this is a great site for learning if you take it one bite at a time.

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