The Fresh Loaf

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Stollen

qahtan's picture
qahtan

Stollen

Stollen, Tried and True sainsbury’s

12 ozs white bread flour, I use regular all purpose.
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon yeast, (easy blend)
1/4 pint milk so this is 5 fluid ozs UK, and 4 fluid ozs U S.
3 ozs softened butter
2 ozs sugar
1 egg
2 ozs currants
2 ozs raisins
4 ozs sultanas (white raisins)
1 oz mixed peel chopped fine
2 ozs cherries, quartered
1 ozs chopped walnuts, (I left these out)
6 ozs almond paste
4 ozs icing sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Set oven to 375'

Mix salt with flour and place in warm bowl, place in low oven few minutes to completely warm flour mix, add yeast and stir in. Warm milk, butter and sugar, stir to dissolve. Whisk egg into liquid make sure it's not hot only warm, then pour onto flour mix. Mix well until the mixture leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly, now add fruit and walnuts if wanted. Turn out onto board and knead 5 minutes, until fruit are evenly distributed through dough. Return to bowl, cover with Saran/cling film and leave in warm place to double.

Turn out, lightly knead a moment, roll into oblong about 14 inches x 8 inches. Roll almond paste into sausage-shape about 13 inches long, lay down middle of dough, then roll dough round it, squeeze ends to close. Neaten shape, place on oiled baking sheet, cover with damp clean tea towel, when well risen bake about 35 minutes, at 375F. Allow to cool, remove from baking sheet to cooling rack.

Meanwhile mix icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make stiff paste, spread on warm stollen add a few extra chopped cherries down center, let cool completely, This recipe freezes well. I added extra almond paste.


Related Recipe: Stollen

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Great looking stollen, qahtan. I can't wait to start eating holiday breads.

JERSK's picture
JERSK

    They look great. What type of cherries do use? Dried , fresh, canned or does it matter?

browndog's picture
browndog

Beautiful, qahtan. You are such a gifted baker.

qahtan's picture
qahtan

 

 I use glace cherries most times,  ;-)))) qahtan 

 

 Thanks for compliments;-)))))

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

Just in time for the Holidays..Thank you Qahtan!

susanfnp's picture
susanfnp

That's really beautiful. I love the idea of cherries in there.

Susanfnp

http://www.wildyeastblog.com

JERSK's picture
JERSK

   This is beautiful. I'm making some stollen today for a party my wife is having. I don't know about posting protocol, but I love all the pictures, step by step process, and inexact recipe. In the U.S. it's almost impossible to buy non-homogenized milk or milk in that butterfat range. I think I'm going to ditch my recipes and just try to make it your way.

Ramona's picture
Ramona

Trader Joe's sells an organic cream top pasterized milk, but not homogenized.  They also sell an organic heavy cream also.  I don't know the butterfat range though.  I don't know if you have them around you, but they seem to have stores in most states.   You might want to try finding some local farmers for milk, they may not be able to sell it to you since it is raw, but maybe be able to take donations or barter for something, like a loaf of bread. 

JERSK's picture
JERSK

    That's quite a mixer you have there. Is that a diving hand mixer? I'm going to have to mix my dough by hand as it's to thick and too much for mine.

JERSK's picture
JERSK

   I've made the dough. Kneading by hand was no problem. It's rising beautifully, I couldn't find almond paste around here, so I had to make my own. Very easy and I kind of like it better, A little chunky, but so what. I've been baking like crazy all day. The semolina, currant and fennel bread just came out of the oven, I have a tourtiere in there now. It's a French-Canadian pork pie traditionnally served around here in the holiday season. I live in Maine, a very French-Canadian state. I'm ready to form the stollens. I'm making 8, some for a party and some to give away. A Jewish sourdough rye and some sem- whole wheat baguettes are rising. One benefit from the candied fruit. I had to buy a bottle of rum, So a couple of mojitos for me and my wife. No Cuban rum in the states though. For that matter currants are illegal in Maine and some other New England states. It's got to do with white pine blight. We have to get Zante Currants which are actually a type of grape. do with what you've got. No Trader Joes either. Lots of snow. Isn't Sweden north of here. Your kitchen looks very bright. It's getting dark here now around 4:00.

Patf's picture
Patf

Such a coincidence as I made stollen for the first time this week. I used a recipe almost identical to qahtan's, a Delia Smith recipe. Only I used water instead of milkand oil instead of butter, as I wanted to keep it parve.

12 oz of flour made two good sized stollens, and I grated the marzipan and scattered it on the dough.Mixed and kneaded by hand, no problems as relatively small quantities.

We think it was the most delicious yeast cake I've ever made, especially warm from the oven.

mrpeabody's picture
mrpeabody

I'm in the process of mass producing stollen as well.  I finish our stollen by brushing them liberally with melted butter immediately after I take them out of the oven, followed by rolling in granulated sugar as a finishing touch compared to a more traditional heavy dusting of confectioners sugar.  We give them out as gifts.  However, because of massive time crunch due to my job and family obligations, I've managed to split the dough making/baking/finishing touches over several days.  This is because I only have the evenings free for baking.  Here's what I do:

Day 1 (evening):  While I'm eating dinner, I let the dried fruit soak in dark rum.  I use a combination of raisins, dried cherries, dried cranberries, and chopped dried apricots.  The original recipe asked for candied fruit (which I dislike...too fruitcake like).  After dinner, I make the stollen dough.  But instead of letting it rise for the 1-1/2 to 2 hours, I stick the dough into an oiled bowl, wrap in plastic and then put it in the fridge.

The very next evening: Just before dinner, I take out the dough (it is pretty hard and stiff while cold) and divide it into the number of stollen that I will form (typically 3 medium sized ones or 4 small ones).  I cover each piece with plastic and let it sit in a warm spot to soften, resume rising for about 2 hours.  Sometime after dinner, I'll form the stollen and let it rise again for another hour before baking (which typically takes about 30 min).  After baking, I leave the stollen out overnight on a cooling rack to cool completely.

Next morning: Before I leave for work, I tightly wrap each stollen in aluminum foil, put them in ziplock freezer bags and stick them in the freezer.   Where they can keep for a good long time. 

When I need to finish the stollen: I take out the stollen in the morning before I go to work to let them thaw out slowly and thoroughly.  When I get home from work, I stick them briefly in the oven to get them warm (350 F for 10-15 min).  I as I take them out of the oven, I slather them all over with lots of unsalted melted butter, followed by rolling them in granulated sugar.  I then let them cool on a rack.  When they are cooled, I wrap them in red colored Saran Wrap and then use a red colored transparent wrapping paper to finish wrapping the stollen.  The ends of the wrapping paper are bunched up on top by a ribbon.

Last year, I ended up giving out 15 stollen as gifts (mostly because my wife kept adding people to our gift list).  So, I managed to start early and store many of them in the freezer until I needed them.

If you make the stollen the right way (start to finish in one baking session), it probably would turn out the best, but the way that I do this now is much more manageable for me and my schedule.

 

So, what do you think?

Mr. Peabody

summerbaker's picture
summerbaker

This is great info from everyone!  I made stollen a few weeks ago and loved it.  Now I have a few new techniques to try out as we get closer to the holidays.

Summer