The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Stollen

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Stollen

Today is day 1 of a four week marinade for stollen filling.  I'm using Bruno Albouze's recipe.  He is on YouTube and has a website. 

 

Marinade: pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, prunes, raisins, candied orange peel, brown sugar and rum.  I intend to make my own marzipan, and plan to mix the dough and bake the stollen in early December, then store them to ripen and mature until Christmas.  

 

Stollen filling

pmccool's picture
pmccool

My current favorite recipe, posted here by former TFLer HarryGermany, doesn't require a prolonged marinade for the fruits and nuts but does recommend a 6-week or longer ripening period for the baked stollen.  So far, I've candied both lemon and orange peel.  I still need to pick up some cream and some currants, then i'll be ready to launch.

Paul

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Hi, Paul:

Could you please share your recipe?

Thanks

Yippee

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Candied orange peel recipe. Works for lemon peel, too.

Paul

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Thanks for the candied orange peel recipe.  How much experience do you have with this particular recipe? 

pmccool's picture
pmccool

It's simple and the results are good.  The broad strokes for all recipes is to remove the peel and slice it into thin sticks, then blanch and rinse, then cook in syrup, and then drain, sugar, and dry.  The process is a bit tedious but doesn't require lots of hands-on time.

Variations between recipes include how much of the pith is retained, ranging from all to virtually none, and how many blanching iterations are recommended.  I like the volume and heft, for lack of a better term, of retaining the pith with the peel.  I've used a recipe that only required the zest and wasn't as happy with the outcome, although the flavor was fine.  For my personal tastes, two rounds of blanching and rinsing are enough before the syrup stage.  If you want to reduce bitter notes even further, a third blanch and rinse can be performed.

Paul

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Thanks Paul.  To the earlier question, how much experience do you have with the recipe you posted? 

pmccool's picture
pmccool

I usually only make one or two batches a year.  Consequently, I don’t always use the same recipe.  The process remains the same, regardless of recipe; I just need to be reminded of quantities.  

Paul

Jeff P's picture
Jeff P

Hello Paul. Thanks for sharing the link. That looks great! 

One question: it says to adjust the cook time based on the size of the stollen you're baking. How long do you cook for and how many loaves do you make? 

I was thinking of making several smaller loaves to give out as gifts, and don't want them to burn. Any suggestions? 

Thanks!

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Sounds great!  Please post photos of the build.  Are you using marzipan?  Not all recipes I have seen online use marzipan. 

albacore's picture
albacore

After making a few Stollen bricks over the years, I had some heretical thoughts about their production, given that it's very easy to produce (and buy!) a dry, solid and stodgy product, only made moist by the marzipan sausage down the middle.

It occurred to me that soaking the fruit in rum, although traditional, might not be a good thing, as the alcohol could be affecting the ability of the yeast to leaven effectively. Perhaps cold tea would be better, bara brith style.

Given the high sugar levels, use an osmotolerant yeast, as recommended by Suas.

And lastly, replace the whole eggs by egg yolks, as for pannetone (they're not stodgy are they?)

Lance

Robyn's picture
Robyn

That's a great idea using a ziplock bag for the marinating - I will be using that for my Christmas fruit (for cake) mix.

The orange peel recipe looks a bit labour intensive - to make it easier - after the clean water boiling to remove the bitterness, try adding the peel to a lower-sugar syrup. Bring to simmer and simmer for two minutes. (Put the lid on for the last 30 seconds and don't lift the lid - it will still be in there! That keeps out any mould spores etc.)

When it is cool, or next day, add a bit more sugar and bring to simmer. Follow instructions as per above until the peel is translucent. The pot can just sit on the stove until you are finished.

You will end up with a really thick syrup at the end. I cook mine down a bit more, store it in a jar in the fridge and use it when I make marmalade. (Adjust the sugar for the marmalade recipe accordingly.)

You can also make glace pineapple from the cheap dried pineapple rings using the same method. I have tried it with dried apricots with varied success - the drier the original fruit the better the result. If it's almost too dry to chew, it should make great glace fruit!

 

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Recipe from Bruno Albouze on YouTube and his website. 


It will be used as a filling for the stollen.  

 

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Dough, after mixing and bulk ferment, before shaping

 

After shaping, before proofing

 

After baking, before butter and sugar coating

 

 

After butter and powdered sugar coating, before wrapping

 

Two stollens are now wrapped in foil and plastic, and ripening in a cool place until Christmas. 

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

The stollen was a success. Fruity, nutty, slightly sweet and with a nice marzipan center.  This is a candidate for appearances at future Christmases.  The wait was worth it!

 

 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Enough fruit and nuts for two stollen.  Maybe three.  Looks a bit crowded and dark in there under the crust.

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Thanks for the feedback @Mini Oven!  That was my initial reaction.  Customers (family members) loved the fruit/nut density.  I checked German language stollen recipes, and the fruit+nut to flour ratio was more than 1:1, meaning fruit+nut mass equal to or greater than flour mass.  Bruno Albouze's recipe, which I used, calls for a fairly high nut+fruit to flour ratio, to be sure. 

 

I look at this as a fruit/nut cake and less of a "bread".  For a comparison, I bought a German-made stollen in the Frankfurt airport a few weeks ago.  It will be opened and sliced for a direct comparison with my own stollen, using Bruno's recipe.  

From Wikipedia in German language, my translation precedes: 

My translation: Minimum 100 parts flour to 100 parts fruit and nuts.  Therefore a fruit+nut to flour ratio that exceeds 1:1 meets the specification below.

 

German version from https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen_(Geb%C3%A4ck):

Gemäß der Produktspezifikation dürfen Dresdner Stollen nicht in Formen gebacken werden und müssen auf 100 Teile Mehl mindestens 50 Teile Butter, 65 Teile Sultaninen, 20 Teile Orangeat und/oder Zitronat und 15 Teile Mandeln enthalten, dagegen sind Margarine oder künstliche Konservierungsstoffe und Aromen nicht erlaubt. Außerdem werden bestimmte Anforderungen an die Beschriftung und Gestaltung der Verpackung gestellt.[19] 

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Stollen bakers get your recipes in hand, procure your ingredients, and get ready for stollen season! 

 

 

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

 

Fruit and toasted nuts marinating in rum and brown sugar for 4 weeks.  Stay tuned...

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Gotta love a good stollen!

This year, I decided my holiday treat would be Jamaican Black Cake instead of stollen.  I have a little over 5 pounds of fruit macerating in a combination of dark rum and sweet red wine.  It's going to be hard to wait until December to bake it.

Paul

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

 and starts turning into fruit cake?

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Hi Mini Oven, thanks for the comment!  That's a good question.  What's your view? 

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Recipe from Bruno Albouze on YouTube

Almond flour

Sugar

Honey

Corn syrup

Water

Almond extract

 

Cook sugar and water to 244F, then pour in a thin stream into almond flour on a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.  Add a few drops of almond extract.  Mix for 5 minutes then form into a log and wrap with plastic. 

Abe's picture
Abe

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semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

Flour weight 250g, nuts and fruit weight 300g, very enriched with eggs, butter, milk and sugar.  Filled with marzipan.  Pierced with a skewer after baking and well coated with melted butter, then coated with powdered sugar.  Wrapped tightly with foil and plastic, and will be sliced at Christmas. 

 

Benito's picture
Benito

Looks delicious and even better for your effort of making all the ingredients from scratch!  Well done.

Benny

happycat's picture
happycat

So much planning and patience. Wow!

I think it's starting to convince me to try fruit breads. I doubt anything I've ever eaten has had so much care put into it.

semolina_man's picture
semolina_man

 

Stollens 2021.  The first is mine using Bruno Albouze's recipe.  The second is a stollen I bought in the Frankfurt airport in late October of this year.  Both are very good according to my taste testers.  Both are different.   I will make some adjustments to my stollen next year based on this back to back comparison.