Stollen
I've been lurking, posting, and questioning The Fresh Loaf for some years now and I figure i could share for the holidays.
Christmas Stollen:
This is an odd recipe but man it is delicious. I guess the only odd thing is all the yeast goes into the sponge. Usually I see this and make adjustments to a forumla immediately but this one is just so good in the end I haven't changed a thing.
Makes 12 - 500 gram - loaves
Soaker
Diced Candied Lemon Peel 100 g
Diced Candied Orange Peel 100 g
Orange Zest from 3 oranges
Lemon Zest from 3 lemons
Raisins 1350 g
Almonds, sliced (toasted) 300 g
Walnuts (toasted) 150 g
Pecans (toasted) 150 g
Vanilla Beans 2
Spiced Rum 1/2 Cup
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Mix All together and let stand at room temp 12-24 hours.
(Don't forget to remove the vanilla bean husks. I add to my vanilla sugar or my bottle of rum.
Sponge:
Whole Milk, scalded and cooled 666 g
Malted Bread Flour 666 g
Yeast, instant 40 g
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Mix together and let sit at room temp between 1-4 hours pending temps of room and ingredients. I look for it to double and then proceed as I think this is mostly a kick start for the yeast to get going in this heavy bread.
Dough:
Malted Bread Flour 1333 g
Butter, unsalted and softened 900 g
Sugar 270 g
Sea Salt 40 g
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Place Sponge in a mixing bowl with hook attatchment. Add Flour Butter and Sugar. Mix on Speed 1 until all is incorporated.
Add Salt and continue until blended in. Raise speed to medium and mix until medium development. (showing elasticity but not passing the window pane test)
Add soaker and let rest a few minutes. Now mix on speed 1 until fruit is getting incorporated. Turn to speed 2 and continue until dough is smooth and the fruit well dispersed.
Bulk Ferment: 2 hours
Shape: See online tutorials on stollen shaping (its really easy)
Proof: 2 hours
Bake at 325 for 25-35 minutes. As soon as they come out brush with melted butter and toss with vanilla sugar (regular sugar works too)
Now dust top, bottom, sides with powdered sugar while still warm.
Let cool comepletely.
Now heavily dust the entire loaf with powdered sugar and wrap tightly in parchment. Place in an airtight container and age up to a month.
This is delicious fresh but becomes creamier over time.
Happy Baking
Josh
Josh, Thx. for posting your stollen recipe. Looks like a good one!
I love to make Christmas stollen and have tried many versions--some excellent and some not so much! Yours is very interesting to me--about the first one I've seen with walnuts and pecans--usually I see almonds for the nuts. The addition of the pecans sort of puts a Southern slant on yours and that might be fun. To follow up with the southern theme I wonder how bourbon would work for a maceration of the fruit...? T'would be yet another twist in the much varied stollen recipe collection here on Fresh Loaf. And probably one that the purists might fret about but seems like it might work. Just me rambling...!
I've got a poolish going right now and am gathering together my ingredients to get stollen baking.
Merry Christmas. J.
I'll be honest I haven't had much Stollen in my life and I assumed when making it for the holidays I would like it as much as a fruit cake. Which is to say not all to much. This is exceptional. Its good out of the oven, better after cooling, buttering, sugaring, and just keeps improving for at least a month. If you have it in you make a bunch and save at least one for aging just to see how much better it gets. In a word it becomes creamy and all of the flavors have melded perfectly. Once you try this you have an advantage. You can make your stollen a month before Christmas. I have been using Spiced Rum that is studded with spent vanilla beans from previous batches (you can only make so much vanilla sugar). We just throw the beans in our Bourbon and Rum as they are all used for confections anyway. I'm sure whiskey will work just fine.
It's an odd dough and I hope you have fun with it. A little change I've made is to leave the nuts and raisins unsoaked. I just soak the candied citrus with the rum, vanilla beans and zests. When i soak the raisins they seem to bleed out into the dough a bit more. I like the look better with a cleaner looking dough. Plus over time all that goodness soaks into the raisins anyway.
Happy Baking and I look forward to hear your results.
Josh
Will start gathering the ingredients for your recipe this afternoon. I know I'm late for baking my stollen but I just couldn't get into the Christmas spirit earlier. But last night I found out we are having guests from France so I've gotten in gear at last.
I do have two stollen in the oven right now. One is based on Martha Stewart's long and involved Dresden recipe but of course I made major alterations and the other was pirated from the internet--maybe from Tastespotting or perhaps Fresh Loaf. Anyway the second is a lighter more Americanized version so they are quite different. Now I look forward to trying yours--maybe it will be ready for the Feast of the Epiphany Jan 6.
I've had some fun reading all the different versions here on Fresh Loaf. It would be fun to be able to have a Stollen 'Taste-Off'!