What to use instead of currants? And, a few other Stollen bread questions.
Hello All,
Wow. I can't believe it's been close to six months since I've checked in here at The Fresh Loaf. Anyway, I am excited to get baking again! I hope that I am posting this in the right section.
Anyway, it's almost that time of year again, time to start getting ready for the holidays! I am starting my baking early this year. I was planning on baking fruit cake, but, it turns out I am the only one in my family who likes it, never would have guessed! So, after a bit of debating, we are compromising and I am going to start baking Stollen bread this weekend. I've never even eaten stollen, let alone bake it, but, I am very excited to try. I plan on using this recipe that I found here, http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25407/dresden-christmas-stollen , and have just a few questions.
First of all, what dried fruit would you recommend instead of currants? I live in a town with four grocery stores and I am absolutely positive I will not find dried currants in a single one of them! Same with the sultanas, I am under the impression a sultana is simply a seedless raisin (am I correct?) so I was planning on using raisins for that and didn't want to use them in place of both. Maybe regular raisins and golden raisins? I don't know, what do you think?
Second, the recipe mentions the use of Muscovado sugar - same problem, can't find it. Any reason I can't use regular granulated sugar?
And, lastly, it calls for ground almonds. Most of the other stolen recipes I've read use chopped or sliced almonds or other nuts, if any. Now, I'm a little confused, how finely ground are we talking? Roughly chopped, or more like almond flour/meal?
Thanks in advance, and thanks to the original poster of this recipe! I can't wait to try it!
currents, because small black raisins are currents. Golden raisins are Sultannas too. Mix half white and half brown sugar to approximate the Muscavodo. Use almond meal. i grind mine in a coffee grinder or small food processor,
They call it muscavado in England, so you can use our brown sugar. Currants are made from the champagne grapes, so you could use raisins or as dabrownman suggests, golden raisins, or a mix of black raisins and golden ones. The only time I made stollen, it had marzipan in it, but you could use ground almonds.
Interesting. I've heard of muscavado and always thought it was a raw sugar, like a finer turbinado. Learn something new everyday!
They work quite well. Also, bits of candied fruit or fruit peel can be quite tasty, though that will definitely change the flavour of the final result a bit. You could even go for dried apricots or prunes but I would chop them into smaller bits.
snocker all the fruit overnight in brandy , bourbon or rum!
I'd click the "thumbs up" for that :-)
Oh, trust me, I plan on it!
Thanks for the answers, guys!
My mother was born and raised in Germany with Stollen for the holidays. As a child while we lived in Germany, I loved it also- well, except for those dang fruit peels. I now make the family's stollen at Christmas, and I use a mix of regular raisins, currents, golden raisins, and dried cranberries. I suppose one could leave the currents out if they were not available. Any dried fruit will pretty much work, if you are not married to the idea of having the Traditional Stollen. I have a recipe I have been using for quite some time now, and I just mix it up as I go. We prefer the unfilled type of Stollen , and we never wait the 6 weeks- it wouldn't last in this family for that long untouched. I try to make it at least 2 weeks ahead, but honestly often we have eating that same day I bake it, and it is always delicious! My recipe simply calls for sugar, BTW, not brown or any other type of sugar. Good luck and enjoy!