Stollen is a traditional German holiday bread with rum dried fruits and marzipan. It has quite a few ingredients but the process is not cumbersome so if you have a bit of patience to read through this and make it over one of these days when the weather outside is properly winter like (at least here in Vancouver, its snowing and its -6c) and you want to feel the smell of freshly naked goods and add some heat by cranking up the stove.
The Stollen has 4 components – dough, filling, marzipan surprise and glaze so get a pen :)
Marzipan surprise
Two components – plain marzipan and almond cream (creme d’amande) – you will need:
200 gr natural marzipan cut into pieces
60 gr unsalted butter
60 gr (1/3 cup) sugar
60gr (2/3 cup) almond meal (=ground almonds)
1 1/2 Tbs flour
1 egg (large)
1 Tbsp Rum
Cream the butter with sugar until pale and fluffy; add almond and mix; add flour and mix; add egg and rum and mix again. Keep in an air tight container until you need it (can make it a few days in advance).
Filling
90 gr (2/3 cup) raisins (preferably golden)
50 gr (1/3 cup) Glace cherries (I didn’t have any but I had sugared dried cherries so I used those)
100 gr (3/4 cup) candied citrus peel (usually sold as a mix of lemon and orange, mine had lime in it as well)
30 gr (1/4 cup) toastes slivered almonds
2 Tbsp rum
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all of the ingredients :)
The Dough
500 gr (3 3/4 cups) white bread flour
1 Tbsp dry yeast
250ml (1 cup) warm milk
100 gr unsalted butter
25 gr sugar
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
To make:
1. Add the sugar into the warm milk and sprinkle the yeast on top, mix and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes until it becomes bubbly.
2. Combine all other ingredients and the yeast and milk mixture together. Knead the dough until smooth.
3. Shape the dough into a ball and let rest in a lightly floured bowl, covered by a baking cloth or cling film for 1-1 1/2 hours.
4. On a lightly floured surface flatten your dough, sprinkle with the “filling” and incorporate it into the dough by folding it.
5. Form again into a ball and back into the bowl for 1/2 hour.
6. On a lightly floured surface cut the dough in half. Flatten each piece into a rectangle, spread half the almond cream and arrange half of the marzipan pieces on each.
7. Fold one of the long sides (over the marzipan and cream) into the center, then fold the other side over the top, fold at the ends to seal the filling. Put seam-side down on a buttered baking tray.
8. Cover with a baking cloth and let rise for 2-2 1/2 hours until doubled in bulk.
9. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes until light golden.
10. Make the glaze (before they come out of the oven): melt 50 gr of butter, add 2 caps (from the bottle) of rum and mix to incorporate.
11. As soon as the Stollens are out brush each with 1/2 the glaze. Sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar and Enjoy!!!
*** I found that the rum was not very noticeable so if you do not like alcohol in your baking just avoid it altogether and if you do just double the quantities I have given – I will try to double them next year when I make it again :)
*** The quantities given are for 2 large Stollens.
*** The recipe belongs to R. Bertinet.
