Danielle's Stollen Recipe
This recipe does have plenty of steps, but plan ahead and you'll find it simpler than you think. Once you've made the initial dough, you can leave it in the fridge overnight and come back to it the next day. This makes 2 stollen. The key is in the finishing, take time to dose liberally with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. A touch of icing sugar is optional. If you are not a fan of marzipan, simply leave it out. Many traditional versions have no marzipan.
Equipment
- Stand mixer, baking trays, pastry brush, tea towels or large plastic bags
Ingredients
- 250 grams bread flour plus extra for dusting
- 10 grams fresh yeast or 10 gr dried instant yeast
- 15 grams caster sugar
- 100 millilitres whole milk at room temperature or warm slightly
- 100 grams unsalted butter
- 5 grams ground ginger
- 5 grams salt
- 1 large egg
- Fruit to soak
- 50 grams raisins
- 50 grams dried or glace cherries roughly chopped
- 50 grams mixed peel roughly chopped
- 25 grams candied stem ginger roughly chopped
- 35 millilitres rum or use cointreau or similar
- Filling
- 150 grams marzipan
- 30 grams pecans toasted
- For brushing the stollen
- 30 grams unsalted butter
- Cinnamon sugar
- 50 grams caster sugar
- 10 grams ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Put all the dried fruits in a bowl and add the rum. Soak for as long as possible preferably overnight.
- Use a stand mixer if possible to mix this dough. Add the flour to the mixing bowl, lightly rub in the fresh yeast or add the dried yeast. Add the sugar, salt and the ground ginger. Mix the egg and milk together and add to the dry mixture. Mix on a low speed for about 5 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix a further 3 minutes.
- Turn down to a low speed and add cubed butter. Allow to mix in roughly for a further 3 minutes, then increase the speed to medium. When the mixture comes away from the bowl cleanly or the temperature is between 24° and 26°C it is ready. This is quite a soft dough.
- Shape into a ball and return to the mixing bowl to prove (about 1.5 hours) covered with a just damp tea towel or alternatively place in fridge and leave overnight.
- Toast the pecans in the oven or in a hot pan. Be careful they do not burn. Chop roughly.
- Flour your work surface. Turn the dough out and use a rolling pin to roll out to a rectangle. Exact size is not important.
- Scatter the soaked fruit evenly over the dough. Sprinkle over the nuts. With your rolling pin, lightly roll the fruit into the dough to make it easier to fold it.
- Fold the dough in half and roll out to a rectangle. This stops the fruit poking out of the dough when baking. Set aside whilst you form your marzipan
- Form your marzipan into one long sausage and cut into 2 even pieces weighing 125 grams
- Cut the dough into two. Roll each one out to a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Press your rolling pin into the dough on the right hand side. Place your marzipan into the indentation. You might need to adjust the size of your marzipan sausage to fit. You do not want it to stick out of the ends. Press it down lightly.
- Fold the dough over the marzipan roll and rather than lining up with the other edge, leaving a 2 cm gap. Press the dough down lightly. To give the stollen its traditional shape, press your palms down on the side with the 2 cm gap, creating a lip. Press down on all open edges lightly.
- Place the stollen on a baking allowing plenty of space for them to expand. Egg wash to avoid them drying out. Cover with a large plastic sheet or silicon sheet and prove for 1 to 1.5 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas 4 15 minutes before you put the stollen in. Brush the stollen again with egg wash before you put them in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
- Prepare your cinnamon sugar by mixing the cinnamon and caster sugar together.
- Melt the butter - you can use a microwave on the defrost setting to do this.
- As soon as the stollen are baked, prick all over the dough with a fork and with a pastry brush, brush all over with butter. Do this a second time.
- Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar whilst still warm not when cooled.
- Before serving dust with icing sugar. Well wrapped, this will last a week in a cool place or freeze and use when required.
Notes
There are very many different ways to shape a stollen, this is just one of them. You can vary the dried fruit used and the alcohol. Leave out the marzipan if you don't like it. Many traditional stollen are made without.
Tried this recipe?Mention @Breadbakerdani or tag #SevernBitesBreadmaking!
