Stollen is a cake like German holiday bread, sometimes called Christstollen. Its Germany's version of the fruit cake. Eating stollen has been part of the holiday celebration for a long time. The bread dates back to the 15th century in Dresden, Germany. It is a yeast bread and contains dried fruit, nuts, spices, and may contain marzipan. After baking the bread is basted in butter and coated in powered sugar. It has a chewy crust and the powdered sugar adds a touch of sweetness. This recipe makes 4 small loaves. You can keep one for your family and use the other loaves as gifts. Or eat it them all yourself, no shame in that. This dough takes longer to rise that other doughs I've made. Plan for letting it proof for a couple of hours. Its best to do this on a day where you have plenty of time. Although it contains alcohol, you really can't taste it in the bread. I recommend going with a mid range rum or brandy. Its a waste to use a top shelf or reserve quality spirit in my opinion since you won't taste it in the end product. I recommend using a mid range spirit that is drinkable so you won't have a terrible bottle of rum taking up space in your liquor cabinet.
Ingredients:
2 cups of assorted dried fruit. I used raisins, dried cranberries, dried apricot, dried cherries, candied orange peel, and candied ginger. You can also use maraschino cherries. Use whatever fruit combination you like.
¾ cup of brandy or rum
½ cup of orange juice
1 cup toasted slivered almonds
4-5 cups of all purpose flour
1 TBSP instant yeast
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup of sugar
Zest from 1 lemon
Zest from 1 orange
1 cup of butter or margarine room temperature
1 ¼ cup of warm oat milk or regular milk (110 degrees)
2 egg yolks
Steps:
Cut up dried fruit and soak in brandy and OJ for 12 hours. You can also microwave it and let it sit covered for a couple of hours while you make the bread dough.
Start with 3 cups of AP flour. Mix in yeast, salt, spices, sugar and zest.
In a separate bowl mix butter, egg yolks and warm oat milk. I like to grate the butter to make it easier to mix. You don’t want the milk hotter than 110 degrees or it can kill the yeast. It will cool down some when you add it to the butter so it's not a big deal if it's a couple of degrees hotter than 110.
Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula. It will form a shaggy ball of dough. Slowly add another cup of flour until it forms a ball. Turn on to a well floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. This is where I add in the 5th cup of flour. After 10 minutes of kneading, put the dough in an oiled bowl. I use a couple of TBSP of canola oil. Cover with a towel and set aside for 1 - 2 hours until the dough has risen. I like to put it in the oven with the oven light on, but any warm place in your kitchen will work.
Drain the fruit and toast the almonds in a skillet.
Punch down the dough and add in the fruit and nuts. Squeeze out any remaining liquid from the fruit so it won't make the dough gummy. Roll or pat out the dough into a semicircle and add a handful of the fruit and nuts. fold the dough over a couple of times. Roll or pat out the dough again and add more fruit/nut mixture. Keep doing this until all fruit and nuts are incorporated into the dough.
After the fruit is mixed in, separate the dough into 4 equal portions. Roll out each portion to an oval, about 12 inches by 7 inches. Fold each side to the middle to make a loaf. The two sides should overlap some. Put each loaf on a parchment lined pan and cover with a towel. Let rise for another 1 to 2 hour. I can usually fit two loaves on 1 sheet pan. If you have a small oven, you might want to put some of the dough portions into the fridge while the other loaves are rising so they don’t over rise while you’re making the first two loaves.
Bake the loaves in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. I like to rotate the pan after 15 minutes. The loaves are done when they reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees. I test the temperature 10 minutes after I rotate the pan and adjust the rest of the cook time accordingly.
While the loaves are warm baste with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
After loaves are completely cool you can wrap them in plastic wrap.
Notes:
I like instant yeast because you don’t have to proof it. You can use active dry yeast, but will need to proof it before you start.
You can also make this with a stand mixer. I like making it by hand because you can feel the consistency of the dough and there is less to clean up.
The alcohol helps to preserve the bread. It's better to leave the loaf out on the counter. It will stay fresh for about a week.
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