Update 8th December 2020: If you would like to learn to make stollen (an updated recipe to this one) and other delicious Christmas breads you can join me on my online Christmas Breads course.
Well, this is the scene outside:
Poor little birds. The last two days we have had a lot of snow (well, to clarify I am talking about the Midlands region of the UK and we don’t get that much snow normally. So when it snows all day non-stop we like to talk about it. It’s weather and we are English!). This has meant that the roads are a no-go area so it was deemed a baking day. I have had a lump of marzipan (or almond paste) in the fridge since I made the youngest’s birthday cake at the beginning of December and have been meaning to make stollen ever since.
It takes a while to make, and you probably do need to be having a baking day to make this.
100g sultanas
100g raisins
100g currants
100g candied peel, chopped finely
100g ground almonds
50ml rum
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 x 7g sachets of fast acting yeast
225ml warm milk
500g strong white bread flour
pinch of salt and pepper
1 tsp coriander seeds, ground finely
6 cardamom pods, husks removed and the seeds ground finely to make ½ tsp
¼ tsp grated nutmeg
finely grated zest of 2 lemons
150g butter cubed
100g caster sugar
225g marzipan
icing sugar to dust
Method
Place the fruit and the almonds in a bowl and pour over the rum and the vanilla extract. Mix well and then cover the bowl with clingfilm and put to one side whilst you make the dough.
Place the flour, salt, pepper, spices, lemon zest and yeast in a bowl and pour over the warm milk. Mix to form a dough. I found that it made a stiff dough with some of the flour not mixed in but figured that this was ok as you will be adding butter to the dough. Leave the dough to rest for ten minutes. If you have a mixer with a dough hook use this to beat in the butter and the sugar. Then knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Make it into a ball shape, place back in the bowl and cover with a large plastic bag for about 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size. It was a cold day when I was making mine so it took a bit longer than this to rise to double its size.
Using your fingertips, gently prod the air out of the dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and prod gently into a square. Then roll with a rolling pin until it is about 2.5cm thick. Pour the fruit and almond mixture over the top and then knead the dough until all the fruit is evenly distributed.
Cut the dough in half. Cut the marzipan in half.
Prod one piece of the dough into a square and then use the rolling pin until it measures about 15cm x 20cm. Roll one piece of the marzipan into a sausage that is slightly shorter than the dough and place this in the middle. Roll the dough around the marzipan and press it well to seal the seam. Shape into a log shape and place onto a greased baking sheet. Repeat the same with the other dough and marzipan. Make sure you leave plenty of room between the two loaves on the baking sheet so that they can rise without growing into one another.
Cover the baking tray with the large plastic bag, making a tent shape so that the loaves won’t stick to the plastic as they rise and leave to rise again until they have almost doubled in size.
Remove from their plastic tent and cook in a preheated oven at 200°c or gas mark 6, or the bottom of the roasting oven of the Aga for about 40-45 minutes. If you are cooking in the Aga, check at 25 minutes and if brown, transfer to the baking oven for the rest of the cooking time.
Dust well with icing sugar. Rachel Allen recommends doing this when cool, but I did it as soon as they came out of the oven so some of it glazed a little.
Allow to cool before enjoying and if you can manage it leave it to mature, and then tell me how it tasted.
Kath, I ‘d like a piece right now with a steaming cup of espresso! It is reminiscent of the stolen my late mother-in-law used to buy each Christmas from a German bakery. Happy Christmas to you and your family.
And Happy Christmas to you Michele, very glad to bring back memories of Christmas past for you. x
Great looking Stollen. I made some marzipan free Stollen last year but I have to say mine was nowhere near as successful as yours!
Thanks Chele I am sure yours was just as delicious.
Stollen is one of my favourite things. You made it. I am so impressed. Wish I could come round for a slice with a cup of tea, no scrap the tea, a hot toddy right now. Hope you are well, we need to catch up in the new year but meanwhile Happy happy christmas and love to you all x
Thank you Rach, to share a hot toddy or two would be lovely. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to catching up in the New Year. You have been missed. x
Kath, hats off to you for that stollen – very impressive. I love stollen, but it’s the sort of thing I find rather scary to make. So I’ve never made it and consequently have never had home made stollen. And I bet it is delicious. I like the inclusion of cardamom. Was wondering which I’d rather have that slice of chestnut cake or a piece of your stollen – I finally made a decision – both of course!
With all of your bread making experience stollen should be a doddle for you. Give it a go. It is essential to have a piece of both that goes without saying.
ps – we’ve finally had snow here too. Yesterday the university actually closed at 15:00 which has certainly not happened since I’ve been there. the initial burst of euphoria didn’t last long though – the trains were up the creek, so I just spent a very long time getting colder and more miserable on the station platform. It does look oh so beautiful everywhere though, it’s really very exciting.
Oh there is nothing worse than being caught out in the snow. I am very sorry to hear about you being stranded at the station. Snow is great if you are at home and you have nowhere to go and you are ready for Christmas. Otherwise not great.
you have baked beautiful stollen—-I wouldn’t be able to patiently wait for it to mature, either!