Festive Greetings with Stollen

It does feel astonishing to recall how a year has gone. And at this crossroad, I really would like to take a U-turn to live all those happy moments again but can’t, as there is no option. The only way to move is, move straight ahead, where I see a blurred image of a brand new year, waiting patiently to be discovered.

With this festive season, lots of goodies to be made, cherish and share. There are probably many recipes out now in internet for this festive season. My take on this festive season is being busy, cooking Christmas pudding, blueberry muffins and of course then stollen. And once we are done with all those sugary things, we will then make roasted chicken with gravy, roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower and colorful fruit salad. As of now, will share the recipe of German stollen.

Stollen, well it’s not at all stollen, it’s home-made to be precise. Anyhow, when I thought of doing it, their were many recipes out there. So, I read, re-read many recipes in the internet. Some of them were by professional bakers, some from home-makers and some were chefs. I don’t know what exactly a traditional stollen should taste, as I never been to Germany myself, so what goes in to making a traditional stollen in a German kitchen is somehow totally elusive for me.

 This is when I perceived two recipes for stollen-One was from here and another from here- last one seems more traditional to me. However, I did change the contents and their quantity to suit our personal preference. This turn out, soft inside and a nice crust on the outside. It was not overwhelmingly sweet or spiced, but a correct balance of it, as per our taste buds. And I don’t claim it to be authentic or traditional; it came near to the types we do get from stores over here.

However , if I do make it again I would like to follow instructions from the second link for stollen recipe.a traditional recipe I guess.

Now to the recipe- here is how we made it

Stollen – German Festive bread

Recipe requirements

• 1 ¼ cup of plain flour+ ½ cup of whole wheat flour or use bread flour
• ¼ tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of active dry yeast
• ½ cup of milk
• 1 heaped tbs of sugar
• 1 egg+ 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence
• 50 Gms of butter
• 1 cup of mixed dried fruits soaked in orange juice/rum/brandy
• ½ cup of raisins well soaked in orange juice/rum/brandy
• 1 tsp of nutmeg powder
• 1 ½ tsp of cinnamon powder

For the marzipan

• 1 cup of tightly packed almond flour
• ½ cup of caster sugar
• 2-3 tsp of rose essence
• 1 egg white
• 30 Gms of butter

Method

• Soak all the dry fruits in orange juice prior to making this bread, preferably two days ahead so that they turn out soft. Keep them refridgerated. You can even soak them in rum or brandy for extra flavorings’ have used a mixture of walnuts+dry currants+glazed cherries+candied orange peels+raisins.
• Now in a big mixing bowl- add in whole wheat flour, plain flour ,salt, and butter ( all the good brands have 25 gms marked over a 100 gms of butter block - so it’s easy to cut slabs) With clean hands you can rub butter all over the flour , so that you can get a coarse flour. Now add in active dry yeast and sugar. Mix well.
• In a separate bowl, whisk in egg + vanilla essence. Add this to the dry flour mixture.
• Start kneading the flour with lukewarm milk, about 7-8 mints, you will see the dough is starting to collect well.Leave aside and covered with a cloth or cling film, preferably in a warm place. Leave it to rise, mine took about 3 hrs.

Making of home-made -marzipan

Meanwhile make marzipan. If you have store-brought then you may skip this step. Otherwise home-made marzipans are very easy to make. Take the almond flour, caster sugar and egg white. Start mixing well and knead. Sprinkle some icing sugar over a working area and knead the marzipan well. This way it will help to collect well. Make a big circular ball of this marzipan; keep tightly packed in cling film and refridgerate.Try to use this up within 2-3 days.

Note- to get almond flour – blanch almonds – pat dry them with kitchen towel and make a fine powder in a grinder. To make caster sugar = Grind normal white sugar or granulated sugar in a grinder.

• Meanwhile take out all the dry fruits in a bowl, walnuts, and raisins etc .Add in ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon and mix well.
• After the dough has risen well almost to double if possible. Transfer that to a clean working area; sprinkle generously plain flour over the working area. Take the dry fruits mixture and start kneading, mixing in with the flour. Try to roll the dough inwards and then slightly flattening it outside. 
• When all the dry fruits are used up and have stuck up with the dough. Roll the dough into a shape of a rectangle slab of about 25 cm x 28 cm roughly.
• Take out the marzipan from the fridge, cut into half. Keep the other half back in to the fridge.
• Roll out the marzipan dusting it with icing sugar into a long rope type preferably 22 cm long which should be slightly shorter than the unbaked stollen dough slab.
• Place this marzipan along one side of the rectangular slab of the risen dough, or you may place it in centre as well .Flip the other end over it, covering the marzipan entirely and then turn the other side over top of it. Gently press the both the ends to secure and also the seams to seal the edges.
• Take out a baking tray, dust it generously with plain flour, place the unbaked dough slab over it, and seam side down. Cover it with a cloth or a large vessel. Leave it aside to rise- about 1-2 hrs.
• Preheat an oven at 170 deg C. After the dough has raised well, transfer it to the preheated oven, middle rack and bake it for 40-45 mints or until golden brown on outside.
• Melt some butter in a cup in M/W.You can add sugar as well if you wish to, I haven’t added extra sugar.
• Take out the stollen once it’s baked. Check with a wooden skewer piercing in to the core of the bread. If it comes out clean, the bread is baked properly.
• Now make some small pores all over the bread with wooden skewers. Take the melted butter and brush generously with butter all over the bread. Flip the side of the bread and do it this side also.
• Sprinkle some icing sugar all over for that magical look. Your stollen bread is ready. It keeps fresh for 2-3 days.

Note-There are many variations for stollen bread, some add cottage cheese to the dough, and some even add marzipan to the dough. They all are various means to make it soft. This bread turns out soft inside and with a nice golden outer crust. If that is what you are looking for in your stollen bread then go ahead and make it.

Happy Cooking Friends 

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year ....