(please click on image to see the entire pic)

With or without Marzipan

Traditionally Stollen is baked at Christmas AND Easter. It’s the same recipe. The only difference is that at Easter you have it for breakfast and is eaten together with hard boiled eggs and home cooked smoked ham, unusual combination but really delicious. Well, this is how my Bavarian grandmother always did it, and I have kept the tradition.

Stollen was as important in my family as pasty was to my in-law family from Cornwall. My mother was one of five sisters, so there was always great competition who baked the best stollen …. My preference was always the one my aunt Carla made. Of course I never dared to admit that whilst my mother was alive!!

Some tips before you start:

It’s quite an endeavour to produce a delicously moist Stollen! The mixed fruit need to be steeped in rum (or water … the heat during the baking process will cause the alcolhol to evaporate and just leave a delicious rum flavour) at least for a day.

The Stollen will taste best when it is allowed to stand for a few weeks (I know, I know, that’ll be the hardest part of it all). But if you can manage not to munch it straight away, wrap it either in baking paper or foil and put it well out of sight.

(For those of you, who are really daring, poke some holes into the baked Stollen with a knitting needle or kebab stick and then generously drizzle some more rum over it, then you seriously need to wrap it and put it away even for months if you can stand it – fridge is a good place. The flavours of all the ingredients will really come out well, then … plus it’s moist, moist!
To use my son, Titus’, expression, your tasebuds will have a party!)

All ingredients should be of the best quality and at room temperature.

Make sure that the yeast dough is kept nicely warm during the rising/proving process. At no time should it be allowed to cool down or stand in a droughty kitchen!

Oh, and sorry to all of you who don’t understand metric mesurements and temperatures.

OK here we go …. The day before:

100 g chopped mixed (candied) citrus peel (ideally lemon, lime and orange)

100 g peeled and chopped almonds

200 g mixed raisins and currants

60 ml Rum (at least)

Mix all that and let it steep in a covered dish over night.

The baking day:

50 g sugar

30 g fresh bakers yeast – break it up into little pieces

130 ml slightly warmed milk – mix all this together and let it rise for a while.

200 g plain (all-purpose) flour – sift the flour into a large bowl and add the warm milk yeast mix, which may have doubled in size by now. Gently knead it till it’s well mixed.

Cover with cling film or tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place, about 1-2 hours.

Then add to the dough:

150 g plain flour

150 gr unsalted butter

Grated peel of 1 lemon

1 Pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

If necessary add a little warm milk

Real vanilla from 1 pod/bean or 1tsp good quality vanilla extract

A few drops of almond extract

1 pinch of cinnamon

1 pinch of ground aniseed

1 pinch of ground nutmeg

1 pinch of ground cloves

1 pinch of ground cardamon

20 g marzipan (optional)

Mix all this together and knead very thoroughly (!!)

Again, cover it with cling film or tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place, about 3 hours. Test the dough after that time; it should be slightly springy when you touch it.

Finally add the mixed fruit and rum and carefully mix it in and leave to rise for yet another 10-20 minutes.

Turn the dough unto a floured work space, knead it again and roll it out into a rectangle (aprox. 20×40 centimeters). Fold it, then roll it out again into a 20×40 cm shape.

If you are using marzipan, form it into a 38cm long ‘saussage’ and place it on the dough.

Fold the dough into they typical Stollen shape, place on a baking tray, lined with greased greaseproof paper and leave to rise again for ½ – 1 hour.

Put a piece of greaseproof paper on top to prevent from burning and bake in a preheated oven.

Baking time:
50-60 min, pre-heated to 180′C ( don’t allow the Stollen to get too dark)

When done, while still hot, brush it with melted butter and dust with powder/icing sugar and leave to cool on a wire tray. When cool, wrap in foil or place in an airtight container and keep cool.

Just before serving dust again with powder/icing sugar.

Enjoy!