and what better time than now, to enjoy Stollen. If you asked most people about Stollen, they would say " Oh no, I don't like fruit cake, not for me". That is because they have never tasted a good one or should I say an authentic one. You see, it is really a holiday German bread with a cake-like texture, which is due to the prodigious amount of butter in the dough. I vividly remember the first time I ate a real stollen; the dried fruits had been perfectly plumped before incorporating them into the yeasted dough, and the nuts had been lightly toasted to bring out their true flavor. My friend and fellow baker Michael London carefully taught me how to form the traditional shape. As you can see in Quentin Bacon's photo, the folded edge is prominent on the top of the stollen. That is the classic look which you rarely see anymore; anyone who really knows stollen will agree. You will see the photo I took of myself making this fold in the recipe below.
STOLLEN
From Sarabeth's Bakery:From My Hands to Yours (Rizzoli, 2010)
Makes 2 loaves
In old New York, at Christmastime, bakeries sold stacks of paper-wrapped and beribboned stollen, the beloved German holiday bread. When I serve samples of fresh-baked stollen at the bakery, the customers’ faces light up with discovery. Once I served it and a customer asked what he was eating. “It’s stollen,” I said. With a straight face, he replied, “Well, you should give it back!” This recipe, inspired by pastry chef Dieter Schorner, is extraordinarily light and flavored with rum-scented raisins and other fruits and nuts.
BAKERS NOTE: This bread uses the “sponge” method of bread making. An initial thin dough is made with the some of the flour mixed with the milk and yeast, which gives the yeast a head start on developing flavor. The rest of the flour is added with the other ingredients to finish the dough. • The bread’s folded shape and sugary coating are said to represent the pure white swaddling clothes described in the Nativity story.
Rum Raisins
½ cup seedless raisins
2 tablespoons dark rum
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Stollen
1 ounce (2 packed tablespoons) compressed yeast or 3 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
½ cup warm (105° to 115°F) milk
2 ½ cups bread flour, divided, plus more as needed
10 tablespoons (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, well softened, plus more for the bowl
½ cup superfine sugar
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Grated zest of ½ lemon
Grated zest of ½ orange
¼ cup (1/3 -inch) diced dried apricots
¼ cup dried cherries
¼ cup (1/3-inch) diced dried pears
1/3 cup (1 ¼ ounces) toasted and coarsely chopped pecans
¼ cup (1 ounce) toasted sliced almond
Coating
2/3 cup superfine sugar
Seeds from ½ plumped vanilla bean
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1. The day before baking the stollen, prepare the rum raisins. Place the raisins in a heatproof bowl and add enough hot water to cover. Let stand until the raisins are plumped, about 30 minutes. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels. Return to the bowl. Add the rum and vanilla and toss together. Cover and refrigerate for 8 to 16 hours.
2. To make the stollen, crumble the compressed yeast (or sprinkle the dry yeast) over the warm milk in the work bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Let stand 5 minutes, then whisk to dissolve the yeast. Add ¾ cup of the flour and stir well to make a thin, sticky dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until bubbly and doubled in volume, about 20 minutes.
3. Add the remaining flour, the butter, sugar, salt, almond extract, lemon zest, and orange zest. Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed just until the dough comes together. Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed until the dough is smooth, adding more flour if needed, about 3 minutes. Add the rum raisins, apricots, cherries, pears, pecans, almonds, and mix until they are incorporated into the dough. brown from the addition of the Gather up the dough and shape into a ball. Transfer the dough to a large bow. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume, about 1 ½ hours.
4. Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured work surface. Cut the dough in half. Very gently shape each portion into a ball—do not knead the dough, as you want to retain its light texture. Place the balls on the floured work surface and cover each with a clean kitchen towel. Let stand in a warm place until the dough looks puffy but not doubled, about 45 minutes.
5. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Press one ball into a thick round about 7 ½ inches in diameter. Fold the dough in half from top to bottom. Starting about one-third from the bottom, using your thumbs, firmly press a deep semicircular trough in the dough, reaching almost through the dough (see photo below). This will keep the stollen layers from separating when baked. Transfer each to a prepared pan and cover with the towels. Let stand in a warm place until the dough looks puffy but not doubled, about 30 minutes.
6. Position racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 325°F. Uncover the loaves and bake, switching the positions of the pans from top to bottom and front to back, until deep golden brown, almost walnut-colored, about 35 minutes. The stollen may look a shade darker than you might expect, but do not underbake them.
7. To make the coating, combine the superfine sugar and vanilla seeds on a half-sheet pan. until combined. Brush the hot stollen with warm melted butter. Roll each loaf in the vanilla sugar to coat well. Return to the pans and sprinkle with the remaining vanilla sugar. Cool completely. Generously sift confectioners’ sugar on top. (Store at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 days.)
Tags: Dieter Schorner , Michael London , Quentin Bacon , Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours , Stollen
Sarabeth replied to comment from Hanaa
| December 6, 2010 6:22 PM
Yes, a good sign. I had been working on this post yesterday and decided to wait until the middle of this week, and then boing, there was your question. So I decided not to wait!!! Have a great time baking the Stollen. I think you are going to be very happy with it. P.S. I added a picture to the blog of the folding step, it is not in the book. So, make sure you check it out. I took that photo on Friday when I was making 24 Stollen in the bakery. Check the position of my hands when you are folding the dough in half.
Thank you for sharing this fabulous recipe. I just heard you on the Martha XM/Sirius channel and loved listening to you talk about how you work in the kitchen. I will be making the stollen this weekend. Thanks, again!!
Wow, 24 Stollen. That was a busy Friday! :o) I took a closer look at the recipe and I have a (possibly dumb) question: how come the raisins are plumped in water/rum and the other dried fruit (cherries, apricots) is not? Btw, I don't use alcohol so I was planning on using water followed by orange juice instead of rum. Given the citrus zest in the bread, I think that should work.
Sarabeth replied to comment from Hanaa
| December 8, 2010 8:27 PM
Good question about "plumping". I do not want the stollen to have an overwhelming flavor of liquor, that is why I do not plump the other fruit. Not necessary to plump any of the dried fruits if they are soft and fresh. So feel free to omit the liquor.
I think I am cooking this on Christmas ...it sounds delicious!!
Thank you for sharing.
Ah, to live up to that photo. It's magical. Inspires Stollen making.
This is just what I have been looking for. Thank you for the recipe.
b
Dieter Schorner was an instructor of mine at CIA several years ago. Quite a character. He had some great stories to tell about days at Le Cirque.
I finally made the Stollen this weekend. Unfortunately, both loaves were quite dense (I somehow messed it up - yeasted baked goods are not part of my "solid baking skill set" yet). Having said that, the taste was amazing. I used zest from a whole orange and a whole lemon, and used all almonds, cranberries, golden raisins, craisins, dried apricots, and some dried figs, and used cinnamon instead of almond extract. That's probably how I messed up the recipe (with all my substitutions), but the taste was awesome. So much flavor! I ended up slicing the loaves and re-baking them to make biscotti. So a happy ending after all!!! Thanks for the recipe!
Sarabeth replied to comment from Hanaa
| December 27, 2010 8:00 AM
I am happy all ended well. You had so many extra goodies! The yeast was trapped. It was probably necessary to let it rise much longer than usual. For sure, it tasted delicious with all those wonderful flavors, and what a great idea to make biscotti. I have done that as well and it is really yummy.
I have had many a stollen, but never made one until last year. This is the second year making yours. I would like to add some either almond paste or marzipan to the dough. Any suggestions to which one or how to do so? Thank you so much for this recipe.
Sarabeth replied to comment from Regina Oelkrug
| December 17, 2011 10:52 PM
This year I added some of our almond filling that we make for our almond croissants to the stollen.
Funny that we are on the same page! Please send me your email address and I will give you the recipe, It was delicious!
Thank you, I am sure yours must be delicious. I will try to take a photo and send it to you.
The taste was wonderful but I think I overcooked it. The outside texture was not as smooth as yours. Any suggestions??
Sarabeth replied to comment from Regina
| December 21, 2011 11:03 PM
Sometimes mine are dark in color. This because of the outrageous amount of butter in the dough. Just sprinkle on lots of confectioners sugar and enjoy.
Sarabeth,
Any chance you could find the time to forward me the stollen recipe that you made with the almond filling. Thanks.
i love christmas, where holiday comes and people can give and receive large gifts
It's a sign! I ask you a question about the Stollen and you blog about it on the same day :o) Guess what I'll be baking this weekend? Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for responding to my "no eggs" question.