Stollen is a full of fruits German bread that has nothing to do with the Greek ones. It is a traditional Christmas dessert, a period while Germans give it either the name Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. In the recipe that follows, the dough is full of candied orange peel pieces, glacé cherries, cranberries and raisins that are soaked into an orange juice/brandy or dried rum mix and there is a log of marzipan at its heart.
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Ingredients
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- 40 g candied orange peel ,
- 50 g glacé cherries ,
- 1 orange ,
- 100 g raisins ,
- 25 g dried cranberries ,
- 2 tablespoons brandy or dried rum ,
- 7 g dried yeast ,
- 25 g sugar ,
- 125 ml whole milk, plus a little extra ,
- 275 g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting ,
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon ,
- 50 g unsalted butter (at room temperature) ,
- 1 medium free-range egg ,
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ,
- 25 g almonds ,
- 25 g pistachios ,
- 225 g marzipan ,
- Olive oil , or vegetable oil, for greasing ,
- Chocolate icing to serve
Instructions
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- Finely chop the candied peel, and quarter the glacé cherries. Finely grate the orange zest. ,
- Place all of the dried fruit into a bowl with the orange zest. Squeeze the orange juice into a pan, add the brandy or rum and heat to just below boiling point, then pour it over the dried fruit. Mix well, then set aside for 1 to 2 hours to allow it to plump up. ,
- Put the yeast into the bowl of a mixer, then add the sugar. ,
- In a pan, heat the milk until just warm, add to the yeast and whisk to combine. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes, until the yeast has formed a thick, foamy crust on the milk. ,
- Add the flour, cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of sea salt. Using a dough hook, combine the butter, egg and vanilla, then mix for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. ,
- Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and set aside. ,
- Roughly chop the almonds and pistachios. ,
- Pour away about half the liquid from the soaked fruit, then add the fruit and remaining liquid to the dough, along with the nuts. Mix again. ,
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly for 1 minute. Shape the dough into an oval shape, about A4 size. ,
- Roll the marzipan into a neat log, about 4 cm shorter than the length of the dough, and place in the middle of the oval. ,
- Brush one long edge of the dough with milk and fold it over, completely encasing the marzipan, and press the edges together to seal. ,
- Carefully lift the dough onto the baking sheet, cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until nearly doubled in size. ,
- Preheat the oven to 180° ,
- Remove the cling film, then bake the stollen for 30 minutes, or until golden, risen and the underside sounds slightly hollow when tapped. ,
- Leave to cool on a wire rack before dredging with chocolate icing to serve.
