Christmas Stollen

Sweet enriched dough, studded with dried fruits, frangipane and chewy chunks of marzipan.

 

Marzipan is one of my absolute favourite christmas treats, and if i’m not careful, I usually end up eating it all straight out of the packet before I have time to bake anything!

 

 

Stollen is not something I have ever attempted to bake before, but I buy one from the shop every year, so I decided to have a go myself this year and I am so glad I did!

This tastes so much better than a shop bought stollen, mainly because it has much more filling, and the dough is amazingly soft and fluffy!

 

I used a Richard Bertinet recipe from his ‘Crust’ cookbook which was surprisingly easy! There is a lot of waiting involved, and quite a few different components, but really once you have made the dough, its just shaping and proving until its ready to bake.

This recipe makes three very big loaves, so I have frozen one of them, to take home with me for christmas.

I will be bringing this along to Fiesta Friday#99 this week, hosted by Angie and co-hosted by Caroline @ Caroline’s Cooking and Linda @ La Petite Paniere. Happy Friday everyone! 😀

Variations: You could change the ingredients of the filling, for example adding some chocolate chips would probably be delicious!

Ingredients: Makes 3 Large loaves

The Dough:

• 1kg strong white bread flour
• 20g fresh yeast
• 400g milk, body temperature
• 200g butter
• 50g caster sugar
• 10g salt
• 4 eggs

 

The Filling:

• 180g sultanas
• 100g glace cherries
• 200g mixed peel
• 60g toasted flaked almonds
• 4 tbsp rum or brandy
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 400g marzipan
• 1 batch of frangipane

 

The Frangipane:

• 125g butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 25g plain flour
• 2 eggs

 

The Glaze:

• 100g butter
• 2 tbsp rum or brandy

To Make:

Combine all the ingredients for the dough in a large bowl and mix to form a wet dough.

 

Turn out onto a clean work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl and leave to prove for 1 1/2 hours.

 

Meanwhile, mix all the ingredients except the marzipan and frangipane, and a bowl to make the dried fruit filling.

 

Once the dough has more than doubled in size, turn out onto a clean work surface and flatten out into a large rectangle.

 

Spoon over the dried fruit filing and spread to the edges on the dough. Fold a few times to incorporate the filling, then form into a ball and return to the bowl. Leave to prove for another half hour.

 

Meanwhile make the frangipane by creaming together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then fold in the almonds, eggs and flour until the mixture forms a smooth paste. Set aside.

 

Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface and cut into three equal pieces.

Roll out each piece of dough, smooth side down into a rectangle about 20 x 15cm. Spread with a few tbsp of frangipane, and scatter over a few handfulls of marzipan chunks.

Fold one of the long sides over the filling, an then the other. fold in the ends, and then lay the loaf, seam side down on a greased baking tray. Repeat for the other two loaves.

Leave to rest for 2 hours until doubled in size, and preheat the oven to 170C.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until light golden brown and cooked all the way through.

Meanwhile melt the butter and rum together in a small pan to create the glaze.

Once removed from the oven, liberally coat in the glaze and dust with icing sugar.

Serve and enjoy!