How to Bake Stollen

Makes: 4 loaves

Preparation time: 2-3 days

Cooking time: 45 mins

Ingredients needed to make Stollen:

• ½ cup rye flour
• 3 ½ cups all purpose flour, divided
• 2 ¼ tsp dry active yeast
• ½ cup + 3 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• ½ cup warm milk
• 1 ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 egg yolk
• ¼ cup water
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 cup orange juice
• ½ cup candied ginger, chopped
• 1 cup almonds, sliced
• 2/3 cup raisins
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• ½ cup dried cherries
• 1 ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ cup powdered sugar

Cooking instructions for Stollen:

• Toss the dried fruits together in a small bowl and add a splash of orange juice to it; set aside for an hour to soak.
• Soak the almonds in water, in a separate bowl and set aside for an hour.
• Stir the yeast into warm milk until mixed well and fold in a cup of all purpose flour until well combined; set aside for an hour in a warm place.
• Place rest of the all purpose flour in a large mixing bowl, along with the rye flour, ½ cup sugar, orange zest, ground spices and a dash of salt.
• Stir them all together until they are mixed thoroughly and add a splash of vanilla extract into it.
• Drizzle a cup of melted butter over the above mixture, followed by a splash of honey as well as egg yolk and beat the thoroughly into a smooth blend.
• Pour 1/3 of the yeast-flour mixture into the batter at intervals while folding it into the mixture after each addition.
• Continue to whisk the mixture for another 4 minutes or until it smooth out.
• Drain the soaked dried fruits as well as almonds into the dough, followed by the candied ginger and fold them into the dough until distributed uniformly throughout the mixture.
• Knead the dough on a lightly-floured working counter for a minute and wrap it up in a kitchen towel.
• Let it stand for an hour in a warm place until it rises up and punch it with your knuckles to deflate.
• Wrap it back again and set aside for another hour to let it rise again to double its size.
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Split the dough into 4 equal portions and shape each portion into an oval-shaped loaf.
• Place them on the baking sheet and spread a kitchen towel on top to cover; let it rest for yet another hour.
• Meanwhile, warm up your oven to 350 degrees F and bake the fruit bread for about 45 minutes or until they turn dark brown in colour.
• Remove the breads from the oven and paint their surface with rest of the melted butter.
• Let it stand to allow the butter to seep into the breads and dust with powdered sugar.
• Wrap each bread with a plastic sheet and let it mature for a couple of days.
• Slice and serve.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Last Updated on February 20, 2013 by