I know this is a little late, as this Stollen should be baked about
four weeks before eating, but you would enjoy it after Christmas if
you can leave it for that long The recipe is a German hand-me
Dresdner Stollen
800 g Sultanas
200 g ground Almonds
100 g finely chopped "Zitronat" (candied peel of a type of lemon)
100 g finely chopped "Orangeat" (candied peel of a type of orange)
10-15 Tbsp Rum
Mix all together and leave to marinate 24 hours in a covered bowl,
turn from time to time, to ensure even distribution.
1000 g Flour
120 g fresh yeast (have substituted 6 teasp dried)
250 ml lukewarm milk
150 g Sugar
2 Tbsp Vanilla sugar
1 Pinch Salt
Grated rind of 1 lemon
250 g Butter
100 g Lard
250 g Icing sugar
if you like 300 - 400 g marzipan for baking
Put the flour into a large bowl, make an indentation in the middle
and prepare a sponge with the yeast, milk and some of the
flour. While this is rising melt the butter and lard and leave to
cool to lukewarm.
Put the lemon zest, salt, sugar and vanilla sugar around the sponge
and then add the butter/lard mix and work everything into a smooth
but firm dough (I added a little more milk to make the dough more
workable) by hand, but be careful not to add too much or else the
result will rise to much. I tried making the dough in the kitchen
aid and the result was not as good as by hand.
Leave to rise covered for at least one hour (there's not a huge
amount of rise in this dough).
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out
to a thickness of about 1-2cm. Sprinkle approx a quarter of the
fruit over, press into the dough with your hands, then fold over and
roll out again. Repeat this rolling, sprinkling and folding until all
fruit is incorporated. This will take time and patience, but
persevere, it's worth it! The whole process has to be done gently as
the raisins may split and then the dough will turn grey - do not be
tempted to leave this process to your food processor or kitchen aid.
Leave to rise again in a covered bowl for at least an hour.
Turn the dough out and divide into two equal portions. Roll each
into a rectangle of 25 x 45 cm. If you want to add marzipan to your
Stollen roll that out to the same size about 1mm thin (between two
sheets of film), then lay on top of the rolled pastry. Now fold the
last 10cm of one of the short ends over and roll up the opposite end
towards it, which will give you the traditional Stollen shape. Press
together well where the folded and rolled parts meet.
Cut two sheets of baking parchment to the size of your baking
tray. In the centre of each piece of paper put a Stollen and put the
two side by side on your baking tray; fold over the extra paper so
that it is as high as your Stollen.
Leave to rest for min 20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 250 Centigrade
Put the baking tray on the middle shelf of your oven and pour 1 cup
of hot water on the floor of your oven (danger of burning!) and close
the door quickly. Turn down the heat to 175 centigrade and bake for
approx 60 minutes (toothpick test).
5 minutes before the end of the baking time melt 200g butter. Once
the Stollen are out of the oven, brush generously with the melted
butter. You'll have to go over about 3 times each until all the
butter is used up. Then dust all over with the icing sugar and leave to cool.
When completely cool wrap well and airtight (Ziploc bags with the air
out?), and store in a cool place for approx 4 weeks before
eating. Keeps for 2 - 3 months. Before cutting dust with some more
icing sugar for a nicer look.
Notes:
- The dried fruit will normally absorb all the alcohol. If you want
to avoid alcohol you could substitute orange, lemon or cranberry juice.
- The last batch I started without a sponge and with cold milk and
left to ferment over night - worked fine and saves time.
- The end result is a fairly dense (not light and fluffy) cake, which
tastes delicious, but those worried about calories should eat it in
moderation! I always have to cut each Stollen in half before
wrapping it, and sometimes I just have to cut a thin slice for
quality inspection. Tastes delicious fresh, but even better after a
few weeks!
- If anyone would like the recipe in German please let me know.
Happy baking,
Andreas
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