Christmas Stollen

How to Make a Christmas Stollen

1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees F)

2-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

¾ cup lukewarm milk (scald and cool to lukewarm)

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

¼ cup lard

1-1/2 cups (170 g) unbleached bread flour

1-1/2 cups (170 G) hard white wheat, milled

2 tablespoons potato flour

½ cup almonds, chopped

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in water. In a large mixing bowl with a dough attachment, add milk, sugar, salt, egg, and lard. Mix until smooth.

Combine potato flour with the milled hard white wheat. Using a dough hook in your mixture, add the whole wheat flour mixture to the dough. Mix well. With mixer on medium to low speed, add enough remaining flour until dough handles easily and starts to pull from the sides of the bowl. Turn off the mixer. Cover bowl and let rest 15 minutes.

Then continue mixing on medium speed until dough passes the windowpane test.

Turn mixer off again. Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rest 5 minutes.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead a few times. Shape into a round ball. Cover dough a third time and let rest 5 minutes. Resting dough gives it a chance to relax.

Turn into a greased bowl, greasing both sides of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap that has been greased on one side. Let rise in warm place until double, about 1-1/2 hours. Place dough in the refrigerator overnight. Bread will rise some, but once cold, it should stop rising.

Fruit Filling Ingredients

½ cup dried, apples, chopped

½ cup dried, apricots, chopped

¼ cup dried, cherries, chopped

¼ cup raisins, chopped

1-1/2 teaspoons almond extract

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¾ cup fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Mix all fruit filling, almond and vanilla extract, and orange juice in a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, remove the dough and fruit mixture from the refrigerator and leave on the counter for 1-2 hours so dough can warm up. In a mess strainer, strain the fruit mixture.

To make the dough, roll dough to about a 10 x 12 inch oblong. Spread drained fruit mixture and the chopped almonds over the top and spread to the edges. Cover with chopped almonds.

Fold the dough over each side and ends to up to pull the dough over the fruit. With hands, gently squish the dough to incorporate the fruit and nut mixture into the dough. When the fruit mixture is incorporated, gently shape the dough into a ball. Couver and let rest for 5-8 minutes so dough can relax.

Next, with a rolling pin, roll dough to a 12-inch circle. Fold dough in a crescent shape by gently pulling half of the dough over the other half, leaving a half inch rim. If fruit sticks out, work to gently press it under the top flap of the dough. Fruit left on the top can burn. Press folded edge firmly, so it doesn’t spring open during baking. If pieces of fruit or nuts are sticking out of the top of the dough, gently pick those off and tuck under the top of the top layer of the dough.

Cover and let rise until almost dough in size.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden and internal temperature is 195 degrees.

Remove from the oven. Gently place on a wire rack and glaze with a thin powdered sugar/water glaze twice.

Let the stollen cool for about 30 minutes.

Then dust heavily with powdered sugar. Let rest until completely cool.

© Copyright 2023. Recipe Courtesy Shirleen Sando