 Dec. 4, 2009 – This recipe, by former Bakers Journal
technical editor Sylvia Jenkins, originally appeared in our October 1976 issue.
Stollen is a popular item in Germany, Austria and many other
parts of Europe for all festive occasions. The Christmas stollen is
traditionally the richest of all. Because of the richness of the product it has
an extremely long shelf life and can be made many days, even weeks, before
Christmas.
Sponge:
Bread flour ... 3
lb.
Water ... 2
lb., 2 oz.
Milk powder ... 8
oz.
Yeast ... 12
oz.
Sugar ... 4
oz.
The water temperature should be approximately 100ºF. Mix the
ingredients together as for dough and ferment for 1½ hours.
Dough:
Butter or margarine ... 4
lb.
Sugar ... 1
lb.
Salt ... 1
oz.
Cream above together, then lightly blend into …
Bread flour ... 7
lb.
Sultanas or raisins ... 8
lb.
Cut mixed peel ... 1
lb.
Ground almonds ... 4
oz.
Allspice ... 2
oz.
Rum (optional) ... 2
oz.
Water ... 12
oz.
Mix the creamed ingredients into the dough and then gently
blend in the fruits, almonds, spices and additional water.
Rest for 10-15 minutes in a warm place before scaling to
desired weights. With an expensive, rich dough such as this, one pound would be
about the maximum.
Round and rest the dough pieces before moulding into a
cylindrical shape. The dough pieces can be left in this shape or processed into
the traditional stollen shape by pressing and rolling out the length of the
dough piece to form a space of about two inches wide between the two bulky
“lips.” The lips are pressed together as each section is placed on the baking sheet. Usually a rope of almond paste is laid between the two halves, which are then egg washed before being pressed together and baked.
This dough will require a final proof of 20-40 minutes on
the baking pans before baking at 375 F.
After baking, brush the stollen with melted butter and dip
into icing sugar.
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