Stollen

Okay, this is the last of my seasonally inappropriate posts (or, maybe not). I don't really stick to what is "seasonal", I think that good food is good food, so if I can source decent ingredients I'll eat strawberry icecream in December, and Stollen in June!

I do not discriminate when it comes to food, I’ll make anything from anywhere as long as it tastes good. I might bastardise it slightly (don’t hate me!) but I do it with love.

This year, in my culinary trip around Europe, I decided to have a go at Stollen, a traditional German yeast-cake, which is characterised by being stuffed full of marzipan, fruit and nuts. I added dark chocolate chips because I couldn’t help myself. It is *technically* a winter/Christmas thing. It lasts a good while, because it is brushed with melted butter which keeps it dense and moist. However, as with most foods, it tastes reeeeally good warm from the oven.

Ingredients

• 450g plain flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 100g caster sugar
• 10g yeast
• 5g salt
• 150g salted butter
• 250ml milk, lukewarm
• Pinch ground nutmeg and cloves
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
• 55g blanched almonds
• 125g dried cranberries
• 75g chocolate chips (optional!)
• Zest of orange and lemon
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• 225g marzipan
• To finish:
• 1 tbsp butter, melted
• Icing sugar

Method

Place the flour, sugar and almonds in a large bowl.

Camera had no battery during the preparation process, so this is courtesy of my trusty phone..

Add yeast in one side of the bowl and salt in the other, then add in the salted butter and 200ml of the milk and mix together.

Before the milk

Add the remaining milk, little by little and bring together to form a soft dough.

To a generously floured surface, place the dough on top and kneed 6-7 times.

In a separate bowl, add in the nutmeg, cloves, vanilla sugar, almonds, cranberries, chocolate chips and zests and stir together. 

Place the dough on top of this, and knead until all mixed and incorporated.

Cover with cling and set aside for an hour to two, to rise. When doubled, flatten out the dough and roll out to a rectangle of 45x 35cm.

Brush with melted butter, and roll out the marzipan to 35x15cm. Place in the middle of the rolled out stollen loaf.

Roll up to enclose the marzipan in the middle. Place on a lined baking tray, cover with a teatowel and leave to rise for an hour.

Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 190 degrees.

Bake for an hour.

Remove from oven, brush with melted butter and sprinkle over the icing sugar.

Leave to cool on a rack, and slice when cool enough to eat!

Mmmm, fruit and nutty..