How to make Stollen-A Daring Bakers Challenge

by Suzanne on December 23, 2010

in Breads, Daring-Bakers-Challenge

If your like me your first question is“what is stollen?” It sounds like a verb trying to be a noun, but in this case a noun is exactly what it is.  Stollen is a German sweet  bread that is traditionally made with raisins, nuts and citron.  I know…“what is citron?” I had to look that one up too.  Citron is a citrus fruit that is sort of like lemons and oranges but not really.  A picture helped me out, just incase you were wondering what it looked like.  Citron looks beautiful and I would have liked to use it but where I live we don’t have such exotic fruit at the store.

If your a fruit cake fan this challenge would be right up your alley, but I have to admit I’m not a fruit cake fan or like chewy things in my bread.  Although not a fruit cake fan I was excited to learn some new techniques to enhance my bread making skills.  Bread can sometimes be challenging, so Penny from Sweet Sadie’s Baking who choose the challenge offered us bakers many helps. One of the recipe references she advised was a recipe by Martha Stewart.  I liked the fact that Martha’s recipe had a video to watch so I wasn’t so apprehensive after viewing it. I changed the original recipe by Martha Stewart to something that I would like better and to what was available to me.  In the South pecans are grown everywhere and that is the nut our family prefers, so blanched almonds got substituted with pecans.  A Granny Smith apple in place of  dried apricots was more convenient since my bag of apricots got left at the store which happens more times than not.  All the apprehension disappeared once I got elbow deep in flour and began to see the bread coming together.  The bread dough was easy to work with and roll out, it rose well and baked well too.  I was pleasantly surprised at the whole experience.  I guess Stollen wasn’t all that bad after all but the true test is in the tasting and I’m happy to say it was delicious.


How to make Stollen-A Daring Bakers Challenge

Ingredients:
1 cup packed mixed dried berries (cranberries, cherries, blueberries)
1/4 cup white grape juice
1/4 cup orange juice
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup milk
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 3 tablespoons, melted
1/4 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 packages active dry yeast (5 teaspoons)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 granny smith apple peeled and sliced thin
1 cups pecans coarsely chopped
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Directions:
Step 1: First measure out the dried fruit and put into a small bowl, pour orange juice and white grape juice over and set aside.
Step 2: Measure the dried ingredients and sift together into a large bowl. In another small bowl put yeast into the warm water and let bubble up 2-3 min.
Step 3: Meanwhile in a small saucepan heat milk and butter on medium heat until the butter is melted. Beat eggs lightly in a small bowl and add to the dry ingredients along with milk mixture and yeast. If using a mixer with a dough hook turn your mixer on to low and let the dough get kneaded until the dough no longer sticks to the sides and is smooth.
Step 4: Add mixed berries and knead again adding about 1/2 cup flour to the dough. When the berries are incorporated into dough dump dough onto a floured counter top.
Step 5: Add the prepared apple, grated citrus peel and nuts to the dough and knead in by hand until the ingredients are incorporated well.
Step 6: In a large oiled bowl place dough in and turn dough around to get all side of dough oiled. Cover dough with sprayed plastic wrap or a light kitchen towel and let rise in warm place for about 2 1/2 hours. Punch dough down and dump dough out onto a floured counter top.
Step 7: Roll into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Roll dough up starting with the long side and roll into a cylinder, then turn ends into each other to form a circle. I used a large pizza stone to cook my stollen but use whatever is a large enough pan. Put parchment paper down on the pan first then transfer the wreath to the pan. Cut slits into the dough about 3 in. apart to make the wreath. Melt 2 T. butter and brush over the top of the bread.
Step 8: Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 min. on the lowest  rack. Cool on wire rack and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar.


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1 deeba December 24, 2010 at 2:22 am

Oooh gorgeous. Love how festive and light your stollen looks. I like the idea of apple in there …YUM!!

2 Lynn @ I'll Have What She's Having December 24, 2010 at 3:04 pm

Looks gorgeous! Mine is in the oven now. Bread always scares me a little. You did an amazing job on this challenge!

3 Jun December 26, 2010 at 5:02 am

Oh I am loving your site! I really love baking. And it is really helpful to have step by step shots of the baking process! Thank you for sharing the recipe. It is now time for me to try to bake my first stollen!

4 Suzanne December 26, 2010 at 7:54 am

thanks so much, your so sweet. I'm glad the step by step is helpful. When I'm making something that I think is difficult, I like to see how it is supposed to look.

5 Sabiilaa Saleem December 26, 2010 at 6:33 am

Oh gorgeous! You did an amazing job on this challenge! great photos! yumm

6 Suzanne December 26, 2010 at 7:55 am

thanks you it was a challenge that I ended up enjoying.

7 Emma @ Poires au Cho December 28, 2010 at 7:48 am

Looks delicious – I love that you put apple in there. Did it make it more moist around the apple pieces?

8 Reeni December 28, 2010 at 2:38 pm

Your stollen is gorgeous! And I love your pictures. I still have a half of stollen left that I'm slicing small pieces off of at a time – I will be sad when it's gone! I like it more than I expected to. Hope you had a great Christmas! Happy New Year!

9 Todd M December 30, 2010 at 6:15 am

Looks delicious. I used pecans too and thought they were great.

10 Jimena December 30, 2010 at 8:01 am

Your stollen looks absolutely delicious! I adore the picture with the cinnamon sticks…gorgeous! I too enjoyed this challenge =)

11 Suzanne January 2, 2011 at 8:28 pm

thanks for the compliments 🙂

12 Kim @ Quit Eating Ou December 31, 2010 at 4:32 am

This looks beautiful! Great flavor combo and perfect for winter. LOVE cranberries and citrus. Happy New Year!!!

13 Suzanne January 2, 2011 at 8:27 pm

thank you Kim, hope your New Years was wonderful.

14 Kita January 1, 2011 at 4:43 pm

These photos are beautiful! Your stollen looks perfect.

15 Suzanne January 1, 2011 at 7:01 pm

thanks Kita!

16 Rich January 3, 2011 at 2:24 am

Wow, that's a great looking stollen (I had to look it up, too)! And any time pecans can be substituted for anything, I'm all in …

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