Christmas Stollen

By dfields822

Ingredients

• Sponge
• 8 oz Whole Milk
• 8 tsp Instant Yeast
• 4.5 oz All-purpose Flour
• Fruit
• 1 cup Raisins
• 1 Cup Cherries, dried
• 1 cup Cranberries, dried
• 1 cup Assorted Dried Fruits
• 1 Cup Rum
• 1 cup Almonds, sliced or slivered
• Dough
• 20 oz All-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 each Lemon, zest
• 1 each Orange, zest
• 2 tsp Stollen Spice
• 2 each Whole eggs
• 5 oz Butter, soften
• 3 oz Water
• 2 oz Whole Butter, melted
• As needed Powdered Sugar

Preparation

Step 1

Warm milk to 100˚F, whisk in the flour and yeast, wrap and proof for 1 hour

Mix the fruis and rum together and allow to soak

Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, zests and Stollen spice together

Add the sponge, eggs, butter and water together and mix and knead for two minutes, rest the dough for 10 minutes

Add the strained fruit mixture to the dough and knead for six minutes

place in a bowl and cover, proof for 45 minutes

Shape the Stollen dough with the “Blanket in the manger” Method

Place the dough onto a lined sheet pan and set the dough in a crescent shape

Bake the Stollen at 350˚F for 20 minutes then rotate in the oven and continue to bake for 20-30 minutes more

Place the Stollen on a wire cooling rack and immediately brush with butter and dust heavily with powdered sugar

Wait ten minutes and dust again with powdered sugar to heavily coat the Stollen

Different fruit and nut combinations paired with different Stollen spices will make endless combinations