Stollen

My hubby loves Stollen but it is one of those treats at Christmas that can be quite expensive for what it is.

So when he requested that I make one I rose to the challenge!

I'm all for saving us a bit of money and trying a new bake!

Whether baking it at home actually saves us money, I'm not sure, but being homemade makes it that bit more special!

I looked at various recipes but wasn't happy with the methods that they used.

The recipes that I looked at said to add the fruit to the dough before the first proving.

This did not sit well with me and have always found more success when I have added additions after the first proving. When it is added before I have found that the dough takes a lot longer to double in size.

So I have gone with my gut instinct and made it how I feel confident to.

I always use Tesco Everyday Value dried fruit, it is much cheaper and just as good as the other brands but I love that it already has the candied peel included!

For the spiced rum I used our favourite, Sailor Jerry, but any spiced rum will do the job!

For the bread flour I used Tesco Finest bread flour. I find that this flour makes a dough which is both easy and enjoyable to handle, yes, I love to knead dough and with this being an enriched dough a good flour is necessary to be able to work with it!

This is what I got...

 

Stollen

 

Ingredients

 

225g dried fruit with candied peel

60ml spice rum

25g chopped hazelnuts

500g strong white bread flour

12g fast acting yeast

50g caster sugar

1/2tsp nutmeg

1tsp cinnamon

85g butter, softened

250g warm full fat milk

1 egg at room temperature

250g marzipan

Egg wash to glaze

Icing sugar for dusting

 

Method

 

1 - Place the dried fruit in a bowl with the spiced rum, cover and leave until needed later

 

2 - Place the flour, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl

 

3 - Add the yeast to one side and the sugar to the other

 

4 - Add the softened butter, warm milk and egg and mix together

 

5 - Once you have a rough dough remove from the bowl and knead for about 10 minutes, or until you have a smooth, elasticated texture to the dough

 

6 - Place the kneaded dough in a bowl, cover and leave to prove for about 90 minutes or until it has doubled in size

 

7 - Once the dough has proved knock the air out and flatten into a rectangle, mix the hazelnuts with the fruit and spread one third of the soaked fruit and nuts along the centre leaving the edges clear

 

8 - Fold in all four edges and flatten, turn the dough over and repeat 2 more times

 

9 - Roll the marzipan into a sausage the same length as the dough and place in the middle of the rectangle and fold as with the fruit

 

10 - Line a large round cake tin with greaseproof paper and curl the dough around the edges to create a ring shape

 

11 - Cover and leave to prove for another hour

 

12 - Pre heat the oven to 180C

 

13 - Once the dough is ready for the oven, brush the top with egg wash and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown, once baked leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before removing and placing on a cooling rack

 

14 - Once cooled dust with a generous amount of icing sugar

 

This stollen is delicious and I am so pleased that I had a go and made it how I felt confident to.

I think that the results speak for themselves!

After hubby and I did the taste test he immediately told me that I will be making it again, which I am more that happy to do, I really did enjoy baking this!

Enjoy x

 

 

 

 

The Great Bloggers Bake Off is hosted by the lovely Helen and Jenny at:

http://www.thecrazykitchen.co.uk/p/the-great-bloggers-bake-off.html

http://www.mummymishaps.co.uk/category/gbbo