Festive Baking | Stollen Recipe

This year I’ve started my festive baking early because I want to be able to fit more of it in and share some of my favourite recipes here. I’ve been trying to make a stollen every year but it’s normally a rushed job a few days before the big day! It's a little labour intensive but perfect for a slow winters day you want to spend in the kitchen.

What you will need:

125g of sultanas

85g of mixed peel

40ml of rum

To start your stollen you need to be prepared at least 24 hours in advance by mixing together the sultanas, mixed peel and rum. I like to put mine in a Tupperware on the kitchen counter so I can give it a shake every so often. 

What you will need:

1 1/2 teaspoons of dried yeast

35g of caster sugar

70ml of warm milk

1 medium egg yolk

90g of room temperature butter

250f of strong flour

1/2 the zest of a lemon

125g of marzipan

1 beaten egg

50g of melted butter

75g of icing sugar

Once your fruits have had a chance to soak up all the rum it's time to make your stollen dough. In a small bowl stir the yeast and sugar into the warm milk and set aside while you prepare the other ingredients. Careful not to have your milk too hot because I've made the mistake of killing my yeast before.

To a large bowl add the egg yolk, butter and flour then after 5 minutes add the yeast mixture. Mix the dough in the bowl until smooth then knead on a floured surface for a further 5 minutes. If the dough is still sticky add a little more flour.

Return the stollen dough to the bowl and allow to prove in a warm place for around an hour. As it is an enriched dough this can take a little longer but it will be ready when it's increased significantly in size. 

When your dough is proved stir the lemon zest into the rum soaked fruits and add them to the mixing bowl with the dough. Knead the dough again so the fruit is evenly distributed - this is the part I find most difficult but once you've done your best return to the bowl to prove for another hour.

Finally, when your dough is ready roll it out into a rough square 5mm thick and roll the marzipan into a tube slightly shorter than your square. Placing your marzipan to one edge of the dough and roll the dough up making sure you tuck in the sides as you go.

Before it's final prove brush the stollen with a beaten egg and leave to prove in a warm place for half an hour and preheat your oven to 200 degrees. 

Bake your stollen on a baking sheet in the oven for 10 minutes before reducing the heat to 190 degrees and leaving for a final 20 minutes. Once it comes out of the oven brush generously with melted butter, dust with icing sugar and leave to cool.

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