Another traditional Christmas baking treat – candied peel and almond paste- mmmmmmmm!
Ingredients:
450g strong plain flour
15g dried yeast
40g caster sugar
zest of one lemon
200ml milk, lukewarm
1 egg large, beaten
115g melted butter
115g sultanas
55g currants
70g mixed candied peel
90g blanched almonds, chopped
250g marzipan
50g butter melted to brush on before baking
icing sugar for sifting onto finished loaves
Makes 2 x small loaves.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and lemon zest.
Add in the beaten egg, milk and 115g melted butter and mix to a soft but not sticky dough. You can use your breadmachine on the dough setting to take the hardwork out for you.
Knead for ten minutes by hand or cheat like me and make the machine do it for 6 mins.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm or a clean tea towel. Pop it in a warm spot and allow the dough to rise for one hour until doubled in size.
Time to prepare the lovely Stollen additions, first up is candied peel- I like to buy it in whole pieces, the taste is so much better. If you have a Julian Graves store near you then they sell it there. Also Waitrose sell it in a box on the baking aisle – picture included so you know what to look for!
Chop the candied peel into quite large pieces, chop the blanched almonds and measure out the sultanas and currants.
Once the dough is risen, knock it back on the worktop into a large flat piece.
Add the Stollen additions on top.
Gather up the edges to seal the fruit and nuts in.
Now knead, going slowly and catching the bits that try to escape! Keep working until the fruit and nuts are evenly distributed.
Split the dough into two.
Shape each piece into a flat.
Take the marzipan and split into two, shape into sausages to fit the middle of the dough.
Gather the dough around the marzipan sealing along the length and the ends by pressing the dough together.
Flip the dough over so that the seal is underneath. Place onto a well greased baking tray and cover with a tea towel again. Bob it back in a warm spot to rise again for a further hour.Preheat the oven to 160c Fan/180c/Gas Mark 4.
After the loaves have risen for the second time, brush them both liberally with the 55g melted butter and then put them straight into the oven.
Bake for 45-50 minutes until the loaves sound hollow when tapped underneath. Remove from the oven and generously sift with icing sugar whilst still warm.
Stollen
Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire
Finalist on BBC2 The Great British Bake Off
how early do you start in the day!!???
I'm going to start this now, it was my granny's favourite, I shall eat it and remember all the crazy things she used to do.
thank you xxx
My fathers favourite cake at Christmas, so definitely going to give this recipe a try. Thank you for reinstating my love of baking!!! The Recipes are inspirational
x
Thank you Ruth – have been looking for a stollen recipe where I can use my breadmachine to make sure the dough is decent! I will try this asap!
Having lived in Germany where Stollen comes from, I love this. I haven't made it before so will try your recipe. It sounds much easier than I thought it would be. I so love the marzipan in the middle.
My favorite christmas treat- was just going to look for a recipe for this!!
Looking good. I made Stollen last year, but we are having a quieter Christmas this year, so wont have enough people to eat it!
Excellent! I made the dough in the bread machine, finished off as per your recipe and achieved the best shaped Stollen for many years – the recipe worked a treat. Thank you, Ruth!
hi ruth, i would like to give this a try ,could this be frozen before adding the icing sugar on top ?
many thanks
tracey x
Hi Tracey – yes absolutely! x
that’s great ruth, thank you so much.x
I made this for the first time this weekend having never eaten Stollen before – very delicious! I love the marzipan, in fact next time when i make it i will probably attempt three smaller sausages of marzipan running through it, or even a ‘swiss roll’ of marzipan wrapped up so that every bite gets some! My dough was slightly stickier before cooking but i was doing it all by hand so that may be due to my lack of muscles, but still baked great. Thanks Ruth
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I think I’m going to make this for the boxing day party. My sister loves Stollen.
This looks great, kow what I’m doing tomorrow!
How did I miss this?! – my favourite annual bake – will try this recipe!
Hmmmm, stollen. That’s this weekends baking sorted then. Mince pies, gingerbread men, sausage rolls and stollen xx
Just making my second batch – have just varied fruit and nuts a bit to use up store cupboard stuff. The first has turned out brilliantly. Two questions though – I’ve used fast action yeast but only a teaspoon – in this second batch have thrown a bit extra in. Is your recipe fast or standard dried yeast? Also – no salt? Have put some this current batch.
Not a fast action yeast, but a dried that needs no soaking, just a teaspoon as its a fairly small batch of dough. No salt but it can be added if you prefer the taste x
Thanks – both batches have turned out spectacularly well – will be interesting to see if I can spot any taste difference!
Have a great Christmas!
Sue
Looks delicious, how long would it keep for once made?
it’s best as fresh as possible, 2 days maybe 3 at a push! If you wanted to make it in advance then freeze it as soon as it has cooled x
My first attempt at stollen and a great success, don’t think I will bother to buy ever again. As this recipe made two, I was glad to read that it freezes, as we did have some left over. However, when it is past its best, OH found it was lovely toasted!