Sigh.... That was yet another long break from blogging. No wait, I wasn't being lazy, I have perfectly legitimate reasons this time! Yup, sister and me finally met up in Melbourne and we had a lovely time, eating, shopping, sightseeing, partying, everything together! But just 2 days after I came home, a water pipe burst and flooded the whole house! We had to call in professionals who deals with waterlogged carpets. Thank goodness it wasn't waste water! Still, we had to shift all furnitures to the garage, so they can suck the water and get their industrial blowers/dryers in to dry the carpets. So fortunately... I mean
unfortunately, we had to stay at a hotel for 2 days. Oh oh but it didn't stop there, there's the cleaning, shifting back,
yada yada.
I swear this was the first thing I did when we got everything back to the way it was. To make up for the lost time, here's a fantastic recipe to the traditional German celebratory cake for Christmas --
Stollen.
A brief introduction for those new to Stollen. It is a dense, heavy, bread-like "fruitcake", similar to its far more commercialised Italian counterpart,
Panettone. While both contain candied/mixed fruits, has similar recipes and making process, Panettone usually calls for lesser butter, fruits and has a lighter texture than Stollen else it will never rise to its expected height and retain its characteristic cupola shape.
Stollen (makes 2 medium loaves - 7"x 9")
(slightly modified from
foodnetwork)
Fruits
175g Mixed Candied Fruits
145g Raisins
45g Dark Rum
1. Combine the above, cover and set aside. Shake or stir the mixture every so often to coat the fruit with the rum.
Sponge
7g Instant Yeast
60g Warm water, about 40°C
160g Warm milk, about 40°C
7g Honey
125g Plain flour
2. In the mixer bowl, sprinkle the yeast in the water to soften. Add the warm milk, honey and flour to the yeast. Cover the sponge with plastic wrap and let rise until light and full of bubbles, about 30 minutes.
Main Dough
130g Honey
1 Egg, lightly beaten
115g Butter, unsalted
1 tbsp Lemon zest
6g Salt
1/2 tsp Grounded Nutmeg
45g Almonds, roughly chopped
25g Pistachios, roughly chopped
375g - 500g Plain flour
3. Add to sponge, the fruit mixture, honey, egg, butter, zest, salt, grounded nutmeg, nuts, and
250g of the flour to the sponge. Using the paddle, beat the mixture on medium low speed for 2 mins.
4. Gradually add the remaining flour, about 30g at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.
5. Change to the dough hook. Continue adding flour, 1 tbsp at a time until the dough just begins to clean the bowl. Then knead 4-5 mins on medium-low.
6. Place dough in an oiled bowl, lightly coat entire dough with oil. Cling wrap, or cover with a tightly woven towel and let rise until doubled, for about 1 hour.
Filling
30g Butter, unsalted, melted
5g Grounded Cinnamon
40g Castor Sugar
7. Combine grounded cinnamon and castor sugar.
8. On your lightly oiled work surface, divide dough into 2 and roll each into a 7"x 9" oval. Brush melted butter over the top of the dough. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the dough. Starting from lengthwise (long side), roll the dough into a log, lightly pinch to seal the seam to help the loaf keep its shape during rising and baking. Repeat for the other half.
9. Carefully lift and place the logs onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cling wrap, or cover with a tightly woven towel and let rise for 45 mins.
Preheat oven to 190°C
10. Bake for 25 minutes until the internal temperature of the bread reaches
88°C. Remove immediately and cool on a wired rack.
Topping
60g Confectioner's Sugar
11. Sprinkle heavily with confectioner's sugar just before serving.
Thoughts: Although considered a "fruit cake", the texture is really more bread like with tight crumbs and a subtle fruity, nutty aroma. Surprisingly, even with the thick coat of confectioner's sugar, it is only mildly sweet for me and for some reason, weirdly addictive. I think I can include more fruits and nuts the next time I bake these. For those who are used to
sweet sweets, this will be fairly bland. To fix that, you're welcome to use more sugar with the cinnamon for the filling.
A more common, relatively modern approach, is to wrap the dough around a rope of Marzipan before the second rise. If you plan on doing so, then there's no need for the cinnamon sugar. The omission of marzipan is one of the main reason why I ultimately chose this particular recipe. Even when I found countless "authentic" Italian
nonna recipes. I was just too worried about winding up with an overwhelmingly sweet bread that only the bin gets to eat. Anyway I thought this rendition with cinnamon sugar looks good too, with a faint brownish circle within.
Another idea I saw online was to proof the dough in a tube tin and decorate it as a wreath. Due to time constraint, I didn't manage to get holly sprigs, and they ended up looking like giant donuts. Hahahaha equally yummy though!
This bread is really sturdy; they can last up to 6 months in the freezer. If you would like to savour them slowly over the months, do not dust with confectioner's sugar or icing before freezing. To serve, thaw the bread to room temperature before baking it for 5-7 mins at
190°C. Keep an eye to prevent it from over browning and only dust on the confectioner's sugar right before serving.
Frohe Weihnachten!!
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