Stollen From Joy Of Cooking Recipes

STOLLEN

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, granulated sugar, salt, mace, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir in milk and melted butter. Add dissolved yeast and the eggs. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth.
• Drain raisins and currants. Add raisins, currants, almonds, citron, orange peel, apricots, and lemon zest to dough, and continue kneading until incorporated, about 10 minutes. If dough is sticky, knead in more flour.
• Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours. Punch down dough, divide into 6 even pieces, and roll each piece into a 15-inch-long log. Braid 3 logs together, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining 3 logs. Cover with plastic, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours more.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake stollen until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Beat together confectioners' sugar and milk. Drizzle stollen with icing just before serving.

ORANGE AND POPPY SEED STOLLEN

Steps:

• Make filling:
• Put the sultanas into a mixing bowl. Chop the candied citrus peel into small dice and add to the sultanas. Finely grate the zest from the orange and add to the bowl. Squeeze in the juice of the orange, pour in the rum or brandy and vanilla, then toss together and leave for an hour.
• Make dough:
• Melt the butter in a small pan, then leave to cool down. Put the flour into a large mixing bowl. No need to sieve it. If using fresh yeast, warm the milk to body temperature (it should feel comfortable rather than cold or scalding when you insert your finger), then crumble in the yeast and stir to dissolve. Add the sugar and salt to the flour and mix well. Beat the egg. Stir in the egg and the warm milk and butter. (If you are using dried yeast, add the yeast straight to the flour, then stir in the other ingredients followed by the warm milk, egg and butter.)
• Mix thoroughly-the dough should be soft, shiny and rather sticky. In all honesty it may be very sticky. Turn out on to a generously floured board and knead for a good eight minutes. As you knead, the dough will become less and less sticky and more like a bread dough-though it will be heavier because of the butter and egg. When the dough is soft, elastic and no longer sticking to the board, scoop it up and put it into a floured bowl. Set aside, covered with a clean tea towel, somewhere warm and draught-free for a good hour or until it is well risen. (It won't be quite twice the size of the original dough but well on the way.) Alternatively, mix and knead using a food mixer fitted with a dough hook until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.
• Assemble:
• Break the cardamom pods open and remove their seeds. Crush the seeds to a coarse powder using a pestle and mortar or a spice mill, then mix in a small bowl with the poppy seeds, cinnamon and almonds. Dust the work surface in the flour and tip your risen dough onto it. Knead the spice and seed mixture and the soaked fruits, leaving behind most of the liquid, into the dough.
• Roll into a long loaf about 22cmx16cm and flatten it slightly: Roll the marzipan into a cylinder nearly the length of the dough, then place it in the centre. Brush the edges with a little beaten egg and press together. Turn the dough over and place it on a lined baking sheet, cover with a towel and return it to a warm place to prove for a further hour and a half.
• Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C/Gas 4. Place the loaf in the hot oven and bake for about thirty-five to forty minutes, until pale gold. Melt the butter for the glaze and brush over the loaf. Cool on a wire rack, then dust generously with icing sugar.
• To Keep
• When the loaf is thoroughly cool, wrap loosely in waxed paper or clingfilm and keep in a cookie tin.

STOLLEN

Steps:

• In large bowl, dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup warm water. Beat in granulated sugar, the salt, eggs, egg yolk, 1/2 cup butter and 1 3/4 cups of the flour with electric mixer on medium speed 10 minutes, scraping bowl constantly. Stir in remaining flour, the almonds, citron, cherries, raisins and lemon peel. Scrape batter from side of bowl. Cover and let rise in warm place 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until double. (Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.) Cover and refrigerate egg white.
• Stir down batter by beating about 25 strokes. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
• Grease cookie sheet. Place dough on well-floured surface; turn to coat with flour. Divide in half; press each half into 10x7-inch oval. Spread with 1 tablespoon butter. Fold ovals lengthwise in half; press only folded edge firmly. Place on cookie sheet. Beat egg white and 1 tablespoon water; brush over folded ovals. Cover and let rise in warm place 45 to 60 minutes or until double.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• In medium bowl, mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Spread glaze over warm stollen.

MARTHA STEWART'S STOLLEN

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine yeast and warm water, let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Stir in milk and 1 1/4 cups melted butter. Add dissolved yeast and eggs. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead until fairly smooth.
• In 2 separate bowls, soak currants in the cognac and raisins in the orange juice. Let stand for 10 minutes. (I usually do this before I even start the recipe). (Note - I use a vegetable peeler to get the orange peel as you only want the orange part).
• In a medium bowl mix together currants and raisins with thier soaking liquids, orange peel, lemon zest, citron, apricots and almonds. Work mixture into dough. Continue kneading for about 10 minutes. If dough is sticky, knead in more flour but be careful not to overwork the dough. (Note - I usually have someone help with this part. I have them add the fruit mix and extra flour as I knead. Everytime I have needed extra flour as the soaking liquids make the dough very sticky but they add flavor so don't omit them).
• Place dough in a large buttered bowl ( I use my largest Tupperware bowl to be able to hold the risen dough). Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1-2 hours.
• Punch down dough and cut into quarters (more if you want to make smaller loaves as I do. I eyeball it to determine how many loaves to cut it into). Roll each piece of dough into a 12"x8" rectangle. Brush with melted butter, then fold one long side to the center. Fold other long side over first, overlapping by 1". ( I just roll mine). Turn dough over and taper the ends. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat for remaining loaves. You can put 2 loaves on each baking sheet. Cover loaves with plastic wrap; let rise again in a warm place 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees with 2 racks centered. Bake stollen until golden brown, about 35 minutes, rotating the sheets between the racks halfway through baking. Cool on wire racks; dust with confectioners sugar and serve.