Peter Reinhart´s luscious Stollen

Recipe source: The Bread Baker´s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, Ten Speed Press

At last, I´ve decided to start baking bread. Real bread, not just the quick breads I used to do. On the Internet I rummaged through the lot of books about baking bread and eventually opted for the The Bread Baker´s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

Three days ago the book arrived. I opened it, ran over the pages – and was petrified. Two days time and different doughs needed for just a simple loaf of bread! Instead of throwing some ingredients in a bowl, a bit of mixing and in the oven it goes, as I have been baking my (soda) bread until now.

The book fascinated me, though. I took it with me to bed, skimmed through the pages a bit more, and soon I was completely hooked. I read for hours, nearly half of the night. I began to understand that there is nothing like a simple loaf of bread. You need just a bit of TLC and a simple loaf can become something extraordinary. Reading about the whole process of baking bread was quite an epiphany for me. With my new basic understanding the recipes suddenly were intriguing and not so frightening anymore.

Even so, I opted for an easy one for my first try: The stollen.

As I expected my mother for tea (she is gluten intolerant) I changed the wheat flour for spelt, and still in the spirit of TLC I soaked my fruits two days ahead in rum. The stollen turned out to be absolutely delicious. My mother got so carried away, she even told me it was better than her own mother´s back then. Maturing for a while should improve the stollen even more but we´ve already finished it.

Peter Reinhart´s Stollen

The recipe is reprinted with permission from the author.

Makes 1 large or 2 small stollen

Ingredients:

SPONGE:

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 tsp instant yeast

FRUIT:

1 cup raisins, plus additional for sprinkling on the final dough

1/2 cup candied orange peel

1/2 cup candied lemon peel

1 tbsp orange or lemon extract (I used grated orange zest instead)

1/2 cup rum, brandy or schnapps

DOUGH:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp grated orange zest

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 large egg

5 tbsp butter, room temperature

about 1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sliveres blanched almonds (or marzipan instead, I used almonds)

vegetable oil or melted butter for topping

powdered sugar for topping

Method:

1. Make the sponge by warming the milk to about 100°F (37°C, just lukewarm) Whisk in the flour and yeast. Cover with plastic wrap and ferment for 1 hour or until the sponge is very foamy and ready to collapse when tapped.

2. Combine the fruits mix, the rum and the orange extract. (I did it two days ahead).

3. To make the dough, in a large bowl stir together the flour, sugar, salt, orange and lemon zest and cinnamon. Stir in the sponge, egg, butter, enough water to form a soft, but not sticky, ball. Mix for about 2 minutes. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

4. Add in the fruits and mix to incorporate.

5. Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, knead (or mix with the dough hook) to distribute the fruits evenly, adding more flour if needed. The dough should feel soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for about 6 minutes (4 minutes by machine) Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

6. Ferment at room temperature for 45 minutes. The dough will rise somewhat but not double in size.

7. Sprinkle flour lightly on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. If you are making two loafs, divide the dough in half. Roll out the dough into 1 or 2 rectangles, sprinkle the slivered almonds and additional fruit over the top. If you use marzipan, put a thin roll on the dough instead of the slivered almonds. Roll up the dough, sealing the crease by pinching the dough with your hands.

8. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the stollen to the sheet. Curl it into a slight crescent (I let it straight). Mist the dough with spray oil, cover with plastic wrap, proof for about 1 hour or until the dough is 1 1/2 times its original size.

9. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), bake it on the middle rack for 40 minutes for 2 loafs, up to 60-70 minutes for 1 big loaf. Maybe you need to turn the sheet for an evenly baking. The stollen should be deeply golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

10. Transfer to a cooling rack, brush the top with vegetable oil while still hot, immediately tap with a layer of powdered sugar through a sieve. After 1 minute repeat. The stollen should be generously coated with powdered sugar. Let cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

Storing: When completely cool, put the stollen in a plastic bag.

I´ll definitely bake another stollen this weekend, this time I´ll double the recipe and try the version with marzipan.