Homemade Christmas Stollen

It's up to you.

15 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Rehydrates the raisins and prepares the fruits

   Put the 150 g of raisins in a bowl, cover them with warm water and let them swell for 20 minutes. Drain them in a strainer, then dry them with a clean cloth or absorbent paper. Cut the 80 g of candied citrus peels into small dice. The fruits should be ready and the raisins should not drip before being added to the dough.

2. Weigh the ingredients by separating the finish

   Weighing 400 g of flour, 7 g of dry yeast, 80 g of sugar and 4 g of salt. Cut the 140 g of soft butter from the dough into cubes. Keep aside 30 g of butter and 40 g of icing sugar for finishing: they should not enter the first mixture. Prepare 150 g of marzipan and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

3. Prepare milk and egg

   Gentle the 150 ml of milk until about 30 °C, without making it hot. Break the egg in a small bowl, remove any shell chips and beat it briefly with a fork. Check the bag of yeast: if rehydration is required, use some of the milk already measured. Otherwise, add the yeast directly to the flour in the next step.

4. Mix and knead the starting dough

   Pour the flour, sugar and yeast into the bowl of a robot with the hook, or into a large bowl. Add warm milk and beaten egg, start mixing, then add salt. Kneaded about 8 minutes at slow or medium speed. By hand, fold and stretch the dough regularly with the base of the palm, gathering it with a spatula; plan a little more time.

5. Fold in 140 g of soft butter

   Add the dough butter in three or four times. Wait until one addition is absorbed before putting on the next, then continue kneading for about 8 minutes to obtain a homogeneous and flexible paste. Scrape the bottom and walls if butter sticks to it. The dough is rich and slightly sticky: do not add flour to make it dry.

6. Add fruit and cinnamon

   Pour the well-dried raisins, diced candied peel and the teaspoon of cinnamon over the dough. Mix at very slow speed, or fold the dough by hand, until the fruits are distributed. Avoid long kneading at this stage so as not to crush the raisins. Gather the dough, then cover the bowl without leaving its surface to air.

7. Leave until noticeably risen

   Let the dough sit for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours in a temperate room, around 24 °C. It must swell sharply and become more flexible under the fingers, without necessarily doubling like a light bread dough. If it stays almost at the same level, prolongs the rise in a slightly more temperate place. Avoids a strong heat source that would melt butter.

8. Prepare the roll of marzipan

   Place the 150 g of marzipan on the clean worktop. Roll them with the palms to form a regular pudding of about 24 cm. Check the length with a ruler and tighten the ends if they are too thin. This roll will be locked in the stollen; keep it aside while you spread the dough.

9. Spread the dough in oval

   Cover a baking sheet of paper. Gently press on the dough to chase the biggest bubbles, then put it between two sheets of baking paper to spread it without adding flour. With the roller, forms an oval of about 28 x 20 cm. Remove the top sheet and repair any small tears by gently pinching the edges.

10. Locks the marzipan in the fold

    Place the marzipan pudding in the length of the oval, slightly next to the center, leaving about 2 cm of free dough at each end. Fold a large side over the pudding, without joining exactly the other edge, to keep the asymmetrical bump of the stollen. Gently press the joint and close both ends so that the marzipan remains enclosed. Transfer the stollen to the plate using paper.

11. Let inflate before cooking

    Cover the stollen without pressing and let it rise for about 45 minutes in a temperate room. It must look a little more swollen, while keeping its shape elongated. Preheat the oven to 170 °C, conventional oven setting (no fan), towards the end of this rest. Remove the cover just before baking the baking tray in the middle of the oven.

12. Cook and check the dough around the filling

    Cook for 40 to 45 minutes at 170°C. The stollen should be golden and its base cooked; protects the top with baking paper if it goes too fast. Push a skewer into an area of dough next to the almond roll, not directly into the filling, which remains tender. If raw dough adheres to the skewer, prolong the cooking for 5 minutes and check again.

13. Badgeron with the finishing butter

    Towards the end of cooking, gently melt the reserved 30 g of butter in a small saucepan, then remove it from the heat. Take out the stollen and put it on a wire rack with a leaf underneath to recover the drops. Using a brush, spread the melted butter on top and still warm sides. Proceeds in two passages if necessary, without using the 140 g already incorporated in the dough.

14. Cool then icing sugar powder

    Let the stollen cool completely on the grill for about 2 hours. Then put the 40 g of icing sugar in a small strainer and place them on top in several fine passages. A part may fall on paper; no need to form a thick layer to make everything adhere. Wait until the stollen is cold to the center before packing it.

15. Leave to rest and cut the next day

    Wrap the cold stollen or place it in an airtight box. Ideally wait until the next day for the aromas to spread and for the crumb to slice more cleanly. To serve, put it on a board and use a bread knife in back-and-forth movements. Hold the cake by the sides rather than pressing its central bump.