Christmas Synthesiser Stollen

It's up to you.

15 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Rehydrate and dry the raisins

   Put the 150 g of raisins in a bowl and cover with warm water for 20 minutes. Drain them in a strainer and spread them on a clean cloth and dab them carefully: residual water soaked the dough. Cut the 80 g of candied citrus peels into small dice. Reserve the 150 g of marzipan for processing, without mixing them with fruit.

2. Separate the two servings of butter

   Cut 140 g of butter from the dough into cubes and let them soften. Keep the 30 g of finishing butter in a separate small saucepan; they will be melted after cooking. Heat the 150 ml of milk at 30 °C. Break the egg in a small bowl, remove any shell and beat it 15 seconds with a fork.

3. Start the kneading

   Pour the 400 g of flour into the vat of the robot equipped with the hook, then add the 7 g of dry yeast, the 80 g of sugar, the 4 g of salt, the beaten egg and the 150 ml of milk. If the yeast requires rehydration, use some of this measured milk. Mix 2 minutes at low speed, scrape the walls, then continue 6 minutes to reach 8 minutes of kneading before butter.

4. Add butter and then fruit

   Incorporate the 140 g of soft butter into four servings until each addition disappears into the dough. Continue to knead for about 8 minutes, until you get a soft dough that stretches, then add the well-dried raisins, citrus dice and the teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix again 1 minute at low speed to distribute them. Stop as soon as the fruits are distributed: do not reduce them to puree.

5. Leave for the first rise

   Gather the dough in the center of the tank, cover it and let it rise 1 h 30 to 2 hours around 24 ° C. It must swell sharply and become more flexible; with the amount of fruit and butter, the rise is less spectacular than a bread dough. If the room is cool, leave more time instead of placing the tank on a very hot source.

6. Spread the dough and prepare the heart

   Place the dough on a sheet of baking paper, press gently with your hands to chase the big bubbles and then roll it into an oval of about 28 x 20 cm. With the palms, roll the 150 g of marzipan in a 24 cm pudding. Place this pudding in the length of the oval, slightly off-center, leaving free dough at both ends.

7. Fold the stollen without letting out the almond

   Fold the large side of dough over the pudding by using paper to lift it. Gently press the junction area with the side of the hand and close both ends to enclose the marzipan. Keep an asymmetrical bump on the top rather than flattening the whole. Slides the paper and stollen onto a cold plate.

8. Leave to rise, then preheat the oven

   Cover with a light cloth and let stand for 45 minutes; the dough should loosen and swell a little. For the last 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 170°C in conventional oven setting (no fan). Remove the laundry before cooking and place the baking tray at mid-height or slightly below. Allow 40 to 45 minutes of cooking, without opening the oven for the first 30 minutes.

9. Control the baking of the dough

   From 40 minutes, check that the top and bottom are golden. Push a skewer into a thick part of dough on the side, avoiding the marzipan that would remain naturally wet: there must be no raw paste stuck on it. Extends for 5 minutes if necessary; protects the top with baking paper if it browns before the end.

10. Brush with the finishing butter

    During the last few minutes of cooking, gently melt the reserved 30 g of butter, then remove the pan from the heat. At the exit of the oven, leave the stollen on its baking tray and pass this butter on the top and sides with a food brush. Work in several fine passages to distribute the entire quantity. Do not lift it immediately: hot, it is still fragile.

11. Cool and prepare the finish

    After 15 minutes, transfer the stollen with its paper to a rack and let it cool completely, about 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. The 40 g of icing sugar will be distributed in a light layer after the decor, on the areas left naked, so that the chocolate collages adhere well. If you prepare it the day before, pack it once cold and decorate it the next day. The rest of a night is advised but is not necessary to start the decoration.

12. Preparing the White Keys

    Chop 100 g of white chocolate and put them in a small, perfectly dry bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan containing a little hot water, keeping the bowl clear of the water. Melt over a very low heat, stirring. Remove the bowl when the chocolate has almost melted and stir off the heat until smooth. Wipe the bottom of the bowl; no drop of water should fall into the chocolate. Reserve about 10 g of melted white chocolate in the bowl for collages, and divide the remaining 90 g into twelve rectangles of 4 x 1.5 cm on baking paper. Spread them with the back of a small spoon keeping a regular thickness and simple edges. Let it take 25 to 30 minutes flat; keep the sticking reserve to remelt it briefly if it hardens.

13. Make the six black keys

    Chop 40 g of dark chocolate and put them in a small, perfectly dry bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan containing a little hot water, keeping the bowl clear of the water. Melt over a very low heat, stirring. Remove the bowl when the chocolate has almost melted and stir off the heat until smooth. Wipe the bottom of the bowl; no drop of water should fall into the chocolate. Divide this chocolate into six small rectangles of 2 x 0.8 cm on another area of the paper, without looking for perfect contours. Keep any surplus in small separate pallets, to be served next to the cake. Let the keys firm up for 25 minutes, then gently remove the paper under them so as not to break them.

14. Install the keys on the stollen

    Place the cold stollen on its plate and keep a strip naked in its length, without icing sugar under future collages. Aligns the twelve white touches side by side, fixing them with a small drop of reserved white chocolate; all must rest on the cake. Then place the six black keys on a junction on two, straddling the top of the whites, with a drop of collage. Do not extend a touch beyond the edge of the stollen.

15. Allow to be taken and served

    Let it take 30 minutes, then sift the 40 g of icing sugar on the bare areas, protecting the keyboard with a sheet of paper held above. Recover excess sugar from the dish. Cut slices with a bread knife, lifting a few keys if they hinder the cut, and share them with the stollen pieces; the keyboard is an edible decor laid flat, not a mechanism.