John Myers
Ingredients for 10 servings:
- 5 kg flour
- 1.6 kg clarified butter
- 1.3 kg sugar
- 2 kg raisins
- 500 g almonds, ground
- 300 g bitter almonds, ground, available in pharmacies
- 500 g candied lemon peel
- 500 g candied orange peel
- 1 ½ liters of milk 3.5%
- 60 g salt
- 1 bottle of rum
- 5 cubes of fresh yeast
- 4 lemon(s), zest
- Clarified butter
- powdered sugar
Instructions
Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest period approx. 1 day; Total time approx. 1 day 1 hour
Butter and raisin stollen, for about 10 stollen
This recipe is designed for 10 stollen, so you can also enjoy it with friends and family. Tip: Bitter almonds are only available in pharmacies in Germany! Just tell them the exact amount you need for the stollen. This recipe is designed to be prepared with the help of a baker. In our village, the bakers are very happy to bake the stollen. Ask your baker for an appointment. If this isn’t possible, you’ll have to bake the stollen in several batches in the oven or prepare a correspondingly smaller amount of dough. The day before: Sift the flour into a very large bowl or tub. Make a well with 1/3 of the flour for the yeast in the corner or another bowl. Place the raisins in a bowl and spread the rum over it. Now set the raisins aside to soak in the rum for a day. Remove the clarified butter from the refrigerator so it’s easier to work with the next day. On the day of baking: Grate the lemon zest and place it in a bowl for further processing. Make sure you only peel the yellow skin, not the white part. Start the yeast dough about two hours before the baking date (when it is handed in to the baker). Crumble the yeast into the well in the flour (in the other bowl or corner of the tub) and pour in about three-quarters of the lukewarm milk. Carefully mix the yeast with the milk. The optimal point is when the contents of the bowl/corner consist of a honey-like mass. Now let the yeast dough stand in a warm place for one hour (no drafts!). The yeast dough will now rise considerably. Then mix the yeast dough with the remaining flour and add the sugar and clarified butter. Then add everything except the raisins and mix the dough well. Finally, drain the raisins and add them. Carefully knead the dough to distribute the raisins evenly. But do not knead too vigorously, otherwise the raisins will burst and the dough will turn dark. If the dough is too wet, you can add flour. If it’s too dry, add a little milk. The dough should now rest a little, and then wrap the bowl tightly so that it doesn’t collapse on the way to the baker. The baker will weigh the dough as desired; I recommend 4 pounds per stollen so that it rises nicely in the middle. Then they will bake the stollen. If you don’t have a friendly baker, shape the dough into 10 stollen after the proving time. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (top/bottom heat) for about 50 minutes. After the stollen have arrived from the baker or have been baked, they should be allowed to air out a little to prevent any moisture from being trapped. Then wrap the stollen in something like wax paper and store it in a wooden box. Wood is important for the later flavor. Let the stollen mature for about 1-2 weeks, then brush with clarified butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. A little background on the Erzgebirge Stollen: This is a tradition in the Ore Mountains. At the village festival, three families are chosen to bake stollen for our community. The custom of making stollen for miners was similar. Back then, not every family organized its own celebration. When the miners climbed the mountain, there was a feast featuring this pastry. Hence the name and shape of the Bergsteigerstollen (mountain climber’s stollen). Our baker always receives a lot of stollen orders around Christmas time, so he requests stollen signs. These are small sticks or small signs that are inserted into the stollen so that the correct stollen can be returned to the customer later. Stollen signs can be purchased online or easily made yourself. The baker will thank you.
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