Mom's Christmas Stollen

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 250 g almond(s), coarsely chopped
• 500 g raisins
• 125 g currants
• 100 g candied orange peel
• 100 g candied lemon
• 1 lemon(s), untreated, juice and zest grated
• 2 cl rum
• 1,250 g flour
• 250 ml milk, lukewarm
• 4 cubes of yeast
• 200 g sugar
• ¼ tsp salt
• 500 g butter, melted and allowed to cool slightly
• Powdered sugar for sprinkling
• Butter, melted

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 14 hours; Total time approx. 15 hours

The day before or earlier: Place the almonds, raisins, currants, candied lemon peel, candied orange peel, lemon zest, lemon juice, and rum in a freezer bag and leave to soak in the sealed bag in the refrigerator for 24 hours to 2 days. On the day of baking, bring to room temperature. On the day of baking, sift the flour into a very large bowl. Make a well in the center, fill with the warm milk, crumble in the yeast, sprinkle with a little sugar, cover with a little flour, and let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Knead the sugar, salt, and melted (but no longer hot) butter thoroughly into the pre-dough and let it rise again for about 30 minutes. Then knead the marinated fruit into the dough. Let it rise for 30 minutes. Now knead the dough, divide it, and roll each piece out into an oval. Make a well in the center and fold the dough half over it. Do the same with the second piece of dough and place both Stollen next to each other on a baking tray. Fold a 3-5 cm wide band out of aluminum foil or baking paper and place each band around the bottom edge of the stollen. Let it rise for the last time until the stollen have expanded in size. (The bands prevent the stollen from spreading as much.) Preheat oven, bake for 15 minutes at 200°C, then bake for a further 50 minutes at 175°C. After the skewer test is successful, place the stollen on a wire rack, let cool slightly, brush with plenty of melted butter, and sprinkle thickly with powdered sugar. Once cooled, wrap in aluminum foil and refrigerate for 3 weeks, then enjoy. This recipe makes two large stollen. This recipe is my mother’s, and our family has been baking stollen according to it for decades.