Fruitcake has been having a moment. Now this stollen from King Arthur Baking Company is ready for its spotlight.
Martin Philip, one of the authors of “The King Arthur Baking Company Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker,” (Simon Element, $30), released Oct. 22, said the recipe provided in this book is the one he bakes every year around the holidays.
“It’s a traditional German holiday bread with soaked dried fruits, and on the inside, it has an incredible piece of marzipan, almond paste,” Philip said. “After the bake, you take the loaf and submerge it in butter and run it over with some confectioner’s sugar. It’s one of my favorite things to eat in the world for sweets.”
Philip sat down recently to share some bread-baking tips and discuss his path from Opera San Jose to King Arthur Bread Company.
Among the recipes in this book are some classic holiday treats, including a caramelized apple and honey challah, the “most-chocolaty” babka and King Arthur’s twist on a traditional German stollen.
Philip offered his advice for anyone making these three breads at home: “This is important: the dough must be well mixed. That’s going to be really helpful. Give it a good long mix in the mixer.”
In the cookbook, the authors write: “The dough for our version of this classic German holiday bread is flavored with citrus, studded with dried fruit and nuts, then formed around a log of almond paste, which creates a bull’s-eye within each slice. After baking, the loaf is brushed with melted butter, dredged in granulated sugar, and showered with a snowdrift of confectioners’ sugar.”
Stollen
Makes two loaves
INGREDIENTS
Dough:
375 grams (3 cups plus 2 tablespoons) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
50 grams (1⁄4 cup) sugar
9 grams (1 tablespoon) instant yeast
7.5 grams (1¼ teaspoons) fine salt
71 grams (5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg (50 grams)
172 grams (3⁄4 cup) warm milk, whole preferred
7.5 grams (1½ teaspoons) pure vanilla extract
186 grams (1¼ cups) raisins (dark, golden or a combination)
32 grams (3 tablespoons) candied orange peel, homemade or store-bought, cut into 1⁄4-inch dice
32 grams (3 tablespoons) candied lemon peel, homemade or store-bought, cut into 1⁄4-inch dice
128 grams (1⁄2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) dark rum or apple juice
43 grams (1⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) slivered almonds, toasted
10 grams (2 tablespoons) grated lemon zest (from 2 large lemons)
10 grams (2 teaspoons) pure vanilla extract
1⁄2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Filling and topping
130 grams (1⁄2 cup) almond paste
297 grams (1½ cups) granulated sugar
85 grams (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Confectioner’s or non-melting sugar, for dusting
DIRECTIONS: Day 1
Soak the fruit: The day before you want to bake, combine the raisins and candied peel in a medium bowl. Pour in the rum or apple juice, then cover and let stand at room temperature overnight, 12 to 16 hours.
DIRECTIONS: Day 2
Make the dough: In a stand mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, butter, egg, milk and vanilla. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on medium-low speed until a shaggy dough forms, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then increase the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until a slightly tacky, soft, springy dough forms, about 5 minutes. The dough will not be smooth, though it should mostly clear the sides of the bowl (some additional scraping may be necessary).
Once the dough comes together, add the lemon zest, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix to incorporate.
Drain the dried fruit in a sieve set over a bowl, pressing gently on the fruit to push out as much liquid as possible (reserve the soaking liquid if desired — it makes a nice addition to a cocktail). Add the fruit to the dough along with the toasted almonds. Mix on medium-low speed until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. Cover and let rise until puffy though not necessarily doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Make the filling: Roll the almond paste into two even 8-inch-long logs, each about 65 grams. Cover well to prevent them from drying out.
Divide and preshape the dough: Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly flour a work surface, then use a plastic bowl scraper to ease the dough out of the bowl onto the work surface. Divide the dough in half, each piece weighing about 550 grams. Gently deflate each piece, then preshape into 5-inch tubes and place seam side down on the work surface. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes.
Shape the stollen: Position one piece of dough seam side up with a long side facing you. Press a rolling pin horizontally into the center of the dough to create a trough. Roll the center third of the dough to a thickness of 1⁄4 inch, leaving the top and bottom edges of the dough thicker; the long side of dough closest to you should be slightly thicker than the long side farthest from you. Fold about 1⁄2 inch of dough from each short side in toward the center to square off the edges. Align the log of almond paste horizontally against the thicker edge of dough closest to you, then fold the top dough edge down and over the log of almond paste to almost meet the dough edge closest to you, offsetting it just slightly.
With the flat edge of your hand or the handle of a wooden spoon held horizontally, make a slight indentation in the dough right beside the edge of the almond paste log to give the stollen its characteristic slightly humped shape. Repeat filling and shaping the second piece of dough. Evenly space the stollen on the prepared baking sheet and let rise until when pressed with a floured finger, a small indentation remains, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Toward the end of the rising time, arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you have an extra baking sheet, nest the pan of stollen into it; this double-thick protection will help prevent the bottom of the stollen from overbrowning as they bake.
Bake the stollen until the crust is deep golden brown and the internal temperature reaches 200 degrees, about 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, spread the granulated sugar on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and place nearby. Set the melted butter nearby as well.
Remove the stollen from the oven and immediately brush the melted butter all over the hot stollen, including the bottoms. Continue brushing until all the butter is used up. Dredge the butter-brushed stollen in the granulated sugar to coat, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cool, generously dust the stollen with confectioner’s sugar. Store stollen well wrapped at room temperature for up to 1 week. If you plan to freeze the stollen, wait to dust them with confectioner’s sugar until after thawing and right before serving.
— Courtesy “The King Arthur Baking Company Big Book of Bread: 125+ Recipes for Every Baker,” by Jessica Battilana, Martin Philip and Melanie Wanders (Simon Element, $30).