I love Stollen but have always bought it in the past, so this year I thought I would have a go at making my own! I do love making bread but it can be so time consuming to make and normally I decide too late in the day to make it and have to resolve to make it the next day which quite often doesn’t happen. So this time I made sure I put a day aside to make it and it was so worth it.

There is something so satisfying about eating bread that you have made, especially when its filled with fruit, almonds and marzipan!

The recipe I used left the dough very wet so I ended up adding some flour as it seemed too wet, the first prove didn’t really amount to much and I was worried but the second was better I ended up cutting the dough in half to make 2 loaves as it struggled to fit on the tray and would have taken forever to bake. I also wonder if my marzipan should have been rolled thinner? But the weight and dimensions were right so maybe it was ok?

 

Here is the recipe;

You will need:

2 tsp Dried yeast

230g Plain flour

100ml Warm milk

Pinch of salt

1 tsp Caster Sugar

1tsp Ground mixed spice

200g Dried mixed fruit

50g Glace cherries, chopped

25g Flaked almonds

50g butter

1 Egg

250g Marzipan

To finish:

25g Melted butter

50g Icing sugar

Method:

*Place the warm milk and yeast in a bowl and set aside for about 6-8 minutes. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, salt and mixed spice into a large bowl.

* Add the dried fruit, cherries, almonds and butter and mix well to combine. Add the yeast mixture together with the egg and mix well to combine all the ingredients to form a dough.

* Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 4-5 minutes, place the dough in a bowl, cover with cling film and set aside in a warm place to prove for 25 minutes.

* Uncover the dough and turn out onto a lightly dusted surface. Knock back to reduce the volume then once again knead the dough for a further 5 minutes.

* Push and roll out the dough by hand into a flat oval shape about 9x7inch. Roll out the marzipan into a piece about 7x2inch.

* Place the marzipan in the centre of the dough, then fold over the sides of the dough to seal in the marzipan. Place the dough seal side down onto a greased baking tray lined with parchment, cover and set aside somewhere warm to prove for an hour. Preheat the over to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

* Bake for 40-45 minutes or if you have split the dough into 2 like I did bake for about 25-30 minutes.

Remove from the oven, brush with the melted butter and dust liberally with the sifted icing sugar.