Guest spot: The Mildred Mittens Manufactory recipe for Stollen
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Christmas | 24 comments
I love Stollen. When Mildred sent me her recipe I was delighted. This sounds so good I just had to put it on the blog. I will be making this with my mum when I have a few days off over Christmas.
Mildred wrote
“Have you ever made Stollen I wonder? The recipe in Andrew Whitley’s ‘Bread Matters’ book is superb! I tweaked it a bit and the resulting Stollen is wonderful! Andrew’s recipe has made a nice sized loaf and every step was explained very well. Everything I have made from this fantastic book has worked perfectly!
Here’s my ‘take’ on his recipe. It differs in that I use all white flour and add some mixed spice, and a few cherries for some festive ‘red’. We both roll the marzipan so it is distributed through the roll instead of a heavy sugary dollop through the middle, I was surprised how much more I enjoyed it like this.
Mix the fruits up the night before:
Pop 70g Sultanas, 60g Raisins, 50g Mixed peel, 30g chopped glacé cherries and 20g Brandy in a strong poly bag and leave to soak, shaking up a bit from time to time, if you remember.
The next day, make the Dough:
Place 5g sugar, 5g fresh (or dried, a little less) yeast and 60g warm milk in a bowl and stir together until dissolved, add 50g Strong White bread flour. Mix together well. Cover and leave in a warm place for about an hour until the ‘sponge’ has risen and then dropped a little.
Add to the sponge mix, when it is ready, 30g sugar (I used castor throughout), 110g Strong White Bread flour, 1 beaten egg and 50g soft salted butter.
Mix well to combine then knead for about 10 minutes. It will feel a little sticky, this is ok!
Leave to prove for about an hour until well risen.
Meanwhile, make the Marzipan:
Simply mix together 60g ground almonds, 20g castor sugar, 20g icing sugar and 20g of beaten egg to form a paste, pop this in a poly bag in the fridge.
To make the Stollen Dough:
Tip the mixed fruits into the bowl of risen dough and carefully fold/mix it in with a good pinch of mixed spice, don’t overdo the mixing or the fruits will break up! Relax the dough for 10 minutes while you roll out the cold marzipan to about a 20cm x 15cm rectangle. Roll the dough a bit bigger then place the marzipan on top of the dough and roll up like a Swiss roll, firmly with the join ending up underneath.
Place on a tray with baking parchment and brush the Stollen roll with some beaten egg (I used the leftover from the marzipan).
Cover with a large bowl and leave to rise in a warm place.
When it has proved, pop it in the oven (180c/160c fan). I left the glass bowl OVER the Stollen for the first 15 minutes of baking (like I would my bread, you need to ensure you use an oven proof bowl in this case). You do not have to do this, all I can say is though it helped the dough rise a little more and stopped it getting a hard crust which I personally didn’t want. I removed the bowl then carried on baking for about another 30 minutes, covering it with some tinfoil towards the end so it didn’t over brown.
Remove from the oven and place it on a cooling tray and brush over with melted butter. When cool sieve some icing sugar over it (or when you are ready to serve it). It won’t keep really fresh for long, (unlike the ‘bought’ varieties which are full of preservatives!). It is so scrumptious it is unlikely to hang around for very long either! You can freeze it, slice it first if you like. It is also lovely toasted.
What a wonderful gift it would make! Or to use instead of Christmas Cake!”
Leave a reply
I have never made Stollen before so decided to try instead of Christmas cake. Just about to make attempt 1 but notice that cooking temperature has not been mentioned, can you please advise
ive never tried stollen bread but it looks good
Hi Mildred
Thank you so much for leaving this recipe it sounds delicious. I love the idea of the saffron colour.
I must pull my finger out and start making bread again!
I couldn’t wait for Easter (and this is when I usually make this!). It was such a sunny, spring-like day today I made some Saffron Bread!
I use 500g Strong White Bread Flour, 100g Soft Butter, 100g Castor Sugar, 1 teaspoon quick yeast. I steep about half a teaspoon (a good pinch, or about 25 bits) of Saffron in 100ml milk overnight (pop both in a small pan, heat to almost boiling, cover and leave). In the morning pour it through a tea strainer and add it to the other ingredients with enough extra warm milk to make a dough, knead for a few minutes. I sometimes make it as I would my Stollen, making a ‘sponge starter’, both methods have worked well.
It takes a good while to rise (mine was 5 hours today). I re knead it and then add the fruit, a couple of handfuls of sultanas and / or mixed fruts – whatever comes to hand. Roll it into a log, tuck the sides under and pop it in a loaf tin, mine is 9″ long (greased and floured). Cover and allow to rise again, this took over an hour.
Medium oven for 35 minutes, covering it so it doesn’t get too brown on top if necessary.
The bread is a pretty yellow with a divine flavour. If there is any left (IF) it makes a beautiful Bread and Butter Pudding!
Hi Kate(uk)
Thanks for the marzipan recipe it sounds scrummy!
Try this-60g icing sugar,60g golden caster sugar,100g ground almonds,1 egg yolk, 1 tbsp lemon juice- smooth, scrunchy,sweet and sharp and nothing like that stuff on fruitcakes!
Hi Kate and Mildred,
Danny hates the homemade marzipan. But he is keen for my mum and me to make Mildred’s stollen as it is rolled out thinly and cooked. He doesn’t like marzipan a centimetre thick stuck on the Christmas cake. I am going to try a thinner layer this year.
Hi Kate, I agree with you about home made marzipan! I have lost count of the number of people who ‘hate’ marzipan . . . but will readily accept a slice of Stollen and then say how wonderful it is!
Stollen is delicious and home-made marzipan is just so unlike shop marzipan- I can’t bear the shop stuff, but home-made is heaven, so don’t worry if someone in your house isn’t a marzipan fan, get them to try the proper hand made stuff!
Hi Mildred,
Thanks for the update on this recipe. I think that you are right most recipes assume some experience on behalf of the cook.
Hi James,
Yes, it does look scrummy!