Stollen

Just in time for the holidays! As Mr. Reinhart states..."Dresden, Germany is considered the spiritual home of this traditional Christmas bread...which symbolizes the blanket of baby Jesus & the colored fruit represents the gifts of the Magi...There are hundreds of authentic versions of stollen..." so I decided to research a bit & find a recipe that was a bit more exotic than just golden raisins & candied fruit...I came cross David Lebovitz's slightly adapted version from Melissa Clark's The New York Times article from Hans Rockewagner...seems like a re-gifting of sorts...I followed the recipe in the Bread Baker's Apprentice, but used the ingredient suggestions from David Lebovitz...So pictured above - dark rum & almost 4 cups of mixed dried fruit - mostly cranberries, golden raisins, dried apricots & dark raisins...Soaked for 24 hours...
The sponge - all purpose flour, water & KAF gold-labeled yeast (which is osmotolerant meaning it helps sweet breads rise better)...Left for one hour to ferment at room temperature...

My messy mise en place...Here are the ingredient variations: toasted almonds...
Fresh nutmeg...
Vanilla bean paste - I used one whole bean...
From top - lemon zest, cardamon, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, vanilla bean paste, sugar & kosher salt...
Nice foamy sponge after the one hour ferment...
Dry ingredients mixed together with the wet - one large egg yolk & 1 cup melted butter...
Another variation - 1/2 cup chopped candied ginger...
Adding in the sponge in 3 pieces & mixing completely after each addition...
Now for the fun part...Almonds, ginger & rum-soaked fruit...
The dough should resemble cookie dough...
A pretty mess!
Left to rise for about an hour...
Not much change after the hour is over...
Shaping...on a floured surface & divided in two...
Used the "shaping method #2" as featured in the BBA book...1/2 of the dough into a thick rectangle - about 8"x4"...the add more almonds & dried apricots...
With a rolling pin, make an indent or well towards the center & fold the bottom towards the middle indent...add more almonds & fruit...
Then folded the top half over the bottom half & transfer to parchment lined pan while curling it into a crescent shape while setting it down...
I made the other half portion of dough into three smaller crescent shapes using the same method...
Another one hour ferment at room temperature & then into the oven at 350 degrees for one hour...
Pretty! The internal temp was around 200' degrees...
While still hot, brushed with 1/2 cup melted butter...
& then generously sprinkled with gingered sugar...(1/2 cups sugar & 1 tsp ground ginger mixed together)...
After the ferment & into the oven for 45 minutes...
You can see the almonds & fruit sticking out of the ends...
Again, buttered while hot & dusted with ginger sugar...
After leaving out covered only with a piece of parchement overnight, its ready for its dusting of powdered sugar...
Reminds me of snow...
Or butter & sugar overload...
I love this photo - the crescent & white color resembles the blanket of baby Jesus...
Happy Holidays!

Panettone

I was really looking forward to creating the legendary Panettone & wasn't quite sure what to expect, as I've never made anything close to this - its an intimidating recipe...Good thing the fun part was first...dried fruit soaked in scotch wiskey...
Golden raisins, cranberries & a pre-packaged dried fruit mix...Soaked for 24 hours...
The wild yeast ferment...taken out of the fridge to dechill for one hour...
My messy mise en place...notice the KAF gold label yeast...I hope it helps the bread rise!
Blanching almonds...this was kind of fun...until my fingers became sore squeezing the skin off the slippery almonds...
Dry ingredients mixed with wet - egg, egg yolk & sponge...
The other fun part...mixing it all in...
Sticky mess...
After about 8 minutes and a little flour, the dough came together nicely & was quite shiny...
77'degrees...
The dough weighed 5 pounds, 2.25 ounces! Its was heavy!
Satinly, glistenly...perfect! Set at room temperature to ferment for 2 hours...
Meanwhile - prepping the pans...
Its about 1 1/2 times it original size after two hours...
Easy enough to handle with bare hands...is that right?
Two medium sized loaves & 12 little ones... & another two hour proof at room temperature...
After 2 hours, the dough puffed up a bit...but not the high rise I wanted...
Ready for the oven...
The mini loaves were baked at 325' degrees for about 40 minutes...& the large loaves for one hour...
The loaves are golden brown & smell delicious!
Again, not quite the rise I wanted...The insides look gorgeous!
A toasted slice & bit of sweet butter...yum!
A picture of the insides of the mini loaves...the bread wasn't overly sweet...& I actually used about 2 times the amount of sugar suggested & an additional egg to make it more cake like & moist...We are still nibbling on it & while you wouldn't want to make this all the time...its a fun holiday tradition!