Marzipan-Stollen (with Milk Roux and Preferment)

I really, really, really love making Stollen. I have many fond memories of doing it with my mother following an old recipe from my grandmother, soaking the raisins and proofing the dough, rolling out the marzipan for the centre and brushing it with butter when it was done. It was a sure sign that Christmas was on the way- Stollen is to be made weeks before, at least three to four, but for us it was usually early or mid-November when we started to give it optimal time to age. Even though there's over a month to the holidays, the fact that there's a stollen in the pantry wrapped up and ready meant the promise of Christmas right around the corner.

The unbaked Stollen, ready to go.

There are many recipes for Stollen, and none are right or wrong- though for my family, the ultimate stollen has got to be a buttery yeast dough full of raisins, currants, citrus peel and almonds, and the marzipan core is a must. I plan to make another batch closer to Christmas with a baking powder-egg-quark dough that's nothing like what we usually have, but there's got to be something traditional there, too- it's Christmas, after all.

Powdered up and ready to lie in wait until Christmas...

While this isn't my Oma's recipe, I think this is an improvement- more butter and less sugar in the dough, with copious amounts of fruit and nuts and lots of different spices. There's a roux in the dough to keep it soft and moist until Christmas, and of course plenty of my beloved marzipan. It's crusted thickly in two types of sugar along with the butter, and is less breadlike and more dense than what we usually have. I think it helps that we didn't use a high-gluten flour this year, instead opting for type 550/all purpose flour, and didn't overdo it with the resting times. I've seen a lot of bread-like stollen recipes, but it just doesn't seem right to me- but hey, to each their own. Stollen is a very personal business.

After baking, I always pick out the burnt nuts and fruits that get totally carbonized on top (it seems you can't avoid that) before brushing on the butter and powdering it up. Next, the loaves get wrapped in baking parchment and aluminium foil and placed in the cabinet above the range for a nice, long time. I'm always a little nervous letting them sit, although I know they've got to- then again, I've heard of fruitcakes that sit for a full year (or more) before consumption. 

And after a long wait... fantastic stollen that's moist and soft but not too much so, crusted in vanillaey sugar and complete with a marzipan centre.

Marzipan-Stollen
Adapted from Hefe und Mehr

For the Fruit and Nuts:
225 g. Mixed yellow, green and dark raisins/sultanas
75 g. Currants
100 g. Slivered/chopped almonds
70 ml. Dark spiced rum
Boiling water, to cover

Mix all and cover with just enough hot water to almost top off the fruits. Leave overnight in the refrigerator to absorb.

(NOTE: I forgot to presoak my fruits overnight, so mine only got about 3-4 hours in the rum mixture... if you want a strong rum flavour, though, go for the full 12-14 hour soak, or add a few drops of rum extracts to the fruits to boost the flavour as a quick fix. I also went a little overboard with the sultanas- but that's a matter of personal taste. The amount given is already very generous.)

For the Roux:
30 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
150 g. Milk

In a small saucepan, cook on medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until 65℃- or until it forms an almost translucent, pudding-like paste. Place in a cool bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let cool to room temperature before using.

For the Preferment:
100 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
100 g. Milk, cold
35 g. Fresh yeast

Mix all and let rise until doubled.

Final Dough:
400 g. All purpose/type 550 flour
5 g. Salt
0.5 g. Each mace, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom (approximate with the amount on the tip of a knife!)
Half a vanilla bean, scraped
75 g. Sugar, plus one or two sachets vanilla sugar (optional)
Zest of half a lemon (optional)
250 g. Butter
50 g. Candied citron, diced
50 g. Candied orange peel, diced
150-200 g. Marzipan

Cream butter and sugar (including vanilla sugar, lemon zest and scraped-out vanilla seeds, if using). Sift together flour, spices and salt, and add to the butter mixture, along with the roux and preferment. Knead until homogeneous, keeping the dough cool. 

Let rest covered for 30 minutes. In the mean time, shape the marzipan into two long rods.

Drain the fruits and nuts and mix with the diced peels. Knead into the dough until just incorporated, and divide into two parts. Let rest covered and preheat the oven to 200℃.

Flatten each piece of dough into an oblong oval. In the centre, form a dent and place in the marzipan roll, folding the dough over it. Bake right away for 40 minutes, covering with foil if browning too quickly.

To Finish:
50 g. Melted butter
80 g. Superfine sugar
100 g. Powder sugar

Brush with melted butter and coat thickly in sugar. Dust all over with powder sugar once cool (after a few hours, or the next morning) and roll up in aluminium foil. Store in a cool, dark, dry place for at least a week before eating.