Stollen Wreath - Daring Bakers December 2010

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking.  She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Here's what I learnt:

• This recipe makes a huuuge Stollen wreath!  If you are only a household of 2, like me, then it's probably best to make 2 smaller Stollen loaves instead of a wreath.
• Sugar in a pan on the stove can burn very very quickly.  I tried my hand at making my very own candied citrus peel.  It was coming along nicely and then I made the fatal mistake of doing something else for a couple of minutes and came back to it to find it completely burned.
• There's many different variations of dried fruits and fillings you could use.  I kept mine pretty true to the recipe below (sans the candied citrus peel) but I wasn't a huge fan of the raisins and glacé cherries.  If I made one again I would try a Cranberry and Pistachio combination.

What you'll need:

• Time!  The Stollen needs to be prepared over at least one night or a couple of days.
• Kitchen Aid with dough hook or strong arms and hands
• Mixing bowl
• Bowl to soak raisins
• Small saucepan
• Sheet of plastic or plastic wrap to cover when proofing
• Bench or pastry scraper (very handy for cutting dough and also cleaning work surface)
• Rolling pin
• Pastry Brush
• A scale - it's important to have when making bread
• Sheet Pan or round Pizza pan
• Parchment Paper

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup / 60ml lukewarm water (43º C)
• 4 1/2 teaspoons / 14 grams active dry yeast
• 1 cup / 240 ml milk
• 10 tablespoons / 140 grams unsalted butter (can use salted butter)
• 5½ cups / 770 grams all-purpose (plain) flour (Measure flour first - then sift- plus extra for dusting)
• ½ cup / 115 gms sugar
• ¾ teaspoon / 4 ½ grams salt (if using salted butter there is no need to alter this salt measurement)
• 1 teaspoon / 6 grams cinnamon
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
• 2 teaspoons / 10 ml good quality vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon / 5 ml lemon extract or orange extract
• ¾ cup / 135 grams mixed peel (recipe below to make your own)
• 1 cup / 170 grams firmly packed raisins 
• 3 tablespoons / 45ml rum  
• 12 red glacé cherries (roughly chopped) for the color and the taste. (optional)
• 1 cup / 100 grams flaked almonds
• Melted unsalted butter for coating the wreath
• Icing sugar for dusting wreath

Directions:

1. In a small bowl soak the raisins in the rum and set aside. 
2. To make the dough pour ¼ cup (60 ml) warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast and let stand 5 minutes.  Stir to dissolve yeast completely.
3. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup (240 ml) milk and 10 tablespoons (150 ml) butter over medium - low heat until butter is melted.  
4. Let stand until lukewarm, about 5 minutes. 
5. Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add lemon and vanilla extracts.  
6. In a large mixing bowl (4 qt) (4 liters) (or in the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment), stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests.
7. Then stir in (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture.  This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. 
8. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
9. Add in the mixed peel, soaked fruit and almonds and mix with your hands or on low speed to incorporate.  
10. Here is where you can add the cherries if you would like. Be delicate with the cherries or the dough will turn red. 
11. Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing with the dough hook) to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed.  The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky.  
12. Knead for approximately 8 minutes (6 minutes by machine). The full six minutes of kneading is needed to distribute the dried fruit and other ingredients and to make the dough have a reasonable bread-dough consistency. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn't enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.   
13. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil.  
14. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight.  
15. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge (since the butter goes firm)  but it does rise slowly.  The raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want. 

Shaping the Dough and Baking the Wreath:

1. Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly.
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Preheat oven to moderate 180°C with the oven rack on the middle shelf. 
4. Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches (40 x 61 cms) and ¼ inch (6 mm) thick.
5. Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder. 
6. Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan.  Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle.  You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape.
7. Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting 2/3 of the way through the dough.  
8. Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape.  Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. 
9. Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.
10. Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes.  
11. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. 
12. Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot. 
13. Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.  
14. Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first.  
15. The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.  
16. Let cool at least an hour before serving.  Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar three times, since this many coatings 
17. helps keeps the stollen fresh - especially if you intend on sending it in the mail as Christmas presents! 
18. When completely cool, store in a plastic bag.  Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style.

Storage:

• Stollen freezes for about 4 months.
• The baked stollen stores well for 2 weeks covered in foil and plastic wrap on the counter at room temperature.
• One month in the refrigerator well covered with foil and plastic wrap.

Candied Citrus Peel Recipe:

1. Using a potato peeler, peel about 2 cups of peel from oranges and lemons.  
2. Cut the peel into thin strips and place in a heavy pan
3. Cover with 1½ cups (360 mL) of cold water. 
4. Bring slowly to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes or longer to dim the acidy taste.
5. Drain and repeat this process 3 to 5 times, draining well each time.
6. Add to the pan ½ cup (120 mL) of water and 1 cup (240 mL) of sugar.
7. Add the peel and boil until the peel absorbs all of the syrup. The peel will become transparent.
8. Spread on a rack to dry thoroughly (unfortunately I never made it to this step!)