Christmas Stollen is my first winter indulgence ( and Sourdough Surprises December Challenge) ~A light & tender crumb, nicely spiced with a bit of cardamom, clove and cinnamon. Occasioned with a succulent bite of moist dried apricots, pineapple, raisins, cranberries, and prunes.
Sourdough Christmas Stollen
2 cups sourdough starter1 cup butter (melted)
1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 tsp salt (the second time I made this I added another tsp)
1 1/2 cups dried fruit marinated in peach schnapps (say yummy!)
zest from 1 lemon
1/3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom
6 cups flour
In a large bowl add melted butter to milk to warm. Stir in salt. add dried fruit, spices and zest. Add culture.
Add 1 cup at a time flour and knead until smooth. Let proof 8 - 12 hours at room temperature.
Shape into 3 loaves and let proof for 2 hours.
The recipe says to bake 375 for 75 min.
I baked this in the outdoor oven so the time and temperature got lost amidst the other loaves getting baked at the same time...just before my camera froze up, spray nozzle froze on the mister, I was a loan oven loader that night so by the time all was well again it was dark, and I had to many irons in the fire to catch the Stollen-on-the-Peel glamor shot.
The Outcome:
This made 3 very large loaves. The crumb was moist and deliciously tender. The dried fruit providing all the sweetness, which the first time I made it surprised me, but pleasantly. I didn't take the time to figure out why my powdered sugar dusting dissolved a few hours after I packaged them - even though I was sure they were very cool.The second batch I tripled the recipe to fill orders and made several small roll-like boules as thank you gifts for my customers. By this time I realized that according to my memory of Stollen there was supposed to be a center of marzipan! Not in this recipe, and no, after checking again, I hadn't forgot it!
