Usually known as Christstollen, this candy cakelike bread studded with candied fruit, aromatic with orange and rum, and topped with a snowy layer of confectioners’ sugar is a Christmas specialty of the Alsace area of France. With its German heritage, that is the short model of yeasted stollen, with finely floor nuts changing the normal marzipan normally nestled within the middle.
Alsatian Stollen
- 4 cups (500 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups (150 grams) finely floor almonds or hazelnuts
- 4 teaspoons (20 grams) baking powder
- 1 tablespoon (9 grams) kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) floor cardamom
- ½ teaspoon (1 gram) floor nutmeg
- Zest of 1 giant orange (about 1ÂĽ teaspoons or 8 grams)
- Âľ cup plus 2 teaspoons (180 grams) unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 cups (200 grams) dried cranberries or a mixture of dried cranberries, currants, and raisins
- 3.5 ounces (100 grams) candied citrus peel
- 1 cup (250 grams) quark, fromage frais, or full-fat Greek yogurt
- 2 giant eggs (100 grams), room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (30 grams) darkish rum
- 1 teaspoon (4 grams) vanilla extract
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon (1 to 2 grams) almond extract
- 3 to 4 tablespoons (42 to 56 grams) unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup (40 grams) confectioners’ sugar
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In a big bowl, whisk collectively flour, floor nuts, baking powder, salt, cardamom, nutmeg, and orange zest till mixed. Add cubed butter, and utilizing your fingertips, rub butter into flour combination till there aren’t any extra lumps of butter and combination resembles moist sand. (There must be no clumps of zest; it must be evenly distributed all through.) Add granulated sugar, cranberries, and candied peel, and toss properly till mixed.
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In a medium bowl, whisk collectively quark, eggs, rum, and extracts till clean. Pour over flour combination, and utilizing a fork or wood spoon, fold and mix till dry substances are moistened and a dough varieties.
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Scrape dough out onto a evenly floured floor, and knead till dough is clean, elastic, and not sticky, 10 to fifteen minutes, including further flour as wanted.
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Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Form dough right into a 11-inch oval with barely tapered ends. Make a deep, exaggerated indentation down lengthy aspect of dough about one-third of the way in which in. (If the indentation isn’t deep sufficient, it will likely be misplaced in baking.) Place on ready pan.
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Bake for 45 minutes. Cut back oven temperature to 325°F (170°C), and bake for quarter-hour extra, loosely masking with foil to stop extra browning, if obligatory. Instantly brush complete prime and sides of sizzling loaf with softened butter. Generously mud with confectioners’ sugar.
