Original recipe for a delicious Christmas Stollen
Dough: Ingredients
350 g flour
25 g fresh yeast
2 eggs
35 g white caster sugar
7 g salt
0.5 lemon, zested
30 g butter
30 g margarine
210 ml water
250 g raisins
70 g nuts
200 g almond paste
Optional: flaked almonds for decoration
Ingredients for after baking:
butter, melted (to brush the dough)
powdered sugar
Method:
- Preheat the oven, with DeSh~Stoom inside, to between 220°C and 250°C
- Beat the egg, add a splash of water (about half) and dissolve the yeast in it
- Mix all ingredients together, except for the raisins, nuts, and almond paste
- Knead by hand or in a stand mixer until you have a supple dough
- If you notice the dough is too dry, add more water little by little
- Next, knead in the raisins and nuts. Make sure the raisins are well incorporated into the dough. If they stick out too much, they will quickly become hard and burnt during baking
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape them into balls. This way you make 2 Christmas stollens instead of 1 large one
- Let the dough rise for about 15–30 minutes
- Knead the almond paste until soft and divide into 2 equal parts. Roll into a neat log
- Dust a work surface with flour and take a dough ball. Roll it out into a rectangular sheet the same length as the almond paste log
- Place the almond paste log in the center of the dough sheet
- Fold the dough over the paste, roll it up well, and press the edges down
- Brush the top of the dough with beaten egg
- Decorate with flaked almonds if desired
- Repeat with the second dough ball
- Let both loaves rest again for 30 minutes.
Baking:
- Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, preheat for another 20–30 minutes (proper pre-heating) so that DeSh~Stoom can maintain the temperature longer. Then turn the oven temperature down to the recommended baking temperature. The product can now go into the oven.
PLEASE NOTE! Pre-heat temperature is not the same as baking temperature! - Fill DeSh~Stoom with cold/lukewarm/hot water up to the raised edge of the DeSh. The water temperature depends on the actual temperature of your oven, which you measure with an oven thermometer, and how long you want to preheat
- Bake the loaves for 35 minutes at 180°C / 185°C in the preheated oven
- Meanwhile, melt a little butter in a small pan
- Remove the loaves from the oven, place on a cooling rack, brush generously with the melted butter, and finally sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Home-baked bread with a crispy, thin crust and a soft, airy interior? The answer is: STEAM!
How does it work?
Steam delays crust formation (allowing volume to increase through oven spring), gives the product a beautiful shine, and prevents drying out. Steam should be added at the start of the baking process. The bread will then get a nice crack and a crispy crust because the dough is kept supple by the steam. Steam also has the advantage of heating (gelatinizing) the starch faster, which slightly shortens the baking process for the best results.
Through my years of experience as a baker and technical baking advisor, I have developed an effective, affordable, and sustainable product that turns any type of home oven into a truly professional, artisanal bakery oven:
the user-friendly DeSh~Stoom steam container.