Dough: Ingredients
350 g flour
25 g fresh yeast
2 eggs
35 g white caster sugar
7 g salt
0.5 pieces lemon zest
30 g butter
30 g margarine
210 ml water
250 g raisins
70 g nuts
200 g almond paste
250 g Amarena cherries
200 g bake-stable custard
Optional: flaked almonds for decoration
Ingredients for after baking:
butter, melted (to brush the dough)
powdered sugar
Method:
- Preheat the oven, with DeSh~Steam, between 220°C and 250°C.
- Whisk 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 the dough by hand or in a food processor until it is smooth
- If you notice the dough is too dry, add a little more water bit by bit
- Then 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 black during baking
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape them into 2 balls. This way you make 2 Apple/Amarena stollens instead of 1 large one
- Let the dough rise for about 15–30 minutes
- Knead the almond paste until supple and divide into 2 equal parts. Roll out into a nice 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
- Place the dough piece with the seam facing down on the baking tray with parchment paper
- Let it rest for 15 minutes, covered with a dough cloth or double bubble wrap
- Brush the top of the dough with a beaten half egg (half egg/half water)
- Decorate with flaked almonds if desired
- Cut into the dough down to the almond paste log
- Cut the almond paste log open slightly
- Press an Amarena cherry into the almond paste log every half centimeter
- Fold the almond paste log closed again
- Pipe a little bake-stable custard over the almond paste log
- Press 8 apple wedges onto the custard
- Repeat the above with the second dough ball
- Let both loaves rest again for 30 minutes.
Baking: - Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, preheat for about 20–30 minutes longer (proper preheating) so that DeSh~Steam can maintain the temperature longer. Then turn the oven temperature back to the recommended baking temperature. The product can now go into the oven.
PLEASE NOTE! Preheating temperature is not the same as the baking temperature! - Fill DeSh~Steam 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 40 minutes at 175°C/180°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 melted butter, and finally sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Homemade 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 must be added at the beginning of the baking process. The bread then gets a beautiful crack and a crispy crust because the dough is kept supple by the steam. Steam also has the advantage that the starch is heated (gelatinized) faster, allowing you to shorten the baking process slightly for the best result.
Through my years of experience as a bread 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 baker’s oven:
the user-friendly DeSh~Steam stone.