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Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Christmas Stollen for #BreadBakers

Our theme for this month's Bread Bakers was Overnight Breakfast Bread.  Holly, from A Baker's House is hosting this month.  Holly gave us leeway as far as whether we wished to make a yeast bread or a quick bread but wanted a bread that you prepared the day before and could bake in the morning.  Great idea during this busy Holiday season.

I have a couple of Christmas Cookbooks that I pack away with my Christmas decorations each year. One is from Better Homes and Gardens that I posted my recipe for Fairy Drops from earlier today. The other is from Pillsbury and is called Family Christmas Cookbook.  Each year I go through these cookbooks like I had just gotten them and make some of our old favorites and try some new recipes. As I was leafing through I saw a couple of recipes that I hadn't made before and was trying to decide which I wanted to make when I noticed that the Stollen required overnight refrigeration.  My decision was made easily.


After refrigeration overnight, I had a 6 lb. ball of dough ready to be separated, braided and baked.


I cut the dough into three 2 lb pieces.


Then I cut two of the thirds into thirds and rolled them into ropes.


I braided these two and put the third section in the refrigerator for another day.
Then I covered these with a damp towel and let them rise for a couple of hours before baking.


They turned out beautifully.


And they tasted even better than they looked.


I am not big on icing and was going to leave them plain.
Then I decided to include them on a dessert buffet for Frank's work party so I frosted one of them.

The only adaptation I made to the recipe was to use fruit cake mixture that I had left from my Fruitcake Muffins instead of the golden raisins.

Braided Holiday Stollen
adapted from Pillsbury

5 1/2 - 6 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 t. salt
4 1/2 t. active dry yeast
1 c. water
1 c. milk
1 c. butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. fruitcake mix
1 1/2 c. slivered almonds

In large bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 2 c. flour, sugar, salt and yeast.  In a small saucepan, heat water, milk and butter until warm (105-115*).  Add warm liquid and eggs to flour mixture and blend a low speed until moistened.  Beat 2 minutes at medium speed.  Stir in fruit mixture, almonds and the remaining flour, a cup full at a time until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.  Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator to a lightly floured surface.  Divide into 3 equal pieces. Divide each third into thirds. Roll each piece into a rope 16" long.  Place 3 ropes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and braid loosely from center to each end.  Pinch the ends together and tuck them under to seal.  Cover with a warm, damp towel and allow to rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 - 2 hrs.  

Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove immediately to a cooling rack.  Print Recipe


 Here is what the group is sharing today, enjoy!




BreadBakers #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

22 comments:

  1. Your stollen looks amazing! Beautiful, Wendy!

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  2. What a lovely breakfast bread! Making multiple loaves makes it nice for a food gift at holiday time.

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  3. This turned out so nicely! I especially like how you shaped it.

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  4. Beautiful stollen! What a great choice of bread Wendy! Perfect for this season! And I loved the idea of stowing away the Christmas recipe books along with the tree...its going to free up a lot of space on my book shelf for sure! Thanks for the tip :)

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  5. Wow what a beautiful bread. It looks light and soft.

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  6. Great stollen! I've never seen it braided before. I bet it was a big hit at Frank's party!

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  7. What a lovely stollen Wendy. Perfect for the holiday season.

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