Christmas Stollen is THE most popular Christmas delight in Germany.
Christmas in Germany without Stollen is like Easter without Easter chocolate eggs!
I think I never celebrated a Christmas season in my life where there was no Stollen on the table.
Stollen is a kind of bread. Christmas bread. But it is a sweet bread.
Kind of a mix of bread and cake.
And because it is dry, I love to make it with a Marzipan filling.
Makes it far more pleasant to eat and gives a little bit of moisture.
Otherwise you need a cup of coffee or tea with each slice, haha.
Usually Stollen contains a lot of fat. That is how the store bought ones are made.
With a lot of fat to keep it more moist. My gluten free version is not the reason that it turns dry.
Also when you go with normal wheat flour, the Stollen will be dry.
My mums Stollen is similar dry than my gluten free version.
Except you add a ton of fat,.... and we do not want that here.
I made this as low fat as it gets.
But you will need a bit of fat, otherwise it really turns to dry and just crumbles away.
I also used pysillium husk to keep it together.
I know MM followers always question husk. But in this case, sorry, there is not replacement.
You need the husk to keep the dough a bit elastic when you handle it.
The Stollen itself needs it, to also keep in some more moisture.
And you can't get both with something else.
I am very happy with the result. The taste is really good. I love it.
And my sweetheart also loves it. The Marzipan gives it a nice aroma.
The Marzipan is homemade as well. To easy to make,...
My recipe is for one smaller Stollen.
I rather have a smaller one, because when you cut it, it dries out more.
And a smaller one is eaten up much faster, hehe.
Start to make the Marzipan. One day ahead.
It develops its flavor much more when you give it at least a day rest in the fridge.
But you also can give it a longer rest. Up to 3 days is a good resting time. But if you are more in a hurry,
24 hours will be fine.
For the Marzipan you need:
200g almond meal
150g aluminum free organic icing sugar
1/2 tsp (2,5ml) Rosewater
1/2 tsp almond oil
40ml filtered water
Direction:
Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix well to a smooth dough.
I started to mix everything together with a simple spoon.
And when it came together, I finished with my hand.
This should take about 5-10 minutes.
Wrap well in cling foil and rest for at least 24 hours in the fridge.
For the Stollen dough you will need:
100g white rice flour (organic)
50g Millet flour
50g almond meal/flour
25g golden flaxseed meal
10g psyllium husk
1,5 tsp dry yeast**
5g fresh grated lemon zest (organic)
5g fresh grated orange zest (organic)
25g organic raw sugar or coconut sugar
100g raisins
1tsp Vanilla sugar
2g pink salt (about 1/4-1/2 tsp)
150ml almond milk mixed with 70ml lukewarm water & 30ml sweet almond oil***
Aluminum free icing sugar for the topping.
** I never baked a Stollen without yeast. But if you don't feel good with yeast, go with baking powder.
But it will change the taste and probably the consistency a bit.
***instead of almond oil you also can use vegan margarine if you like. Just melt it with the milk.
Directions:
1. Mix all dry ingredients for the dough into a bowl and mix well.
Add the yeast into a bowl (non metallic) and add a little bit of sugar.
Add a little splash of lukewarm almond milk. Mix well and set aside.
Also prepare the liquid part. Heat some milk to lukewarm, add the water and oil.
When the yeast starts to bubble and rise, add all liquid ingredients into the dry one.
Mix very well. The dough should come together nice and smooth.
You should already be able after a couple of minutes to work with your hand.
Don't knead to much. But bring it nicely together to a smooth dough.
Leave in a bowl, also non metallic, cover with a towel and rest for about 20minutes.
2. heat oven to 180C
3. Remove dough from the bowl and use either a towel or a slightly floured working area.
Follow the steps like on the pictures!
4. Roll the dough to a oval or round like shape.
Keep it about 3cm thick.
6. Remove Marzipan from the fridge and make a generous sausage shape from it.
Or 2!
You probably will not use all of it. I used about 3/4 of it. But if you like to use all of it, go for it :-)
Place the marzipan "sausage"on the lower part/edge.
And roll it into the dough to the middle of the dough.
The upper part now, just fold it over this rolled part.
Push open areas together. I used a bit of water on my hands to smooth things out.
Place the Stollen on a baking tray with baking paper.
7. Bake for about 45 minutes in the middle part of your oven.
8. Remove from oven, cool down and top with a lot of icing sugar.
Don't be shy!
I keep it wrapped in the baking paper.
Stollen actually tastes better and better with time. This baked good lasts actually for longer.
Well,... if you don't eat it all up quickly, haha.
A Stollen can be baked ahead. In Germany it actually is baked weeks ahead of Christmas.
And you will see, over time, the last pieces, even when more dry, taste really the best :-)
But with the marzipan, this really stays nice to eat.
When you go without marzipan,... be prepared that it is more dry.
ENJOY & Merry Christmas :-)