Stollen Success!

 Back in November I started thinking about the Christmas season and making contingency plans if I wasn't able to spend it with family. I thought about what treats I enjoyed that I might want to stock up on if I had to face a solo Christmas. Most years my parents make an effort to buy Stollen for me (they buy a yule log for my sister who doesn't eat Christmas pudding and wanted to do something special for me to). I started wondering whether I might be able to make Stollen for myself. Then Melinda suggested a festive #ConfinedCookalong and it was the prompt I needed to experiment.

Having bought all the ingredients (or believing that to be the case) I reread the recipe and almost had second thoughts. It seemed so time consuming while also trying to do the usual weekend housework, write Christmas cards, and do various other chores. However I felt committed so decided to persevere.

Saturday morning after a cup of tea to start the day, and an online yoga session I assembled the ingredients. It was at this point I realised I was missing ground cinnamon, but decided to make a quick #ConfinedSubstitution with nutmeg. I also had cheap dried fruit without peel, but having dried a few satsuma skins earlier in the week I decided to supplement the dried fruit with some of that. I was rather cautious in my use of the peel as I wasn't sure if it had dried sufficiently. 

 The first task was to cover the dried fruit and added peel with hot water and put to one side to soak. I then gently warmed the apple juice and added dried yeast. While the yeast was activating I made a start on the housework, before returning to the kitchen and adding the apple juice and yeast mixture to the flour. Once these were fully combined, the bowl was covered, moved to the living room, and left for a couple of hours. I also put the heating on for the first hour or so to ensure the space was sufficiently warm. I'm always a little unsure about proofing dough in winter. After continuing with the housework I decided to squeeze in an #UnconfinedWalks which resulted in the dough being left to proof for slightly longer than intended (2.5-3 hours rather than the recommended 1-2 hours).

Once home I drained the dried fruit and added this to the dough, together with blanched almonds, marzipan, and spices. The recipe's measurements of a generous pinch or a small pinch of spice were not particularly helpful and I probably could have been braver than I was with these. Once the flavourings were combined with the dough I turned it out and kneaded it. I was briefly concerned that the fruit hadn't been drained sufficiently and was making the dough too wet, but kneading on a floured surface seemed to balance that out easily. Then it was time for the second proof, this time shaped into a sausage and placed on a baking tray. This proofing also took place in the living room but without additional heating. While that was taking place I turned my attention to supporting my fellow #ConfinedCookalong participants and writing Christmas cards.

After an hour proofing the baking tray was transferred to the oven at 180C for 20 minutes before turning it down to 150C for a further 30 minutes. Once removed from the oven it was brushed with melted butter and dusted with icing sugar (rather clumsily).

I was quite pleased with the end result, although it is a little denser than shop bought versions. I was also pleasantly surprised that although the start to end product time was quite lengthy the actual ratio of active prep to sitting down (or in my case doing other chores) was very favourable.

I've also concluded that it goes well with a late night whisky mac after an enjoyable online catch up with a good friend.

Currently I'm still hoping to spend Christmas in a bubble with my parents, and am taking steps to reduce my risks over the next couple of weeks. You can never have too many seasonal treats though, especially after the year 2020 has been!