Buttery Holiday Stollen Recipe from Janie’s Mill

Photo credit: iStock/lleerogers

One of mill manager Jill Brockman-Cummings’ favorite winter traditions involves making this Buttery Holiday Stollen for family and friends. You can adapt the flours and fillings as you like. As Brockman-Cummings points out: “Any stollen is a good stollen!” 

See more: Why Janie’s Farm in Iroquois County Transitioned to Organic Grain Production

Ingredients

Stollen:

¾ cup milk

½ cup butter

2 cups Janie’s Mill All-Purpose Flour, divided

2 cups Janie’s Mill Whole-Kernel Bread Flour

½ cup sugar

1 package active dry yeast

4 large eggs

1 ¼ cups raisins or currants

1 ¼ cups golden raisins

4 ounces (1 container) diced candied citron (or make your own candied citrus peels)

½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

½ cup blanched whole almonds, coarsely chopped

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon rum or water

 Instructions

1. In a 1-quart saucepan over low heat, heat milk and butter until very warm (120 to 130 degrees). The butter doesn’t have to melt completely.
2. In a large bowl, combine bread flour with the sugar and yeast. With a mixer at low speed, gradually pour liquid (milk/butter) mixture into dry ingredients just until blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the eggs and about ½ cup of all-purpose flour to make a thick batter. Continue beating another 2 minutes, scraping the bowl often.
3. With a wooden spoon, stir in the remaining 1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour, using a little more or a little less to result in a soft dough.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. You may need to work in a little additional flour if the dough is very sticky.
5. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large, greased bowl, turning the dough once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (about 80 degrees) until doubled, about 1 hour.
6. In a small bowl, mix the raisins, citron, walnuts and almonds; set aside.
7. Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in the raisins, citron and nuts. Divide dough into 2 or 3 pieces (depending on how many loaves you’d like to make).
8. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll one piece of the dough into an oval about 12 by 8 inches. Fold dough almost in half lengthwise, pressing the top edge down lightly with your fingertips. Place on a large cookie sheet.
9. Repeat with the remaining piece(s) of dough, placing them on the same cookie sheet, about 3 inches apart. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake the stollen 35 to 40 minutes until lightly browned and the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Place on a wire rack to cool.
11. When the loaves are still warm, coat with a thick layer of powdered sugar (some recipes say to rub with butter first so that the powdered sugar coating sticks better and can be thicker). Or…
12. Let the loaves cool and prepare a glaze by mixing powdered sugar, lemon juice, and rum or water in a small bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the top of each stollen. Then, if you like, cover with a generous layer of powdered sugar…the finished product should look snow-covered!

Learn more about Janie’s Mill and find more recipes at janiesmill.com.