Daring Bakers: Stollen for Christmas Breakfast

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.



Each year, for Christmas breakfast, I make some kind of special bread. This year I was able to use the featured recipe for the Daring Bakers, Stollen. It came out beautifully.


For the fruit, I used golden raisins, dried sour cherries, dried cranberries, and candied lemon peel, all of which I soaked in a mixture of brandy and rum. I used the last of the brandy! How could that be? I rarely go through a bottle of spirits, since I forget I have it and use it primarily for cooking. The rum was the backup.


I laid a strip of slivered almonds on the rolled out dough, then rolled it up and formed a ring. I slashed and twisted the sections so the bread would resemble a wreath.



After a good hour's rise, the bread was baked, whereupon I immediately brushed it with oil and sprinkled it with powdered sugar.



This morning we sliced it up to go with a brunch of blueberry soup, scrambled eggs, and grapefruit. The texture was perfect and the flavor was just so delicious.



For the recipe, stop by the Daring Kitchen. While there, you can see how the other bakers did. We're posting over a several day period because of the holiday.

Best wishes for the New Year!