12 Bakes of Christmas 2017: Stollen [Part 4 of 4]

Welcome to the fourth and final installment of a variety of stollen recipes. Paul likes to be the centre of attention and therefore, I’ve left Mr Hollywood for the finale of this series! 

Paul Hollywood’s Stollen

A delicious yeasted cake filled with dried fruit and a swirl of marzipan…

Serves 10 – 12

Ingredients

500g strong white flour

100g caster sugar

10g fast action yeast

10g salt

150g unsalted butter, softened

250ml whole milk

pinch ground nutmeg

pinch ground cloves

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 drops almond extract

55g blanched almonds, finely chopped

200g raisins

100g currants

125g mixed peel

25g butter, melted

225g marzipan

To serve

25g butter, melted

2 tbsp icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C /fan 170C/ gas 5

2. Put the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Add the yeast on one side of the bowl and the salt on the other. Add the softened butter and 200ml of the milk and stir together.

3. Add the remaining milk and knead well on a generously floured surface for 6-7 minutes, until smooth and pliable.

4. Mix the nutmeg, cloves, vanilla and almond extract, dried fruit and mixed peel together in a bowl. Add the dough on top and knead from the outside into the centre. When everything has been fully incorporated, return to the bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for 1-1 ½  hours in a warm place, until doubled in size.

5. Flatten the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle about 45cm x 35cm. Brush with the melted butter. Roll out the marzipan to about 25 x 15cm and place on top of the dough. Roll the dough up to enclose the marzipan and transfer to a lined baking sheet. Cover and leave to rise for 45mins – 1 hour until risen and doubled in size.

6. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, brush with melted butter, and dust with icing sugar. Serve cold.