Stollen - German Christmas Bread

For those of you who have never had Stollen, let me properly introduce you. World, meet Stollen.

I know there are probably hundreds of cultural and ethnic variations of this holiday dessert but in its simplest form it is just a Christmas quick bread with a batter much like a muffin or quick bread you are already familiar with.  In the U.S., we can usually find Stollen in high end grocery stores around Christmas and in January, you may see them discounted. If you are tempted, just take one home and try. They are truly delicious.

What makes this type of "quick bread" special is that the main ingredient is quark. I have posted the recipe recently and to make it at home is really quite an easy task so give it a try. If you are American or live in the U.S., I should say, it will be very difficult to find, which is why I highly recommend making it yourself.

I suppose a thick Greek yogurt or Kefir cheese might work as a substitute but if you have even the slightest bit of curiosity, then quark should be on your bucket list of things to do in the kitchen before you forget...  It takes about two to three days to make quark ahead of time but don't let that stop you from exploring two new things at the same time: Quark and Stollen. I promise you, you will not be disappointed so double up and make two batches while you are at it!

This recipe was provided by my mother-in-law who is from Austria but I had to make a few tweaks in order to work with what I had in my pantry. Oddly, I had just made quark, but I didn't have currants so I used dried cherries, for instance. Her recipe called for ground hazelnuts, which surely, would be divine, but I only had almonds, so I used those instead.  I didn't have rum extract so I used vanilla. Go with your best guess substitutes and if you have any questions, just leave a comment.

Stollen Ingredients:

• 500 g soft white wheat ground yesterday (all-purpose or pastry flour is just fine)
• 200 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250 g ground almonds
• 500 g quark
• 125 g raisins
• 125 g currants or dried cherries
• 125 g butter
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp rum flavoring or vanilla extract.

Baking:
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

This was amazing and did not last the week even when we tried very hard to eat just one piece. :) I make two at a time because I usually make about 1000 g of quark at a time.  If you do make two, these freeze very well so just wrap up the extra stollen tightly and securely in plastic wrap, then put it in a large gallon freezer bag and freeze until you need a Christmas pick-me-up.

When you are ready to eat it, take the wrapped stollen out of the freezer bag and plastic wrap and let it defrost on a plate in the fridge or kitchen counter until you are ready to serve. This is where the quark shines... The quark is what will keep it from getting dried out and it will stay moist on the kitchen counter even if left out overnight loosely covered with foil or a clean towel.

Hope you like it and I'd love to hear from you if you do decide to try it!

Hopped Up Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:
- 6 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp yeast
- 1 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 Konig's Pilsner plus water to equal 3 liquid cups

I started experimenting with a Pullman loaf pan when my nieces and nephews were here and wanted sandwich bread.  What I noticed about the request was that it didn't have to be uber soft, like typical American white bread, it just had to be square, for making sammies.

So, I complied with this request. We started making mayo and our version of Miracle Whip, when they needed that and this fascinated them to no end. So much so that every time they come, it is one of the first things we do together. Or they do and I watch. I want them to be self sufficient cooks when they are older and not just be able to cook, but be able to think they can replicate anything they really love. It's all about the palate and what I find with kids is that they love to try when THEY can make things. Veggies aren't that gross when kids make them for themselves. Nothing is weird, nothing is yucky. In fact, cooking with children is the fastest way to get kids to expand their minds and their palates.

This pullman loaf pan sorta scared me at first. I mean, why should I have to enclose the bread? Will it come out? But, the truth is this method of cooking bread couldn't be any easier and the top helps to make the bread perfectly square. My niece, who just graduated from high school, is about to venture into the world as a young adult and she, definitely, needed to know how to make bread. She has a tight budget to watch as she prepares to pay for college, so she'll need all the budget saving tips you can get and nothing can stretch a dollar like knowing how to cook and feed yourself. You can get a 25 lb bag of flour from Costco for about $6 and at least 25 loaves of bread.  At max, you could get around 7 loaves at the grocery store.

Prep:
Mix all ingredients until incorporated and then put the dough in a covered container to rise. I use a rising container that holds 4 qts. This batch of dough fills it by half. So in an hour or two, it is usually doubled in size and should be punched down then put in the fridge or freezer until ready to use. I keep it in the same rising container and once a week, I start a new batch.

Method:
For the method itself, I simply take my refrigerated dough from the fridge when I'm ready and put the whole batch in the Pullman loaf pan. I slide the top on nearly all the way but leave a little room to peep at it so I know when it is nearly to the top. In the summer, set a timer of max 2 hrs, because this bread tends to rise faster of course because of the warm temperatures but also because of the extra activity of the yeast in the beer. It will poop out the sides even if the top is thoroughly on and that is how you get Cheeza. But that is another story for another time. 

Bake:
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Slide the top off and use a slim butter knife just to loosen the edges of the bread from the pan and it will pop right out. You really should try to get the bread out of the pan while it's warm if you can or the bread bottom and sides will get a tad soggy as it cools off. Not to worry. If you have no choice but to leave it like that, just leave the bread to sit out for an hour or so once it is out of the pan and it will dry right up.  I cut the bread in half, put it in a bread box and that will last us all week or more. If I need to store it, I just wrap it well in wax paper and plastic wrap and freeze it.