35. Merry Christmas! Stollen – Germany

Posted by aroundtheworldin80bakes in Around the World in Eighty Bakes, Christmas, Food, Fruit Cake, Herman the German Friendship Cake, The Great British Bake Off and tagged with #letsmakechristmas, almond paste, aroundtheworldin80bakes, baking, Bread, christmas, christmas celebrations, european, Food, German, Germany, Great British Bake Off, home baked, homemade, marzipan, patisserie, rich yeast, rum, stollen, sweet bread, technical challenge, traditional christmas cake, yeast products 04/07/2012

Ok, ok, this may have been a long time coming (or perhaps I’m just ultra organised for this coming prepared for Christmas) BUT now it’s Summer it makes perfect sense to stop by Germany for a spot of Christmas Stollen. My wonderful baking friend Julie over at Sweetgum Bakery sent me a copy of her Patisserie course workbook (all the way from Australia I may add) which had this delicious recipe. I love this book. It teaches you the techniques to create beautiful ‘bakery products for Patissiers’ including pastries and breads. I have already had a good go at a few things like pretty dinner rolls pretending to be a real Patissier. This Stollen recipe encompasses everything that I love about Christmas. Marzipan, spice, RUM and dried fruit. What’s not to love??

Stollen is for life, not just for Christmas

A stollen is a sweet, rich yeast dough laced with almond paste (or marzipan) and studded with dried fruit. Perfect for your Christmas celebrations (or any tea table al year round! Why deny yourself something so gorgeous just because it’s not December?!) I may start just eating this all year round. I bet you could also make smaller Stollen buns or a Stollen Crown loaf, or a Stollen plait, or Stollen cupcakes! I might be getting carried away but the possibilities are endless.

Stollen is a traditional European dish which originated in Germany. You can vary the filling depending on your mood (or what’s in your cupboards) with flaked almonds, poppyseeds, or sultanas and candied peel. Whatever you prefer! Apparently you can also purchase Stollen tins to help keep the traditional shape during baking, but I am yet to find one. Although I’m sure it would be a wise investment indeed as I think mine spread a little on the baking sheet, but this didn’t stop it tasting lovely.

It’s always a good idea to pre soak your sultanas in a generous slosh of rum overnight to plump them up and enhance their flavour. It also adds to the festivities.

As with any yeast based dough it requires some proving time so make sure you have some time to spend with your Stollen. The recipe calls for compressed yeast. I was using instant dried yeast so adapted the method to suit.

Yeasty flour

Mix the 20g of flour, 7g instant yeast (normally when I make a loaf of bread 500g of flour requires 7g of instant yeast so I used 1 sachet of Hovis instant yeast) and milk (200g) together. Mix together then leave to prove for 20 mins in a warm place.

Yeasty batter

Add the rest of the flour (380g) to the mix along with an egg, lemon zest, lemon extract and sugar (100g). Mix all of the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and cover with a tea towel or cling film. Leave in a warm place to prove until it’s doubled in size

Buttery yeasty batter

Add the butter and mix it in until it becomes clear.

Proving time

Cover and leave the dough to prove again in a warm place, for an hour or so until it has doubled in size.

Dough has definitely doubled in size!

Knock back the dough and mix the sultanas, mixed peel (and optional nuts) in carefully, so as to not break the skins of the dried fruit.

Mixed Fruit

I used sultanas and cranberries (what I had in the cupboard!)

Fold in the fruit

Leave the dough to prove again for another half an hour, whilst you prepare the marzipan filling.

Making Marzipan Filling

Taking shop bought marzipan (120g) add the lemon zest and an egg yolk and mix together to create a firm paste.

Marzipan paste

Divide the marzipan into 3 and roll into 3 long ‘logs’ (about 30cms long). I found my marzipan was a bit on the sticky side at this point so arranged it onto a sheet of cling film and rolled it inside the clingfilm. This made it a bit easier to move into the fridge to let it firm up a bit more.

Marzipan logs

Chilled Marzipan Logs

Take the dough and roll it out lightly with a rolling pin, into a rectangular shape. Aproximately 30cm long and 15 cms wide.

Flattened sticky fruity dough

Arrange the chilled marzipan logs in the centre of the flattened dough and fold the edges of the dough over to enclose the marzipan. Seal the edges of the dough.

Arranged Marzipan Logs

Place the dough, sealed edge down, onto a baking sheet greased and lined with greaseproof paper. Allow the dough to prove for the final time. Then bake for 25 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Sealed and shaped stollen

Once it’s baked place on a wire rack to cool. While it’s still warm pour the melted butter over the top of the loaf. This step may feel a bit on the odd side, as when pouring a cup of melted over the Herman the German Friendship Cake but believe me it’s utterly delicious.

Straight out the oven Stollen

After a day the butter seeps into all of the available sweet dough crevices and infuses the Stollen with a gorgeous buttery moisture. It also helps to stop it from going stale so it can keep for a week (if you can bear to hang on to it for that long).

Soaked in butter Stollen

When it has cooled completely dust the Stollen with a generous dose of icing sugar, for added Christmas magic and sweetness. (It also helps to keep your fingers from getting all buttery and greasy.

Snowy Stollen

One of my friends told me this was her favourite bake so far in the aroundtheworldin80bakes challenge. I have to agree. I love the gooey marzipan layer sandwiched into the dough and I love the plump and juicy sultanas.

Snowy sliced Stollen

Although I think my dough didn’t rise quite as much as it should have, as it spread out on the baking sheet, it was most definitely worth the effort. To help spread the Stollen love and festive cheer I chopped it up into Stollen bites and took a batch to work and it quickly disappeared. A good sign indeed!

Stollen Bites

Does it feel like Christmas yet??

Extreme Stollen Close Up

yum yum yum

Just in case you would like to have a go here’s what I used to create this German Stollen

To make the initial yeast paste

Strong plain flour (20g) –
Instant yeast (7g)
Milk at 30 degrees C (200g)

Yeast Dough (add the yeast paste to)

Sugar (100g)
Lemon zest (1/4 tsp)
Lemon extract (1g)
Butter (100g)
Strong Plain Flour (380g)
1 egg
salt 3g

The Fruity Filling

Sultanas (pre soaked in a slosh of rum) (120g)
Mixed peel (25g)

The Marzipan Filling

Marzipan (120g)
1/2 egg yolk
Lemon zest (1/4 tsp)

The Final Topping

Butter (melted) 40g
Icing Sugar (40g)

From Herman with Love – Herman the German Friendship Cake

Posted by aroundtheworldin80bakes in Around the World in Eighty Bakes, Christmas, Cookery, Fruit Cake, Herman the German Friendship Cake, Travelling and tagged with Amish, around the world in eighty bakes, baking, christmas, cooking, Germany, Great British Bake Off, Herman instructions, Herman the German Frienship cake, measuring cups, russian doll, sourdough, sourdough cake, sourdough starter recipe, tea towel, warm milk, what size tin to use for Herman?, wooden spoon 02/02/2012

From Herman with Love

After many days of feeding and stirring good old Herman II it was time to mix him up into a sourdough frenzy. After halving the original starter and sharing the other half I was at the correct level of Herman to pretend that I had been given a starter by a friend and follow the instructions to create the cake…

Bubbling along nicely

Place Herman in a big bowl, leave him somewhere warm wearing a tea towel (check)
Day 1 – Stir Herman (I used a wooden spoon as I’m sure I read that its bad to mix sourdough with metal but I may have dreamt this.)
Day 2 – Stir Herman
Day 3 – Stir Herman
Day 4 – Feed Herman (I found I had to use a hand whisk to mix in 1 cup of warm milk, 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar and stir well)
Day 5 – Stir Herman (you get the picture…)
Day 6 – Stir Herman
Day 7 – Feed Herman (same as before)
Day 8 – Stir Herman
Day 9 – Stir Herman

Russian Doll measuring cups

Day 10 – Divide Herman into quarters (about 1 cup per quarter) keep one for yourself. Share the other 3 with your friends . (You probably want to give them the instructions too otherwise they might think you don’t like them very much, giving them the gift of smelly fermenting goop)

Recycling every pot in the house

Now I can’t lie and pretend that I followed these instructions exactly as I forgot to stir him somedays, which I don’t think he was very happy about, as he became a bit solid and lumpy, in a sourdough huff I reckon. Nevertheless I don’t think it did him any real harm.

I did keep him near the radiator which perfumed the kitchen with a hint of brewery. (Lovely if you like beer?) I’m sure this will be the next big thing in parfum from Paris.

Pre stirring - this is what Herman looked like bubbles that rise to the surface and pop (if the surface is flat and still I'm afraid Herman has passed away)

I did worry that I killed him (again) as he looked a little flat and bubbless one day. I thought perhaps sugar would help? (It always helps me when I’m feeling a bit flat) I think it did the trick to revive him somewhat. Then following his first feed he perked up no end! All froth and bubbles. Apparently yeast needs flour to eat so it saved HermanII from a sink funeral.

All of the ingredients!

Then for the cake building! This seemed pretty straight forward. The recipe simply lists the ingredients and says mix it altogether. In reality this produces a tough scrambled egg bowl of sourdough cement.

Worringly solid (Herman + flour + sugar)

Scrambled Herman - after adding the oil

I had thought “Ooh wonderful I’m going to be all traditional and use a Amish recipe and no electrical gadgets. Just me my bowl and a wooden spoon.” Wrong. I had to resort to the electric whisk to beat the lumps out of the mix. I probably shouldn’t have dumped all the flour in at once!

There's no shame in bringing out the whisk

This is the most scientific yet vague recipe I’ve tried to follow. I do enjoy using my Russian doll measuring cups wherever possible but can’t help but feel that its not very precise. How much is 2/3 of a cup of melted butter? Do you measure it out solid or melted? Am I supposed to squash a solid pat of butter into the cup to measure it out? I’m confused, therefore I guess.

Butter?

Once I worked out the lumps of flour and managed to combine the oil, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, sugar, and baking powder into my cup of Herman starter I could chop up the 2 apples into bits (definitely the technical term) and stir it in along with a cup of sultanas.

Generous helping of cinnamon

Chunks of apple and raisins

Combining everything together (no whisk required)

Again the recipe was beautifully non specific. “Pour the mixture into a LARGE greased and lined tin” What shape? I hear you cry? (someone already stumbled across my blog having looked unsuccessfully, I’m sure cos I don’t have the answer, for ‘how big a tin do I need to bake Herman cake?’) I selected my second from biggest round tin merely because I’ve used the biggest one before and it doesn’t fit inside my cake box. See that planning ahead? Excellent logic. It maybe about 20cms in diameter. (But then again I am guessing.)

Now I’ve never poured 2 thirds of a cup of melted butter on top of a raw cake before. It felt a bit wrong. But hey that could be because I guessed how much butter to melt, I just chopped a chunk off and melted it in the microwave. Then sprinkled on some golden caster sugar.

Buttery top

Then for the baking. The recipe says 45mins at 180 degrees C. I reckon this varies quite a bit on what size tin you use as mine took at least 30 mins more until the skewers came out clean and made the kitchen smell all lovely and cinnamony. Very Christmassy just in time for the February snow.

Mini Hermans - ready for adopting

It seems like Herman has been a long time in the making and has taken on a personality of his own. After potting up the mini Hermans and they sat looking at me in a row I started to feel like I was in The Little Shop of Horrors, Seymour feeding Audrey II only to discover at the end he’s multiplied and lurking in the garden, waiting for the next unsuspecting human to feed him…

I don’t want to burden my lovely friends with a Herman. He’s no Audrey II that’s for sure, just a harmless sourdough! I do have 3 Hermans looking for a good home but I’m also quite tempted to keep one to experiment with, perhaps a chocolate chip Herman or Herman sourdough bread?

Crumbly and moist

What’s not to love about a cake called Herman? A cake with a story! A cake with a real history! A cake with heart and steeped in tradition. Sure it might seem a bit weird taking that first bite of Herman. But he actually tastes really good! There’s a slightly sour initial taste, which makes sense and then a lovely apple and cinnamon sponge. It’s really moist yet crumbly on the top. I will never doubt pouring butter on the top of a cake again! Very good served with ice cream or just with a cup of tea! If someone loves you enough to offer you a share of their Herman take it with both hands and pass it on to generations to come!

Crackled effect

It has been a bit of a commitment tending to a cake over the past 20 days (counting the creation of the starter, killing it and starting again). But what a life! Devoting himself to pleasing others. That’s my kind of cake. It feels like I’ve been writing The Herman Diaries and soon there will be a film with Johnny Deep as Herman… yet I digress once more. If you’re given the chance of a Herman give it a go! What have you got to lose?! Embrace the Herman. You know you want to.

A slice of Herman

Things that I used…

1 cup (quarter) of the original Herman Starter

2 cups plain flour

2/3 cup of vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 apples

1 cup raisins

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

50g butter (melted)

a generous sprinkling of golden caster sugar for the top

1 “Large” round cake tin (9 inch)

1 hour 15 baking time at 180 degrees C

21. Whatcha cooking Lebkucken – Germany

Posted by aroundtheworldin80bakes in Around the World in Eighty Bakes, Baking, BBC Good Food, Christmas, Food and tagged with #letsmakechristmas, around the world in eighty bakes, baking, biscuits, christmas, Cinnamon, cookery, GBBO, Germany, Gingerbread, Great British Bake Off, Lebkuchen 05/01/2012

Lebkuchen

I’ve always loved lebkuchen. It always seem like Christmas when the shops start selling these chewy and crunchy pink and white sugar coated cookies. This year seemed the right time to attempt to make my own. I’ve not visited Germany (yet) but if the continental Christmas markets are anything to go by I know that I will love it.

A quick google later and I came up with a simple yet effective BBC Good Food Recipe. (I seem to use this website a lot for my continental recipes!) They seemed fairly easy to make with honey, eggs, spices (cloves, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon) ground almonds, a bit of flour, black pepper and butter. Simple! Although in my case I had nothing to smash up the cloves with, so improvising with a sandwich bag and a jam jar I hammered them into rough chunks. It kind of did the job, but some biscuits were definitely more clovey than others…

Spicy Stuff

This is definitely a different type of gingerbread to the Sunderland Gingerbread, very rich and sweet. But like Sunderland Gingerbread you throw this all in a pan and melt it together! Fantastic!

Butter, honey and sugar

Then throw in the dry stuff and spice

It needs quite a good stir to mix it all together..

Seemed a bit sticky but trust in the recipe

At this point I started to get a bit worried as it seemed a bit on the sticky side and I couldn’t imagine how on earth I was a) going to roll the dough out or b) cut it into Christmassy shapes… Nevertheless I continued and read the recipe through again and realised it needed some time to cool down. Throwing it into the fridge I popped the kettle on and had a well deserved rest (whilst starting the washing up!)

Now that's more like it!

In a bid to speed things up I divided the dough in half and froze half for other Christmas baking emergencies. I then folded cling film around the dough to roll it out without needing my pastry board and to prevent it sticking to the rolling pin.

Cling Film Queen

Choosing my most Christmassy cookie cutters I cut out the festive shapes and popped them into the oven for a mere 15 minutes.

Off to the oven with you

Then all they needed was a glossy sugary coating once they cooled down enough. Whisking an egg white up with some icing sugar to create a glaze is something that I’ve never done before. There’s another first to cross off my list.

Glazing

I drizzled it over the biscuits and let them drip dry onto kitchen roll. Once they hardened slightly they were ready for eating and the biscuit tin! They were lovely and chewy on the inside. They aren’t overwhelmingly spicy but rich and I enjoy the kick of the black pepper and cloves. I will be baking these every year from now on. I may even try some new variations. I’ve seen some with a much more crispy coating and with a little jam in the middle too to make them extra gooey!

Glazed

I did whip up the second batch in a baking emergency, during a Christmas baking marathon, so didn’t cut them into shapes but made a dough roll (using cling flm to roll it up of course) and chopped it up… very quick and easy!

Dough roll (not to be mistaken for a sausage)

Lebkuchen Quick Chunks

10. German Marble Chocolate Cake – Rum, Rum, Rum, Rum

Posted by aroundtheworldin80bakes in Around the World in Eighty Bakes, Baking, Cookery, Food, GBBO, The Great British Bake Off, Uncategorized and tagged with @janetbasu, almonds, Chocolate, GBBO, German Marble Chocolate Cake, Germany, Janet Basu, melbourne, party, polish bakery, rum, st kilda, vanilla 26/10/2011

I wanted to make something special for my friend Martin’s 30th birthday and thought chocolate is always a good option. I chose to bake a German Marble Cake. Albeit a recipe without a photo, so I would have to imagine what it looked like. I assumed it should look something like these cakes from the Heavenly Polish Bakery in St Kilda, Melbourne…

Real Life Proper Marble Chocolate Cake (Polish Bakery, St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia)

I want to run my own bakery like this...

The addition of rum won me over on this one too.

A quick trip to the shop for a million eggs (and to purchase a new pair of boots) and I was off. I decided to use my lovely moulded tin and also to increase the ingredients slightly so I could make mini marbles in order to ensure cake quality. (Of course I can’t give away a cake until I know it tastes ok…)

Prepared and ready to bake (cup of tea is an essential baking tool)

I have never made a marble cake before. I did watch Janet on Great British Bake Off make a gorgeous one. I thought I had grasped how to marble the cakes but it is always an experiment when I’m cooking. (Just ask Chris about my interesting lemon chicken. Emphasis on the lemon, with very little chicken…) I think there’s definitely a technique to marbling perfection. Janet has it, not sure if I do??

Germany is still on my wish list to visit. I do love the German Christmas Markets when they come up North. I could spend a fortune on sweet treats. I predict a massive German themed Christmas bake in the next month!

This cake required a few mixing bowls which equals more washing up, not my favourite part of baking I must admit, but it comes with the territory of attempting something new and exciting, taking me further out of my comfort zone.

A tale of two bowls

I plodded on mixing copious amounts of almond batter, separating half out to add cocoa powder. To enhance the recipe further I melted a whole bar of elephant chocolate I found in the fridge into the batter too. 🙂 Then my favourite bit. THE RUM.

Cocoa and rum

This was starting to smell like the most amazing cake I had ever baked!! Maybe rum should be added to everything I bake?

I thoroughly greased the round tin and 2 small pudding tins. The recipe required layering of the 2 batters, a bit ying and yang-esque. I have no idea how many layers of batter or how thick they were supposed to be (or even if I was using the right sized tin?!) so it was another case of hoping for the best and looking forward to seeing how it turned out. A quick swizzle with a knife to create the marble effect, and into the oven they went.

Effective Layering?Mini Marble Puddings ready for the oven

Again as I had made up the final recipe amounts (I’ll just shake a bit more flour in here and slosh a bit more rum in there…) I had no idea how long they should take in the oven. Particularly the Mini Marbles. So I simply guessed. And I think I guessed right. The skewer came out clean after 30 minutes for the Mini Marbles and about an hour for the large Marble.

Mini Marble Cake

If I could have eaten the air in my kitchen I would. This cake is so delicious.

Not sure sure I marbled this one enough... but a good cross section

Almonds, rum and chocolate. What a combination! Very smooth texture too, perfect for the day after a big party too for a nice pick me up!

Surprise, surprise I hadn’t really considered how I was going to transport this rather bulky cake to a party, or in fact if it would be a bit of an odd present to give. (My friend reassured me that it wasn’t at all weird but it was just ‘me’) So I let the cakes cool and found a Christmas cake board in the cupboard and a doily to pop the cake onto. I then grabbed the roll of cling film and sealed it altogether. A quick wrap with a ribbon tied into a lovely bow, almost like a Hot Cross Bun, I had muddled together Christmas, Easter and Birthdays all in one German Cake.