Make your own holiday stollen

The holidays are all about baking, and this week, we sought sweet inspiration in the form of stollen, a German treat that's filled with candied fruit, nuts and marzipan.

You can find stollen at several local bakeries, pastry shops and cafés, but we reached out to Stubbe Chocolates on Wellington Street W. for tips on making your own.

You have to make the stollen with love, or it will not work.- Heinrich Stubbe, Stubbe Chocolates

After all, who better than fifth-generation konditor meister Heinrich Stubbe to teach us the secrets of the beloved loaf? 

"The finesse of a stollen in baking is the same like the finesse of a truffle in chocolate: all the ingredients have to play together," said Stubbe. "You have to make the stollen with love, or it will not work."

Heinrich Stubbe's traditional home recipe is a bit easier than the one he makes at his shop at 1224 Wellington St. W., but it's just as tasty. The instructions for this stollen were adapted from a recipe by Julie Van Rosendaal. 

Homemade stollen

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk, warmed.
• 2 tsp active dry yeast.
• 3 cups unbleached flour (plus more for dusting).
• ⅓ cup butter.
• ⅓ cup sugar.
• 1 large egg.
• Grated zest of half an orange.
• 1 tsp vanilla.
• ½ tsp salt.
• ½ cup white wine.
• 1 cup rum.
• ½ cup golden raisins.
• ¼ cup sliced almonds.
• 1 log marzipan, rolled out to the length of the loaf.
• 1 egg, lightly beaten.
• Icing sugar for dusting.

Directions

1. Put the milk into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast overtop. Let stand for five minutes until foamy.
2. Add three cups of the flour along with the butter, sugar, egg, lemon or orange zest, and vanilla.
3. Stir until the dough comes together. Continue to knead, or mix with the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour as needed — you'll likely need 3½ cups. It should be tacky but not sticky. Add more flour if it's sticking to your hands. It will smooth out and become less tacky as it sits. If you have time, cover and let it rise for one to two hours before adding the fruit.
4. Soak the dried fruit and nuts in the rum and wine for as long as you can. (Stubbe does this for weeks!) 
5. Pile the fruit onto the dough and fold it over itself a several times to incorporate the fruit. You might need to add some flour if the dough is sticky. Shape into a ball and place it back in the bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let stand in a warm place for another hour.
6. On a parchment-lined sheet, pat the dough into a rough circle about eight inches in diameter. Fold about half of the dough over itself, as if you were starting to fold a letter.
7. Put a log of marzipan inside the fold. Cover with a tea towel and let stand in a warm place until the dough looks a bit puffy but not doubled. This should take about 30 minutes.
8. As it rises, preheat the oven to 350 F. Brush the loaf with beaten egg.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until deep golden.
10. Shower with a generous amount of icing sugar while the bread is still warm. Stubbe coats the stollen in melted butter once out of the oven, then adds the icing sugar. Makes one loaf.