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Antwerp, Belgium
Welcome to the new, and improved version of Heaven in Belgium. I am Jientje. "Jientje", like the boys name Gene, followed by "chu"? "Gene-chu", that's how you pronounce my name. Yes!!!!That's it!! So now you know huh? I am an addicted blogger. I was born and raised and am still living in Belgium. Yeah, the "this-is- Tuesday-so-this-must-be-Brussels" kind of Belgium .. There, you see? Maybe you couldn't find it on the map, but at least I'm trying to change that a little by sharing lots of pictures. I really love to cook and create new things, like this blog for instance. I am a mother,a grandmothe and a wife too! They say I'm a traveler, and a photographer. Well that's just what they say, I love to make pictures, but I am far from professional ... If my English is not perfect, that would be because it's my second language. I do hope you'll forgive me any possible misspellings or strange vocabulary ... Now, as a result of all of the above, I get way too little sleep and my days are always much too short!

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Monday, December 21, 2009

Macro Monday and the Christmas Stollen Recipe


I thought I’d share something different for this Macro Monday.
After all, 'it IS the baking season par excellence, so …

mm

There is nothing like home made bread. This festive Christmassy bread originates from Germany and is filled with lots of dried fruits and nuts, and rum flavored almond paste.

Just imagine a white carpet of snow outside while inside your house is filled with the aromas of this sweet and lovely wintery goodness….

Am I beginning to sound like Nigella Lawson?
IMG_9950

Are you hungry yet ?
Do you want to sniff those aromas too?
Okay, here’s what you do.
Light a scented candle …

OR get into that kitchen of yours and try the recipe!!
I tried to make the recipe as complete as possible but if there are any more questions, just leave me a comment and I’ll update the post.

IMG_9897


You need:
- 170g - 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
- 70ml - about 5 tbsp of water ( I added some milk to the water instead of using milk powder)
- 17g of milk powder ( I skipped that)
- 12g - 1 tbsp of sugar
- 12g of fresh yeast OR 5g (= one teaspoon) of dried yeast
- 3g = 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
- 1 egg ( half of it goes in the dough, use the rest to egg wash the crust.
- 30g - 1 ounce of butter
- grated zest of one clementine ( you could use lemon or orange instead)
- 17g - about 1/5 of a cup of roasted hazelnuts
- 17g of candied fruits
- 130g - 1 cup of raisins. ( I made an assorted mixture with died apricots and prunes, figs …)
- 75g of almond paste flavored with rum ( mine was Cointreau flavored)

Christmas stollen


Mix all the ingredients except the almond paste, the nuts and the dried fruits. Knead until the dough becomes elastic. Let it rest for 20 minutes.
Mix the fruits and the nuts in and shape into a ball.
Shape the almond paste into a sausage. Flatten the dough and place the almond paste in the middle. Roll tightly around the almond paste and shape the bread.
Place it onto a baking sheet in the oven ( 40°C - 100° F ) to rest and rise for about one hour.
Brush the rest of the beaten egg over the dough to give it a shine.
OR
A little bit of research told me you could brush it with melted butter, which would probably produce a softer crust. (I still need to try this next time)
Bake for half an hour at 165-175° C - 350°F

28 comments:

jay said...

Mmmm... looks tasty. Shame I can't take the yeast. I did make a Christmas cake yesterday though - better late than never!

Bientje said...

Looks lovely sis!
Big hug,
Your little sister

aspiritofsimplicity said...

Ooh it looks good!

Wanda..... said...

Wish I could have a piece as I sit here with my morning coffee! Looks wonderful Jientje!

Melli said...

It does look like it would be lovely with a cup of morning coffee! I think I would make mine with just the nuts and raisins. (that candied fruit reminds me of fruitcake... uck!)

villager said...

It looks lovely and tasty. Very nice photo presentation.

Gattina said...

My grandma and mother made them each year, I buy them at Aldi, they are excellent, lol ! Mr. G ate already 3 !

Dutchbaby said...

A warm slice of this with a generous slathering of butter would be so fantastic! Verrukkelijk!

Leora said...

This looks so tasty! I love yeast pastries.

Anonymous said...

Love the way you led up to the real thing. I must bake some bread soon. It's been too long. Thanks for visiting and for making me hungry. Excellent photos especially the second one.

kayerj said...

oh that looks delicious!

Unknown said...

It looks very good! I bet it smells heavenly. :)

Betty W said...

If it tastes anything like it looks it will be goooood! :)

Unknown said...

WOW it looks yummy! I am not crazy about fruit cake but this does looks delicious and sounds so easy to make! Thank you for putting the recipe in US measurements! HO HO HO, Christmas is almost here! eet smakelijk!
hugs..linda

Eve said...

Your bread is beautiful. It makes my mouth water. I'll be making some breads over the next few days, too. Isn't it a wonderful time of year? I love getting my hands into the dough and making something yummy to eat.

Colleen said...

Wow... it makes me want to start baking. Great photos!

Unknown said...

This looks wonderful! I think I'll make it for New Year's Day. :)

Suburban Girl said...

Yes, homemade is wonderful. And I bet things smelled wonderful too. I love the photo of the stollen. It should be in a magazine!

Dr.John said...

I would like a piece with the afternoon coffee.

Willow said...

Yummy! Christmas baking is the best baking of the year!

Anonymous said...

Yes, yes! I've hungry! ;-) Looks so good!

Merry Christmas!

Paz

Momisodes said...

That looks delicious! I just love holiday bread. And yours reminds me a bit of Panettonne :) Love it.

Christine said...

That would go great with my hot chocolate right now before bed. That looks like a well loved and well used recipe.

Carletta said...

Here it is in the middle of the night and you've made me hungry - again! :)
Looks delicious!
Nice closeup!

Loree said...

The pictures make me want to eat!

Avril said...

Oooh yummy! I need to try that one day! It's so hot here at Christmas time that the thought of standing in the hot kitchen doesn't appeal to me much! Made one batch of mince pies (English tradition) last night - need to make more tonight! Rainy days are ideal as it's cooler (like yesterday) but today we have the sweltering heat again - with perspiration on my brow I shall endeavour to 'come up with the goods' to put smiles on my family's faces !!!!
Thanks for your comment! You are very sweet!

Dave said...

Wow - looks delicious. Great mouth watering photos Jientje! You might want to post this recipe on Foodista - I'm thinking that I'll try it this holiday!

Cheers,

Dave

Anonymous said...

Jientje, thank you SO much! This is the first year we had stollen. We ordered it from a bakery, and your photo looks EXACTLY like what they made, and it was wonderful. Sooo...next year I'm going to try making it with your recipe rather than buying it. You don't really get to KNOW a food until you make it yourself.

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