IT Center Blog

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It’s finally that time again, the Christmas market is opening, the scent of print is in the air, warm lights brighten up the dark season. At the IT Center, we continue to work from the home office and therefore make it especially nice at home.
In addition to the Christmas decorations at home, of course we can’t do without treats.
For us, stollen and Christmas simply belong together.

Baking stollen –
the flavor needs time

Our IT Center baking professionals have told us: A Stollen needs time so that the aroma of the fruits and spices permeate the entire dough and it tastes especially good on Christmas Eve.So the Stollen should be baked four to six weeks before Christmas. Well then, let’s get to work on the raisins!

Stollen recipe

Ingredients for the dough
150 g raisins
½ tsp grated lemon peel
50 g candied orange peel
50 g candied lemon peel
50 g ground almonds
60 ml rum
430 g flour
½ cube fresh yeast
75 ml milk
100 g butter
1 egg
50 g sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
1 pinch of salt
½ teaspoon organic cinnamon*
1 pinch cardamom
1 pinch nutmeg

To coat
40 g butter
75 g powdered sugar

1) First preparations the night before
The easiest way is to mix the raisins with lemon zest, candied orange peel, candied lemon peel, rum and ground almonds the night before, so that everything can be properly infused.

2) The next day
Put the flour in a bowl. Crumble yeast and pour over it. Add two tablespoons of lukewarm milk and a little sugar over the yeast, mix

briefly. Sprinkle some more flour on top and let the mixture rise, covered, in a warm place for half an hour.

3) Continue with the butter
Chop the butter and add small pieces on top of the flour. Add the eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt with the spices. Mix everything briefly and then knead well with a dough hook. Meanwhile, gradually add the milk and knead it in. Finally, briefly knead in the fruit-rum mixture. Cover again and let rise for half an hour.

4) Now it’s time to shape the dough
Knead dough again briefly and shape into an oblong loaf. At the long edge of the stollen, roll half of it a little flat with the dough roller. Place the thicker part on top and shape the loaf again.

5) Put it on the baking tray
Line a baking tray first with aluminum foil and then with baking paper. Put the stollen on it and let it rise covered for another 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C top and bottom heat. Bake the Stollen for about 45 minutes. After 30 minutes, lower the temperature to 200°C. If the stollen gets too dark on the outside, cover with aluminum foil.

6) Add the butter
Melt butter in a saucepan and brush the hot Stollen directly with melted butter. Allow to cool. Then brush again with melted butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

The right storage
It is best to wrap in aluminum foil and put again in a plastic bag so that everything is airtight. Store in a cool place.

We wish you lots of fun baking and a wonderful and delicious Advent season.
Responsible for the content of this article are Linda Jörres and Janin Vreydal.