German Stollen Bread

Description

German Stollen Bread from Recipes Wiki—original source of recipe, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License

• Makes 2 rings, about 18 pieces each.

Ingredients

Bread

• 1½ cup butter, divided use
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 5¼ cups all purpose flour
• ¾ cup sugar, divided use
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 pkg dry active yeast
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ tsp grated lemon rind
• ½ tsp grated orange rind
• ½ cup raisins
• ⅔ cup chopped candied fruit
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp water or milk
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• red and green candied cherry halves

Directions

1. In a 1-quart glass bowl, melt 1 cup of butter.
2. Add milk and water.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, ¼ cup of sugar, salt, and yeast.
4. On low speed, stir in warm milk mixture, then eggs; mix well.
5. Add rinds, raisins, fruit, and nuts; mix well.
6. Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight to rise.
7. Divide dough in half.
8. For each half, place on a floured surface and roll into an 18 x 12-inch rectangle; spread with ¼ cup of softened butter.
9. Mix ½ cup of sugar with the cinnamon; sprinkle mixture over butter.
10. Beginning with the long edge, roll up dough into a long cylinder, pinching edge to seal.
11. If ends of dough are smaller than the remainder of the roll, trim off about 1 in.
12. From each end.
13. Place roll on a 12- to 14-inch round pizza pan greased or lined with baking parchment.
14. Shape roll into a ring to resemble a large doughnut.
15. Brush ends with water and pinch together to seal.
16. Using clean kitchen shears or a sharp knife, make cuts in dough about every inch around ring, cutting ⅔ of the way through roll at each cut.
17. Gently turn each piece of dough onto its side, slightly overlapping the previous piece.
18. Let rise in a warm place, uncovered, for one hour.
19. Preheat oven to 350°F.
20. Bake each ring 25 – 30 minutes until light golden brown.
21. Remove from oven, loosen ring from pan, and slide ring onto cooling rack.
22. Combine icing ingredients, except cherry halves, and drizzle or brush icing over ring.
23. Decorate with candied cherry halves.