German Christmas Stollen

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the raisins, candied orange and rum. Soak for several hours or overnight.
2. Grate the orange & lemon. Place the grated peels on a baking sheet and dry in at 225F oven for 5 minutes. Set aside until ready to use.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together 3 cups of the flour and the yeast.
4. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, butter, sugar and salt the butter has melted and the mixture is warm stirring constantly to melt the butter. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Once cooled, but still warm, add this mixture to the flour & yeast and mix on low until combined.
5. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the beaten eggs, almond extract, and grated peels and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
6. Scrape the sides again and mix on high for 3 minutes.
7. By hand, stir in the raisins and oranges soaked in rum.
8. Replace the paddle with the dough hook on the mixer. Add 5 cups of flour and turn the mixer on medium for 3-4 minutes.
9. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a counter covered in 1 cup of flour. Knead the flour into the dough for 4 minutes. Pat the dough into a large ball.
10. Oil a large bowl and place the dough ball into the bowl, turning to coat the outside in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, moist place for 90 minutes or until doubled in size.
11. Punch down dough 3-4 times.
12. Remove the dough from the bowl divide into 8 even pieces. I weighed the dough in grams then divided by 8. I weighed each dough ball to the same size to ensure consistency among my loaves.
13. Cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
14. Form each piece of weighed dough into an oval shaped loaf the place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
15. Once all the dough is on the baking sheet, cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
16. Preheat oven to 375F degrees if using a light baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350F degrees if using a non-stick/dark baking sheet.
17. Bake the dough for 30 minutes on the top rack in your oven. Rotate the pan 180 degrees then bake 5 more minutes. Check the bottom of the loaves to ensure they are not burning. Bake 5 more minutes if necessary but do not over bake! The loaves will be perfect when the bottoms are golden and the tops are firm and a light brown.
18. Remove the baked loaves from the sheet and allow them to cool on racks until completely cool.
19. Place the 2-3 cups of sugar into a rectangle baking dish.
20. Brush melted butter over the entire top surface of each loaf the place in the baking dish with the sugar. Scoop the sugar over the entire loaf so it's covered completely. Tap off any extra and then place back on the cooling rack. Repeat with all the loaves.
21. Dust a generous amount of powdered sugar over the top of each loaf.
22. Wrap in plastic wrap or place in a gift bag for storage. Do not place in a plastic box, the sugar will melt into the bread.
23. The Stollen will stay fresh for 2-3 days but after that will begin to dry out. It's best if enjoyed immediately!