Saturday, December 20, 2014

Sourdough Surprises: Stollen

Well, it seemed like a long time off from baking anything. My mother monopolizes Thanksgiving, and work took it's toll. But I had a whole week off and just in time to make some Stollen for December's Sourdough Surprises.

I don't have too many Christmas baking traditions. I make sugar cookies for my mother as a joke, as I mentioned a while ago. So it gave me plenty of time to make something completely new and different:

Without further ado:

Sourdough Stollen
Adapted from The Cheerful Agrarian
Makes 2 loaves
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
2 cups sourdough starter
3/4 Cup candied fruitcake mix

  1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and let proof overnight.
  2. Fold in fruit and pour into loaf pans
  3. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes

My first attempt, I halved the recipe...and it came out dense and almost blondie-like. I thought it would make a good biscotti, so I popped a slice in the toaster oven for 5 minutes. It didn't even brown. Time to try again....



It still didn't rise as much as I'd like (I suppose lack of use has left my sourdough starter a little too dormant). But taste wise they were wonderful. So good, in fact, that my mother consumed about 3/4 of the first loaf in an 18 hour span.

I've still got a whole container of candied fruit, so I may make this again in the not so distant future. And I officially made my New Year's Resolution:

Get back to baking!

Check out our other tasty takes on stollen!






6 comments:

  1. It's a really dense loaf. Everywhere I read said that it wouldn't rise a ton and had to be left for hours to proof. Some have so much fruit that I am not sure how it's all held together.

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    1. Good to know it's not just me (although I've had similar issues in the past...all these years and I'm still getting the hang of this!)

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  2. I love that you tried making biscotti out of it - brilliant! That being said, I bet it tasted lovely! And I fully support your New Year's resolution ;)

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  3. Soo, what did your mother think? ;) I bet she was impressed!

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    1. Ha, my mother only uses good/fine/okay interchangeably and never gives her full opinion...but based on how much she went through I know she liked them!

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