Christmas Stollen Recipe

Preheat the oven to 180'C.

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes or until creamy.

In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the egg, caster sugar, salt, butter, and 3/4 of the bread flour. Mix well. Add the remaining flour, a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.

When the dough has begun to pull together, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in the currants, sultanas, dried cherries and mixed peel. Continue kneading until smooth, about 8 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise for about 1 hour in a warm place until doubled in volume.

Lightly grease a baking tray. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the marzipan into a rope and place it in the centre of the dough. Fold the dough over to cover it and pinch the seams together to seal.

Place the loaf, seam side down, on the prepared baking tray. Cover with a clean, damp tea-towel and allow to rise for about 40 minutes until doubled in volume.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 150'C and bake for a further 30 minutes.
Sprinkle some caster sugar and the flaked almonds over the top and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden brown.

Allow the loaf to cool on a wire cooling rack. Once completely cooled dust the cooled loaf with icing sugar and ground cinnamon.