christmas is stollen

i actually worked from 9am to 5pm making these stollens today. the entire day. it kind of makes me wonder if that's what it's like to work as a baker. just non-stop kneading, checking dough, following schedules, checking the oven, etc.

this is peter reinhart's whole-wheat stollen.
the fruit soaker, the soaker, and the starter. (i used up yet some more of my nigella starter for this starter.) though there was butter in the soaker, i don't think it was a lot, so the final dough came out not very greasy, unlike the brioches.
the shaping technique for this stollen is to roll it out into an oval, leaving the ends more plump, and then folding it so that you form an S-shaped cross-section. it's supposed to resemble the infant jesus wrapped in a blanket.
the dough used a hefty one tablespoon of yeast, so in a short time the stollens puffed very big, and after baking they looked quite pretty.
this was my 'finishing station', where i laid out a sheet of sifted icing sugar and a rack set over another sheet for brushing the stollens with melted butter. after the butter bath, the stollens were rolled in the sugar for the final snowy look.
i don't really like the smell of these stollens because almond essence was used. but the butter brushed on them made them smell quite rich and nice. i felt there wasn't enough butter in the dough though, which was probably why the bread was not as soft as i would have liked it to be.

i also attempted the stollen recipe i got from the baking class at creative culinaire.
this is the fruit soaker for the stollens. i really don't like those glace cherries, but somehow, in a christmas bread, they become much more acceptable.
the recipe began with a sponge made of flour, yeast and milk. i made and left it to ferment for one hour before more flour, milk, eggs, lemon zest, sugar and vanilla were added. following chef judy's instructions, i let the machine knead the dough until it could form the gluten window before adding the butter. surprisingly, i managed to achieve the window! the gluten window you see above is the second one, the one after a lot of butter was kneaded into the dough. i was so amazed that i could do it at home, though i still feel the flour we used at the baking class was a special blend. this one felt a lot more delicate, like the window would break anytime.
kneading the fruits and nuts into the rich dough was difficult because there were a lot of fruits and nuts, because the fruits were loaded with orange juice, and because they kept flying out of the dough. surprisingly, without using the stollen spice, my dough today smelled like the one we made in class.
these stollens were shaped more simply. i just rolled them into ovals and folded them in half, leaving the base sticking out a little more. and they each got a little egg wash before going into the oven.
as with the whole-wheat stollens, i brushed these with melted butter once they were out of the oven, and rolled them in the sugar.
i like these stollens more than the whole-wheat ones because they are richer in butter, a lot softer, and loaded with more juicy fruits and nuts.

christmas is coming again!