Chile's Summer Stollen

Stollen is a traditional German sweet yeast bread with nuts and candied or dried fruit. My mother used to bake it every Christmas with a recipe similar to this one and we’d savor each toasted slice at breakfast slathered with margarine. I have not consistently made it every Christmas as an adult. This past year, like many others, I planned to but just didn’t get around to it.

Over the years, I’ve made a number of changes to her recipe. I use vegan versions of the milk and butter. When I started making my own candied citrus peels, I switched to using them instead of buying the little tubs of sticky peels available in the grocery store’s produce section each holiday season. I use dried cherries to replace the artificially colored Maraschino cherries and their texture also works to substitute for the raisins. I use whole white wheat flour for some of the white flour.

This year, I’m making two more changes. One is to omit the almonds due to my problems with tree nuts and vertigo. The other is to omit the steps of rolling out the dough, spreading with butter and cinnamon-sugar, folding it over and shaping it into a crescent. By omitting these steps, as well as the powdered sugar glaze on top, I can reduce the fat and sugar in the recipe, as well as the amount of work to get this made.

Since I am also making this in the summer, I decided to write up my own recipe. You can make and enjoy this bread anytime of year. Use local and homemade ingredients as much as possible.

Chile’s Summer Stollen
Makes 3 loaves.

1 ½ cup vanilla soymilk
¾ cup natural cane sugar
¾ tsp sea salt
1 tbs dry yeast
3/8 cup warm water
1 ½ cups bread flour
¾ cup candied grapefruit peel, minced
½ cup candied orange peel, minced
¾ cup dried cherries, chopped
Grated rind of a lemon
1/3 cup + 3 tbs flax seed egg substitute (recipe follows)
½ cup Earth Balance (or other soy margarine), softened
3/8 tsp nutmeg
¾ tsp cinnamon
3 ½ cups whole white wheat flour
2 ½ cups bread flour

Heat soymilk to scalding.
Stir sugar and salt into hot soymilk and cool to lukewarm.
Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl and let rest 5 minutes.
Pour soymilk into bubbly yeast.
Stir in 1 ½ cup bread flour.
Beat with a whisk until smooth.
Cover with a linen towel. Let sponge rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk – about 1½ hours.
Punch down.
Fold in fruit and lemon rind.
Add flax seed mixture, Earth Balance, and spices.
Stir in whole wheat flour and 1 cup of bread flour. Mix until smooth.
Turn out onto floured surface and knead with remaining bread flour until dough is smooth and elastic.
Divide dough into thirds and shape into loaves.
Place in three buttered loaf pans.
Loosely cover with wax paper and linen towel.
Let rise 1 hour until doubled.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Bake loaves for 50-55 minutes until golden.
Let cool 10 minutes before turning out of loaf pans and then let cool completely before slicing.



Note: you do not have to use the candied and dried fruit specified in my recipe. Feel free to substitute whatever you want, keeping the total amount of fruit at about 2 cups. If you prefer dates and dried apricots, by all means, use those instead; you're the one who will be eating it, after all! You may also add a cup of sliced almonds, if desired.

Health Note: I've already cut the amount of margarine in this bread by half. The next time I make this, I'm going to try omitting it altogether. I may also use more of the whole grain flour.


Flax Seed Egg Substitute
1/3 cup whole flax seed
1 cup water

Grind flax seeds in blender until pulverized.
Add water and blend on high speed until mixture thickens.
Store in the refrigerator in a tightly covered jar for up to 10 days.
Use 3 tablespoons in place of each egg in recipes for baked goods and pancakes.