Dirndl Kitchen

The night before baking
0 The night before baking, add the raisins, slivered almonds and rum into a small bowl, then pour boiling water into the boil until the raisin-almond mixture is just covered. Stir, cover and let rest at room temperature overnight. This helps soften the raisins and almonds and keeps the Stollen more moist.
Roux
1 The next morning, make your roux by combining the flour and milk in a pot and heat for about 3 minutes while constantly stirring. The consistency should be like a thick pudding. Put in a bowl and let it cool.
Sponge
2 For the sponge dough, heat the milk to luke warm, then stir together with the yeast and let it sit and activate for 5 minutes. If the mixture is not bubbly, start over. Your milk have been too hot or too cold.Add the flour and knead together. Put in a small bowl, cover and let rest in a warm spot for 45 minutes.
Main Stollen Dough
3 For the main dough, combine the room temperature butter, spices, sugar and salt and whip until creamy.Drain any liquids from the raisin-almond mixture.Scrape the vanilla bean and add to the bowl with the raisins. Zest the lemon and orange and add to the bowl with the raisins.In a large bowl, add the flour, zest, the roux, sponge dough. Knead together until combined. Now add the raisin-almond-zest-vanilla mixture and knead until combined.Cover the bowl and let rest in a warm spot for 1 to 2 hours. The dough should have doubled in size.
Shape Loaves
4 Divide the dough in two and shape each dough into an oval shape. Do not knead the dough, but just gently shape it instead. Kneading will release too many air bubbles. Divide the marzipan into 2 and shape two logs the length of the loaves.
5 Press a ditch into the loaves, then add the marzipan logs and close the loaves back up, pressing together the seams. The seam will be on top.Cover with a linen towel and let rise for 30 more minutes in a warm spot.Preheat oven to 200℃ (390℉).
Bake Stollen
6 Place loaves on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake on the middle rack for 40 minutes.Reduce temperature to 350 for last 15 minutes of baking.Bake to 90℃ or 195℉ internal temperature. I love using this instant-read thermometer for baking and cooking!
After Baking
7 After baking, brush the loaves with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Let cool completely.
8 Once cooled, cover in powdered sugar and wrap in plastic wrap or foil.
9 Now, if you can be patient, let your Stollen rest in a cool spot (or fridge) for about one week before cutting up and serving. This will help the Stollen to develop its flavors.However, this is not a must. We ate one loaf immediately (and it was moist, fluffy and delicious) and I have the other resting in the fridge until we're ready to eat it.