It has been a long-standing tradition in our house for me to bake stollen. This traditional German Dresden bread is packed full of plump dried fruit, spices, nuts, alcohol, and citrus zest at Christmas time.
My sons, friends, and family adore them. On occasions baking as many as 25 loaves. Not for me though because of my dislike for marzipan.
In the past few years, I have made them vegan but never gluten-free because I did not see the need until my blog started gaining interest. I wanted to make a gluten-free one for those who love them and are coeliac or have a wheat allergy.
I have made this with my flour mix but I intend to try it with Dove Farms plain flour.
- Crusty
- Packed with fruit
- Flavoured with almonds
- Buttery
- Boozy
- Zesty
It is delicious smothered with butter or toasted and eaten warm with butter. I wish I did like it because it smells so good, especially when warm as the marzipan becomes soft and buttery.
Gluten-free stollen
- Preparation Time 3-24 hours
- Baking Time 25 Minutes
Vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free
Ingredients
- 200 g of marzipan
- 65 g of sultanas
- 50 g of chopped glace cherries
- 35 g of dried cranberries
- Zest of an orange
- Zest of a lemon
- 1 tsp of mixed spice
- 1/4 tsp of grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp of almond extract
- 35 g of chopped whole almonds
- 175 ml of spiced rum, brandy, or orange juice
- 450 g of good quality gluten-free plain flour, such as Dove Farm or my flour recipe below
- 1 tsp of xanthan gum
- 2 1/2 tsp of dried active yeast
- 60g of caster sugar
- 1 beaten egg or 1 flax egg
- 70g of melted dairy-free butter
- 150 ml of warm dairy-free milk
Decoration
- 50 g of melted DF butter
- 75g of flaked almonds
- A liberal sprinkling of icing sugar
My gluten-free flour mix
- 175 g of gluten-free organic brown rice flour
- 75 g of gluten-free organic white rice flour
- 90g of potato flour {not starch}
- 40 g of tapioca flour
- 2 tbsp of cornflour
Instructions
- In a bowl add the dried fruit, zest, spices, nuts, almond extract, and soaking liquor and mix. This needs to be set aside for the fruit to absorb the spices and flavours. Minimum time 4 hours to overnight. The longer the better for the fruit to plump up.
- Once you are ready, in a large bowl add the flour, xanthan gum, yeast, and sugar. If you are using a flax egg mix together 1 tbsp of warm water and 3 tbsp of ground flaxseeds together, set aside for a few minutes.
- Add this or an egg, milk, and melted butter into the flour. If the mixture is too crumbly add another tbsp of milk at a time until you get a soft dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for around 10-12 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth.
- Place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to double in size in a warm place for around 1-2 hours.
- Once it has risen, turn out again onto a floured bowl, add the fruit mixture and lightly knead until it is distributed evenly throughout the dough.
- Shape the dough into a long flat log shape. Taking the marzipan and roll it into a cylinder, the length of your dough. Place it in the centre of the dough and enclose it, turning it over so that the seam is on the bottom. Tucking in the ends a little.
- Gently place onto an oven tray lined with baking parchment. Place a clean and slightly damp tea towel over the top. Leave to rise again in a warm place for around an hour or until it has risen.
- Preheat the oven to 190C or fan oven 180C, Gas Mark 5. Once the oven has reached the correct temperature, place into the oven and bake for around 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for 10 minutes. To finish, brush with the melted butter and sprinkle over the flaked almonds and a liberal dusting of icing sugar.
- Store in an air-tight container for up to a week or freeze wrapped in clingfilm for 3 months.
*Notes*
- Instead of rolling the stollen into the middle of the cake, alternatively, cut it into small cubes and add to the fruit once it has been soaking. These are then distributed around the loaf, rather than just in the middle.
- If you are not vegan, then just use regular butter and milk.
- Stollen makes a great dessert if turned into a bread and butter pudding
It is delicious fresh with some butter, it starts to get a little dry it toasts wonderfully.
If you make this, don’t forget to tag me on Twitter as @veganalchemist1 or my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegfveganalchemist I love seeing your versions of the recipes. I would love to hear your comments too.
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