Sunday, December 18, 2011

Weber BabyQ Christmas loaf 
(Stollen) made with Brioche Dough 
adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

  

Makes two loaves - Although I have cooked this in my Weber BabyQ it could be baked in a home oven or as a round loaf or buns in a camp oven.

1 ½ cups dried fruit (plump by covering with hot water for about five minutes then drain and allow to cool)
3/4 cup lukewarm water 
3 teaspoons dried yeast
3 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup honey
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled
3 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon’
¼ cup of Brandy (cold tea may be substituted)
Egg wash (one egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)
Icing sugar to decorate (cherries, nuts optional)

The dough:

1.       Mix water, yeast, salt, eggs, honey brandy and cooled melted butter in a large lidded (not airtight) container.
2.      Mix in cinnamon, plumped dried fruit and flour without kneading, using a spoon, or 14-cup capacity food processor (with dough attachment), or a heavy-duty stand mixer (with dough hook).  You may need to use wet hands to get the last bit of flour to incorporate if you're not using a machine.  The dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled.
3.      Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.  
4.      Dough can be used as soon as it's chilled after the initial rise but its best to refrigerate overnight.  You can use it over the next 5 days.

The Christmas Loaf (Stollen):

Pull out half of the dough onto a well floured board or pizza peel.
Divide it into 5 equal pieces
Roll each ball into a long sausage I made mine the length of the peel which
is approximately 12 inches.
Join one set of 5 end together dividing them with 3 on one side and two on the other
Pull the outside sausage of the three into the centre now making three on the other side
Take the outside of the bottom 3 and cross it to the centre
Continue taking the outside to the centre in this way until you get to the end and squeeze and tuck under the ends.
Cover loosely and put in a draft free place for 90 minutes if chilled.
When its been resting for 60 minutes put a piece of double foil on the grill plate and using a trivet and a pizza stone preheat the BabyQ for 30 minutes on the 6th marker from the bottom to achieve a 350F/180C temperature. This will vary in different climates.
Brush with beaten egg and water glaze.
Carefully slide onto the stone
Cook for 30-40 Minutes
Cool completely on a wire rack
You can decorate it with sifted icing sugar
I make a glaze of approx ½ cup icing sugar and hot water to make it just runny and decorate with cherries and nuts.

5 comments:

  1. You are amazing. That looks Professional. And in a B.B.Q. WOW!
    Ron

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  2. Thank you Ron, traditionalists would hang me from the nearest tree I think :) This is a great dough to work with, my elder grandson thought it was good but would like apple in it as well. I have a couple of apple ideas but that might have to wait until the new year. Best wishes to you and yours.

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  3. I will give your dough, but I will bake it in a 14" Dutch oven. I will let you know how it works.
    Merry Christmas, and Happy New years to you and all your Aussie Friends and Family.
    Ron

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  4. Will look forward to a photo Ron. More traditional would be to put mazipan as a surprise in the middle but its not liked here except by me. All sort of cultures seem to have a variation of this rich dough. I have since seen another youtube where the fruit was actually added after all the rising which is a good idea if you wanted to use half without fruit and it was simply folded not plaited. Have fun.

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  5. Like everything on your site, this looks delectable, what a beautiful loaf. Merry Christmas! Liddy

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