Stollen

     Not only had I never made stollen before, I've never eaten stollen.  Let me begin with a confession, I like fruitcake.  Not the kind you can use as a hammer, but the kind that is moist and chocked full of fruit and pecans.  When I saw the stollen recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice, I knew I would make this during the Christmas holiday.  My heritage is far from German - I'm Irish, Cuban, Sottish, French, and who knows what else; despite my heritage the recipe was simply irresistible.  I soaked my candied fruit in rum since that's what I had on hand.  Another option was to put a rope of marzipan in the fold.  I'm glad I did; it gave the bread that extra yum factor.  I was glad I waited until after Christmas because I was able to use my new microplane from Santa to zest my lemon and orange peels for the stollen. 
     If you are like me and are wondering about stollen this is what I have learned about it:  Stollen is a rich fruit bread from Germany, The characteristic shape of Stollen is oblong, tapered at each end with a ridge down the center, and the ends are turned to form a crescent shape.  It is said to represent the Christ Child in swaddling clothes.   Stollen, now known internationally as a Christmas specialty, is made from a rich, sweet yeast dough, mixed with milk, eggs, sugar, and butter,  flavored with lemon. Raisins, rum or brandy, candied fruit, and almonds are worked into the dough. After baking, the Stollen is painted with melted butter and dusted with sugar.
     Stollen is a very dense flavorful bread.  Next year, yes it is going to become a tradition in our home, I will soak my raisins and candied fruit in the rum a couple of days before making it.  I will also make two smaller stollen, and gift someone with one of them.  I will definitely use the marzipan again.  Between the marzipan and the slivered almonds, it had just the right amount of almond flavor without overpowering the flavors of the fruit and bread.
      This is my final bread for 2011.  Sometime in the coming year I will try my hand at sour dough and whatever else strikes my fancy.  I want to thank my assistant, my husband, for helping me with turning breads,  setting timers, taking bread from the oven, and fixing my mixer.  He is truly my partner in all of life's adventures.

Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Pecan Bread

     Okay, so I'm behind.  I made this bread the week before Christmas before going to visit Ms. Carol and Harry so I could bring them a loaf.  The aroma of this bread wafted through the house making the house smell like Christmas.  The recipe came from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.   The side notes said making it as a swirled bread would add the the look and taste of the bread; the notes were right.  I prefer the look of golden raisins.  To me, they just look more appetizing.  The cinnamon sugar on the crust also added a great flavor.
     Raisin bread always takes me back to my childhood.  I remember my mother buying raisin bread with a white icing on top.  I remember peeling the icing off of the top of the bread and eating it first. This is a memory shared by Wayne.  We talked about our childhood raisin bread memories while eating a warm slice with butter.   I loved raisin bread toasted for breakfast or just for a snack when I was a child.  It was comfort food.  I recall my mother buying it as Schwegmann's, but I loved it when she would bring a loaf home from "Woolsworth" on Canal Street.  (Yes, as any good southerner will tell you it was Woolsworth not Woolworth.  Just watch Oh, Brother Where Art Thou if you don't believe me.)   It was a larger, fresher, more-raisin filled loaf. 
     I remember going to Woolsworth on Canal Street as a child.  You would wear your Sunday best because going to town was something special. I can still see my brother with his little bow tie and my patent leather shoes.  My mother was never much of a driver, and she would not drive downtown.  The bus on Hayne Blvd. ran once an hour, on the hour.  My mother came up with her own compromise; she would drive to Franklin Ave., and take the bus into town from there.  I can still see the Public Service bus.  They were a light yellow and red.  On the bus there were brochure holders containing "The Rider's Digest"  which always included a recipe.  (Eventually these recipes made there way into a cookbook titled From Woodstoves to Microwaves Cooking with Entergy.  You may still be able to buy it, but this is a link to a pdf version of it entergycookbook.pdf)  If my brother and I were lucky, the bus driver would have a book of stubs from transfers that he would give us so we could play bus later.  When we would arrive on Canal Street, and we would go to wonderful places like Maison Blanche, D. H. Homes, Krauss, Woolsworth, and other wonderful places that "ain't dere no more."
      The things that stick in my mind about Woolsworth were the wonderful bakery items, the never-ending 10 mile long candy counter that sold any type of candy you desired by the pound, and the lunch counter with stools that spun. There was something extra wonderful about a BLT, chips, and a Coke at the lunch counter that just made it the best to be found.  I can still see the balloons that contained a small piece of paper with a price for an ice cream sundae.  You would choose a balloon, pop it, and the cost would be anywhere from free to 25 cents.
     It's funny how something as simple as a slice of raisin bread can spill forth a lifetime of memories.

Casatiello

     This week's bread came from my favorite bread book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  The bread was described as an Italian savory brioche.  I guess the only word to describe it is "squisto."  The dough began with a soaker of bread flour, instant yeast, and butter milk.  The soaker was mixed butter, eggs, additional bread flour, diced and sauteed Genoa salami, and coarsely grated provolone to make the Casatiello dough.  The 2 boules went into eight inch cake pans for the final rise (the bread can be baked in panettone papers, but the cake pans worked great).  I can not begin to describe the maddening aromas coming from the oven.  I had no idea how long 40 minutes of baking and 1 hour of cooling really is.  I seemed like days.  Wayne and I were hanging around the kitchen like kids waiting for Santa Claus to come down the chimney.  Once we cut into the Casatiello, the delicate crust of the bread encased a light, airy bread with little nuggets of wonderfulness.
     When I baked the bread yesterday it was one of those dreary wintry days that begged for soup and sandwich.  We opened a can of soup to go with this amazing bread that substituted for the sandwich.  I think we both could have supped on the bread alone.  Hallelujah, the sun came out today, but it was cold.  Since I was not baking today, we had homemade cream of asparagus soup with casatiello for lunch.  The soup was good, but the bread was fantastic once again.
    I don't know where I got my love of baking.  My mimi was a true believer that, "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee."  Since my mother was a working mother, her friends were Mrs. Smith, Duncan Hines, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, and Jack (he made good cookies).  One of my aunts used to bake with Occident Cake Mix.  My mimi apparently was not a fan of these cakes, she would always say, "Oh, here comes ______ with another accident cake."  (The name has been omitted to maintain family peace.)
     As a teenager I came across a recipe for shortbread cookies.  This is one of my Christmas baking staples, and my brother's favorite cookie.  From that recipe the baking of cakes, cookies, and easy pies became something I loved to do.  As I have said before, bread was something I always wanted to bake, and now I have the time to do it.  Eventually I want to learn to bake really good fruit pies and savory pies.  The past couple of Christmases I have developed a pretty good recipe for ham and cheese pot pie to use leftover ham.
     Christmas is rapidly approaching, and I need to start thinking about Christmas baking.  I am planning on making my first Stollen, shortbread cookies, a McKenzie-ish turtles, and a childhood favorite, Chinese chews.  So enough of this rambling - I need to start making my baking needs list.