HBin5 Christmas Stollen (Island Style)

Ya...It's January. Christmas is done and over with. Although you wouldn't know it by looking around my house. I still have to take down the tree and repack all those decorations...and you know the drill. Not fun. But this bread was fun. It was the HBin5 assignment for December. The Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day bread group is hosted by Michelle over at Big Black Dogs

 
I did make it before Christmas but just didn't get around to posting it. With all the changes I made, I think this would also be a great bread for Easter (whenever that occurs this year..is it early? late?). Anyway...what was I going to say? Man, it's been a long day. O'well...neeeeeeeext....

I can not post the recipe but if you have the book Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, you'll find the original recipe on page 279. I will tell you what I changed.....

- As is my custom...I halved the whole wheat flour and replaced it with all purpose, unbleached flour.
- I used the marzipan and not the almond paste (it was an either or thing in the recipe).
- Instead of brandy, I used coconut rum and orange liquor (my favorite is Patron Citronge)
- Instead of candied and dried cherries and such, I used a tropical fruit blend (apricot, pineapple, mango, ginger, etc etc.)
- I soaked the dried fruit in coconut rum over night.
- I then replaced some of the water in the recipe with said soaking coconut rum. I didn't measure the amount of rum used for soaking....I just made sure the fruit was covered. I then measured the rum after soaking and added water to equal the required 2 cups.

Once the dough was ready for use...I rolled it out as required and sprinkled in the marzipan.

You know....if you make a full batch of this dough, it makes three 1.5 lb loaves. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of marzipan or almond paste. I wonder....are you suppose to divide that into thirds? or use 1/2 cup per loaf? Cuz it was such a small amount that one could hardly tell it was there.

Anyway...I then folded the dough sorta like an "S" shape

Allowed it to rest and then bake until golden brown

Just look at all those morsels of coconut rum soaked tropical fruits!

I then generously dusted my lovely loaf with powdered sugar

And now I remember what I was going to say earlier that I forgot. When I first read about this bread, all I could think about was the ever feared, dreaded....doorstopper tradition that is referred to as Fruit Cake. I wanted to run away, screaming!!! I just couldn't make myself bake anything that remotely resembled Fruit Cake! That is why I made the changes that I did.

And it was a huge hit!!! You could smell the coconut rum as the bread entered your mouth. The fruit was soft and edible. The bread was flavorful without being too sweet (even with all that powdered sugar). The dough would've made great muffins if I hadn't burnt the bottoms. Although I did save the tops. I think I'll make a nice bread pudding with them.

Sooo...I think this is the last of my holiday recipes that I'm going to share this year. Thank you for putting up with my tardiness.

The next loaf up for assignment is a bit more healthy...Whole Wheat Flaxseed. It was actually "due" on the first of January...but you know me...

Fashionably late as always

My goal is to have some made up this weekend.