Paasstol - Dutch Easter bread -

– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Paasstol –

This is by far the most delicious bread I’ve ever eaten. A ‘stollen’ is a traditional Dutch raisin bread with an almond paste center and it’s served at Christmas and Easter. The only difference is that you put almonds on top of the bread before baking at Easter, the Christmas stollen is without the almonds on top.

This Dutch Easter bread was always part of our Easter brunch, as well as boiled eggs. With the boiled eggs we used to play a game, it’s a real tradition and in our family we even know stories about it from when my mom was a little girl! The game goes like this: each of us has our own boiled egg. You chose a game partner and you softly tap your egg to the other egg. the one that breaks first, loses. the winner taps it’s winning egg to another persons egg, and so on. In the end there is one winner!

Other than eternal fame there wasn’t really a price, but it was a fun game!

I also remember going to the village where my family lived, when I was younger. They had a really funny tradition in that village and (I’m not kidding!) that was throwing eggs to each other! I’m dead serious now, two persons would throw raw eggs to each other and the catcher had to do its best to catch the egg without breaking. They even made it a real National championshop now I read, haha!

I’m not even sure what my plans for this Easter will be, maybe we should organize an egg-throwing championship at the beach. Who is in?! 😉

But there is one thing I’m certain about: I will be serving this Dutch Easter bread at our Easter brunch!

Paasstol – Dutch Easter bread

Prep Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours, 20 minutes

Yield: 1 big bread or 2 smaller ones

Paasstol – Dutch Easter bread

I will serve this traditional Dutch easter bread at our Easter brunch!

Ingredients

for the almond paste:

¾ cup white almonds
½ cup sugar
zest of ¼ lemon
½ beaten egg

for the filling:

300 grams mixed raisins (dark and golden)
75 grams almonds, chopped

for the bread:

375 grams of all-purpose flour
1 ½ envelope dry-active yeast (10 grams)
50 grams caster sugar
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pumpkin pie spices
1 large egg, beaten
¾ cup whole milk
75 grams unsalted butter, soft on room temperature and cubed

also needed:

zest of ½ lemon
1 Tbsp beaten egg
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
½ cup slivered almonds
powdered sugar

Instructions

A few days before baking the bread, start with making the almond paste. Grind the almonds with the sugar and lemon zest to a coarse paste in a food processor. Add the beaten egg and continue to grind until combined. Put the almond paste into a container and leave it to rest in the refrigerator.
At the evening before baking the bread, soak the raisins for 15 minutes in lukewarm water. Drain them in a colander and pat dry. Mix the raisins with the chopped almonds and set aside.
Now you’re ready to make the bread! Put all the ingredients for the dough - except the butter - in the bowl of your stand mixer, stir with a wooden spoon and knead with the dough hook for about 8 minutes until a firm dough forms. Add the cubed butter 1 by 1 and continue to knead until a smooth dough forms.

Cover the dough and let it stand for 15 minutes.
Add the raisins and almonds to the dough and mix with the dough hook until combined. Do not overmix because you don’t want the raisins to break.

Shape the dough into a ball and put it into a lightly greased bowl, turn the dough ball 1x so that all sides are coated with oil . Cover the bowl and let it rise at room temperature for 60 minutes . The dough will not double in volume and that’s ok, just leave it to rest for an hour.

Mix the almond paste with the lemon zest and beaten egg. Set aside.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased counter. Press the dough with your hands or roll it with a rolling pin into an oval of ± 1 inch thick . Keep the top and bottom of the dough slightly thicker. Shape the almond paste into a large stick and place it in the middle of the dough.

Fold the top of the dough over the almond paste center, fold the top slightly beyond the bottom and press the seam with the side of your hand tightly.

Place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the slivered almonds on top of the bread, press lightly into the dough and cover the bread with greased plastic wrap. Let it rest at room temperature for 45 - 60 minutes to rise . The dough does not have to double in volume. If you let the dough rise for too long rise it will collapse, a stollen is less airy than a normal bread.
Preheat the oven to 355° F during the rising and then bake the bread in the middle of the oven for ± 35 minutes until done and brown. After ± 20 minutes, lower the temperature to 320° F. If needed, cover the bread with aluminum foil to avoid it from burning.
Leave the bread to cool on a wire rack. Brush the bread after 10 minutes with melted or clarified butter and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Leave the stollen on the wire rack to cool completely and sprinkle again with powdered sugar before serving.
Slice it and serve it with real butter - delicious!

Notes

I was struggling to write this recipe in cups, because with bread baking it has to be really precise. I don't want you to mess up this recipe because of all the work that goes into it, so I kept this recipe in grams instead of cups.

Adding the butter to the dough feels and looks totally weird, but just continue, it will get better - i promise!

http://www.inmyredkitchen.com/paasstol-dutch-easter-bread/

Happy easter and enjoy!