After Cindy's mom died, her Dad took up the task of baking the Stollen and Cindy often assisted Lou when we were back in Ft. Wayne for the holidays. Some years it went well, and othe years they struggled with it and the Stollen turned out kind of dense and flat.
Since Lou has been gone, Cindy has been baking the Stollen and sending it out to the various family members for Christmas. Last year's batch was voted one of the best ever.
This year we had to hunt for the appropriate fruit cake-type candied fruit, but finally found some at Ralph's, and she started the baking yesterday, after carefully soaking the candied fruit overnight in Southern Comfort, according to her Dad's handwritten notes on the old family recipe.
The yeast was lively and it looked like everything was going well. Except that it didn't rise. Hours went by and it still didn't rise.
Cindy couldn't figure it out--the yeast was lively and everything looked good until she added the candied fruit. Candied fruit soaked in alcohol. Alcohol that kills bacteria. Bacteria such as.... yeast.
Finally the lightbulb went on. The Southern Comfort had killed off most of the yeast that should have caused the dough to rise. Last year she had forgotten to soak the candied fruit overnight, so it only had a small amount of alcohol and the yeast did its work, and the Stollen was wonderful.
So she salvaged the batch by turning it into Christmas biscotti, and made a hasty trip back to Ralph's for more candied fruit and more yeast to make the Stollen.
Christmas Biscotti, anyone?
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| Stollen Cooling |
