Sabato Stöllen Showstopper
Kate Slavin, one of the founders of the Ironclad Pan Co. enjoys our artisan ingredients as much as we do her bespoke pans, and recently shared her wonderful Sabato Stöllen Showstopper recipe with us. Think finest quality Lübecker marzipan, Marcona almonds, fragrant spices, peel, eggs, sugar, flour, rum, and vanilla … to name just a few, all mixed together and baked in a skillet. It is not labelled as a showstopper for nothing and is sure to impress.
1¼ cup Sabato tabletop Australian muscatel clusters, unstalked
1¼ cup dried cranberries
⅔ cup Ironcald candied citrus peel
½ cup Hazelz roasted hazelnuts
½ cup Torres Marcona almonds
⅓ cup rum
½ cup milk, warm
2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar (left over from making candied citrus)
3 cup Girolomoni organic 00 flour
2 large star anise ground
½ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp The Spice Trader ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
6 Tbsp white sugar
¼ tsp Sal de Añana Spring Salt
1 egg large
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp vanilla essence
150g Lewis Road Creamery unsalted butter, very soft
200g Hotel Lübecker marzipan
Soak the dried fruit, nuts and citrus in the rum overnight.
Sprinkle yeast, 2 tsp sugar and 1 Tbsp flour over the warm milk and leave in a warm place until really frothy. It will take about 15 mins.
Place flour, spices, sugar and salt in your mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and add yeast mix, eggs, vanilla essence and butter. Beat with a wooden spoon incorporating a little flour as you go. When the dough has become shaggy but not entirely mixed tip it onto the bench.
Knead for 5 minutes, adding a little more flour or a dash of extra rum as required to create a soft dough that doesn’t stick to the bench.
Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size. About an hour. Use an upside down mixing bowl as a cover!
Very roughly chop the fruit and nuts. Some nuts can be left whole. They’ll look lovely when you slice through the Stöllen. The fruit should have fully absorbed the rum. If not strain off and have a tipple!
Press the dough out onto a lightly floured bench to about a cm thick and sprinkle with the roughly chopped dried fruit, nuts and citrus. Fold the dough like an envelope then knead lightly until all the fruit is well mixed through. You may have to add a little more flour at this point. But don’t over knead.
Weigh the dough. Divide into one 700g lump, one 500g lump and the leftovers are for an extra loaf.
Lightly flour the bench and roll the 500g lump into a rectangle that is about 45 cm long. Roll the marzipan into a tube that is 45 cm long. Do this by rolling it into a rectangle that is 45 cm long then rolling it all up to create a tube.
Place the marzipan along the long edge of the dough and roll up. Now using both hands gently roll the dough log on the bench until it’s 60 cm long.
Now roll the 500g lump of dough to 60 cm long.
Make a cross with the dough then ‘plait’ the two over each other to create a twisted log. Form into a wreath, squeezing the two ends firmly together, a little egg yolk can help the bind.
Lift the wreath carefully into the centre of your well-greased Ironclad Legacy Pan.
Poke any bits of fruit or nuts that are sticking out back into the dough so they don’t burn later on during cooking.
Leave covered in a warm place until it's doubled in size. This may take a little longer this time. And again the upturned mixing bowl is a great way to seal it all in.
Form a loaf out of the remaining dough and leave to rise in your well greased Lil’ Legacy Pan.
Heat the oven to 220°C then turn it down to 160°C when you pop the Stöllen into the middle of the oven.
Cook for 35 - 40 minutes until nicely browned. If you don’t have a large oven you’ll have to cook the Stöllen and the mini loaf separately.
Remove from oven and poke holes all over the top and sides of the Stöllen with a skewer. This will allow the butter to penetrate.
Brush with melted butter, making sure you get into all the cracks and crevices. Sprinkle liberally with icing sugar, again making sure it gets into all the cracks. This is what will preserve your Stöllen as it ages. The icing sugar should be about 4mm thick.
Once cooled, remove the Stöllen from the pan and wrap tightly in clingfilm and then tinfoil and store in a cool dark place for two weeks. If you're wanting to make it now and store for longer, you can also freeze the Stöllen once it has been stored at room temp for a couple of weeks. Remove from the freezer the day before you serve it.
To serve, dust the Stöllen with extra icing sugar, slice thickly with a serrated knife and microwave the slices for a few seconds to warm through. The microwave creates a softer, moister crumb. But you can also toast it.
Recipe by Ironclad Pan Co.