Big Sur Bakery Cookbook - Michelle Wojtowicz [81]
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and cut it into 4 pieces. Shape each piece into a football, keeping the smooth skin on top and tucking the cut edges underneath so that the currant mixture stays inside. Let the loaves rest for 7 minutes, covered with plastic wrap. Then, working with one piece of dough at a time, flip it over on your work surface. Punch it to get rid of any air bubbles, and fold the dough onto itself, almost as if you’re rolling it up, to form a tight football shape. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough. Let them rest on the table, loosely covered with a plastic bag, for 15 minutes.
While they’re resting, cut the almond paste into 4 pieces and roll them to form 4 logs, each about 6 inches long.
Take one loaf and flip it over onto a floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the center of the loaf until it’s ½-inch thick, creating a cradle about 4 inches wide while keeping the edges thick. Dot 6 quince paste squares in each loaf. Place a log of almond paste in the center and fold one half of the dough over it. Using the side of your hand, form a crease between the log and the two thick pieces of dough. Doing so should pull the top layer back slightly, leaving you with a loaf of bread that, if cut crosswise, would have three lobes. (The end result is supposed to look like a baby wrapped in a blanket—but if your shape isn’t perfect, don’t sweat it.) Repeat with the remaining loaves, quince paste, and almond paste. Put the shaped loaves on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper, apart from each other so they can rise until doubled in size. Place the baking sheets in large plastic bags, and leave them in a warm part of the kitchen for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until the dough has almost doubled and is spongy to the touch.
Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 375ºF.
Bake the stollen for 35 to 45 minutes, until they are a deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for 15 minutes. Once the loaves are cool enough to handle, brush them generously with the reserved rum and the melted butter. Sprinkle with the granulated sugar, and dust with the powdered sugar. Eat right away or store at room temperature wrapped in plastic wrap.
Photographs by Sara Remington
January
Chanterelles
Bartering
Profile: Wayne, Hunter and Forager
Steamed Mussels with White Wine and Sourdough Toast
Seared Scallops with Cauliflower Purée and Tangerine Reduction
Chanterelle Pizza
Cauliflower with Pine Nuts and Dried Cranberries
Braised Venison Osso Buco
Marmalade Tart
Photographs by Sara Remington
Chanterelles
Wayne is our chanterelle source at the Bakery. He learned how to find them when his son Rowan and Rowan’s cousin got interested in selling chanterelles to local restaurants as a way to earn pocket money. It’s since become a yearly routine: once the winter rains have set in, Wayne and the boys head out to forage.
No one has figured out a way to domesticate chanterelles, so the only way to get them is in the wild. Luckily, Wayne and the boys have noticed some patterns. Chanterelles seem to like to grow near redwoods, bay trees, oak trees, and poison oak—which makes Rowan’s habit of foraging barefoot seem like an especially daring move.
Despite their bright yellow color, chanterelles can be hard to find. They’re often concealed by dead leaves, and it takes time to train your eye to spot them peeking out from beneath the brown. But once you find one, chances are there’ll be more, thanks to their mycelia, the threadlike network under the soil from which the mushrooms sprout. Wayne and the boys try not to disrupt the mycelia when they harvest the chanterelles, instead cutting them cleanly at their base. And with a little practice, they’ve gotten good at finding them—by the end of their second year of foraging, they’d discovered seventeen different patches.
Every year we buy some of their chanterelles and use them in eggs and on