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Work the fruit into the dough on a large surface in a place you can protect from drafts. Flour the surface and turn the twice-risen dough onto it. Press the dough flat, and then with a rolling pin very gently roll it as large as it will tolerate without tearing. Don’t be rough.

Cover the dough and let it rest about 10 minutes. Mix the fruits and nuts together and turn onto the dough. Roll or fold them together and in a leisurely way knead in the goodies so that the dough incorporates them uniformly. Divide and round the dough—make one round for each loaf you want to make—and let it rest again, covered, for at least 15 minutes. The dough will rise amazingly considering all it has been through. You can make two large stollen or as many smaller ones as you like.

To shape, press or roll each of the rounds into a long oval. Then fold it over lengthwise, not quite in half, as shown in the illustration.

Place the shaped stollen on greased cookie sheets and let them rise again in a humid, warm place until the dough slowly returns a gently made finger-print. Bake in a preheated oven (325°F) for about an hour for the large ones, proportionately less for the smaller. Allow plenty of time for cooking, since the fruit holds moisture, but watch closely so that it does not overbake. When cool, dust with confectioner’s sugar.

grated peel of 2 lemons, about 2 tablespoons

grated peel of 2 oranges, about ¼ cup

1 pound raisins (454 g), about 3 cups

1 pound other dried fruits (454 g), about 3 cups (include a good amount of apricot plus currants, peaches, pineapple, prunes—or more raisins!)

1 ½ cup toasted almonds (213 g), chopped coarsely

melted butter, about ¼ cup (60 ml)

confectioner’s sugar, about ½ cup (60 g)

Lynne’s Holiday Loaves

1 cup walnuts, chopped (120 g)

1 cup raisins (145 g)

1 cup boiling water (235 ml)

¼ cup honey (60 ml)

1 cup orange juice (235 ml)

2 tablespoons oil (30 ml)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)

½ cup warm water (120 ml)

5 ½ cups finely ground whole wheat flour (830 g)

2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)

2 tablespoons grated orange peel (peel of 2 or 3 oranges)

Chewy and dark with exceptional flavor, this bread has no dairy products—unusual for holiday baking. It keeps very well, retaining its goodness as long as a week under good storage conditions.

Please note! When people have trouble with this recipe it is because they alter the order of mixing and damage the yeast with the acidic liquids. Do follow the directions closely for this one, because it makes wonderful bread given the chance.

Prepare the walnuts by toasting slightly in the oven.

Rinse the raisins and pour the boiling water over them in a pan. Simmer for five minutes. Drain immediately, setting aside the raisins and bringing the measure of the water back to 1 cup.

Dissolve the yeast in the ½ cup warm water. Separately mix honey, orange juice, oil, and raisin water.

Mix the flour, salt, and orange peel in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the orange juice mixture. Combine these until they are nearly mixed, and then add the yeast. Mix to form a dough, and knead five to ten minutes only. Cover and set aside to rise in a warm place.

When the dough has risen until your ½-inch fingerprint remains without filling in, knead about 10 minutes more, gradually adding the raisins and walnuts as you knead. Let rise again.

Divide in two. Round them and let them rest, covered, until relaxed. Make pretty round hearth loaves, or two 8″ 4″ pan loaves. Set them in their warm place to rise again, and then bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 55 minutes, or until done. Small hearth loaves will take less baking time.

Small Wonders

This is a kind of patchwork section, each bread special in its own way, and quite different from all the others; what they have in common is that they are good eating, and not loaves. The recipes vary a lot, too, in how demanding they