Fruit Cake Day!

This week, we made Panettone and Stollen.
According to the all-knowing Internet, more specifically the almighty Google, these two pastries are Christmas classics. Christmas was still a month away, and yet here we were, making traditional fruit cakes! If only Christmas would come this early!

Panettone is basically,

"..a type of sweet bread loaf originally from Milan (in Milanese dialect it is called paneton), usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Italy, southeastern France, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Peru, Malta, Germany and Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan. In recent years it has become a popular addition to the Christmas table in the United Kingdom. In South America, especially in Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Chile, it is a Christmas dinner staple and in some places replaces roscón de reyes/bolo rei (King cake)."

while Stollen is,

 "..a fruit cake containing dried fruit and often marzipan and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices. Stollen is a traditional German cake, usually eaten during the Christmas season, when it is called Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen."

Thank you Wikipedia.

No, I did not upload the recipe we worked with because..well, I don't know, for no reason apparently. Just because. I couldn't screenshot the recipe and just don't feel like it. Stop whining.

Anyway, let's go through our class last week.
Oh, and pardon the bad quality pictures. I couldn't afford a gadget with better camera o(--<

We start off with the dough. This is stollen dough.

Stollen and panettone are basically fruit cakes.

So it's only natural to have raisins, sultanas, glazed cherries, and mixed peels inside.

This is the stollen dough, ready for proofing!

In the meanwhile, the birthday girl is busy grating zest for the panettone.

Stollen and panettone into the proofer for 40 minutes and 1 hour, respectively.

..what's next? We wait! And what do you know, waiting for an hour in the kitchen with nothing to do is boring. We finished doing all the preps for the next steps, and now we're left with nothing to do.
So we did what we do best; DERPING

The lemon slice challenge, performed by a classmate persuaded by some scumbag (me) to do so.

(Sorry for the bad quality of the video. Blogger's fault. Why Blogger, why.)

Anyway, long story short the 1 hour wait is done, we took out our proofed dough and on to the next step.

"Make sure the mould is greased, okay?"

"Yes, marzipan is almond paste. We'll use this cylinder for the stollen."

Chef JM showed us how to roll the stollen dough to put the marzipan into the dough.

And the dough into the mould.

1. We brush the panettone dough surface with melted butter, and then bake at 200 degrees Celcius. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 180, brush with melted butter again, and bake for another half hour.
2. We don't need to brush the stollen with melted butter before baking, just put in in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 190 degrees. After 20-30 minutes in the oven, take out the stollen, and then we brush it with butter. And sprinkle icing sugar on top.

EXPECTATION

REALITY

REALITY HURTS OK. Well, that's it for this week's practical class.