Richard Bertinet’s Christmas stollen

Method

1. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and crumble in the fresh yeast with your fingers (or add the dried yeast). Stir in the sugar, then mix in the milk, butter, salt and eggs, using a spoon to combine. When the mixture comes together into a dough, use your hands to turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 10 minutes, then form into a ball.
2. Lightly flour the mixing bowl and put the dough back into it, cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a draught-free place for 1-1½ hours until doubled in size.
3. Lightly flour the work surface again. Turn the dough out and use your fingertips to flatten it into a rough square shape. In another bowl, mix together the ingredients for the filling, except the marzipan. Scatter the filling mixture over the dough, fold over in thirds, make a quarter turn, then fold over in thirds again to incorporate the filling. Form back into a ball, then put back into the lightly floured mixing bowl to rest for another 30 minutes.
4. For the crème d’amande, beat the butter with a hand mixer until soft. Keeping the mixer running, gradually add the sugar, ground almonds, flour, beaten egg and alcohol, waiting until each addition is combined before adding the next. Transfer to a small bowl and chill for 15 minutes.
5. Lightly flour the work surface and turn out the dough. Cut into 4 equal pieces. Put each piece, smooth-side down, onto the work surface and flatten out with your fingertips into rectangles (roughly 20cm x 15cm). Put a dollop of crème d’amande onto each rectangle, spread over the surface leaving a 2cm border, then scatter with marzipan.
6. Grease a large baking sheet with butter. Working with one stollen at a time, fold one of the long sides into the centre (over the crème and marzipan filling), then fold the other side over the top, overlapping slightly. Press down all around the edges to seal. The stollens should be around 20cm x 6cm in size.
7. Put the filled stollens, seam-side down, onto the baking sheet. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove for 2-2½ hours until they’ve almost doubled in size.
8. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until light golden. Just before they’re ready, make the glaze. Melt the butter in a small pan, then stir in the rum. Take the stollens out of the oven and brush with the glaze while hot. Immediately dust thickly with icing sugar. Cool on a wire rack.