Unlike the oilseed crops, the cereal grains contain only a small portion of natural oils or fats. In wheat and rye it is only about 1 – 2%, while it is considerably higher in barley and oats, where it can be as high as 6 – 7%.

The well known lipids are the ones that comprise the highly nutritious oil that is part of the germ, and there are lipids which are playing important roles in both the endosperm and cells of the inner bran layers. They are described scientifically as being types of fatty acids. Of course the whiter flours barely contain any germ oil since their meticulous sieving removes nearly all traces of germ, aleurone layer, and bran, but other lipids will be present in all flours since they play an important role in protecting the interior of each cell, forming a barrier between the inner portion of the cell and its membrane which is its protective coating through which the nutrients come inwards and the waste is flushed outwards. In this role the lipids are associated more with the protein cells than the starch.

Given that natural oils and fats are such a tiny fraction of flour, when we make rich breads we need to add fats to get the special effects we are looking for. Butter is the superior baking fat for stability and flavour, and it is incorporated best into dough in its solid form rather than melted by the application of heat. Slightly soften the butter by giving it some time out of the refrigerator, allowing it to approach ambient temperature rather than melting it. Most bakers would agree that butter is their favourite fat, but they lament its price which inevitably makes the goods expensive. I add it to the stollen dough at one-fifth of the flour weight. Goods as rich as croissants have it as half the flour weight.

The traditional solid bakers’ fat in the British Isles that used to be the universal bread fat is lard, but sadly today it is very difficult to find attractive lard made by a butcher. The lard of today is industrially made with an astonishing array of chemical additives.

Vegetable oil goes well in dough, and has gained a wide appeal since many consumers are vegetarians, or simply seek to avoid animal fats. I always add veg oil to any dough that is described as wholemeal, brown, or “coarse”. The reason for this is that bran, always present in the darker breads, is continually absorbing moisture, causing the baked bread to dry out and go stale more quickly. The staling process can be off-set to a small degree by the addition of oil or fat which gets in the way of the starch cells’ release of water as they revert to their natural shape. The guidelines for use of oil in dough would be to use at least double the salt weight – say 3 – 4%.

It is important to add the fat late in the dough-making process. If you add it at the start it will inhibit the formation of gluten since the flour particles when coated by fat cannot properly absorb water to form the gluten. Rubbing the fat in early is the preserve of short crust pastry, or a “cakey” type of bread like West Country saffron dough cake. When the fat is added at the correct time – late in the kneading – it actually enhances the dough by lubricating the gluten strands.

Fat will always be in the recipe for rich and delicate dinner rolls, as well as sandwich bread which needs to be able to be sliced thinly and is unattractive when it begins to stale. On the other hand, there are lots of white breads that do not need fat enrichment when they are made with strong flour of a high protein strength which holds its dough moisture when baked, as well as sourdough breads which need no added fat since their acidic chemistry gives a long shelf life.

September 7th, 2021

In professional bakers’ ovens the bread is always laid on the floor of the oven. It is the best way to bake, having this type of powerful heat transferred directly into the bottom of the individual loaf or the metal tray of rolls or pastries (or whatever is being baked). Its name is conducted heat.

Usually the hearth of the baker’s oven is composed of masonry tiles, capable of storing a vast amount of heat. There used to be a whole industry of refractory tile makers, but with the decline of masonry ovens after the 1950’s now oven decks are likely to be tiled with pottery kiln shelves or a composite refractory material which imitates the properties of deep tiles.

The hot tiled floor gives a spectacular rise to the loaf, known as “oven spring”, and then it goes on to assure a steady and even bake. Above and surrounding the loaf will be radiated heat from all other oven surfaces.

The trouble with cooks’ ovens and common domestic ovens is that they are tinny little boxes with the goods to be baked perched on wire shelves, and the style of heat is convection, based on the circulation of hot air. There is a lack of solid hot surfaces. (The British slow combustion stove is better since they often have heavy tiling around the furnace, and they are built with solid cast-iron bodies.)

My advice to the home baker or chef is to place masonry tiles on the oven shelves, and give your tile(s) a good heating up period – perhaps 30 minutes would be required to get the tile(s) sufficiently hot. Whenever I mention this to students I am surprised how many announce they already have a “pizza stone”.

By baking on your hot tile you are emulating the pro baker, and in the circumstances you are overcoming the greatest weakness of your light-weight oven. On this extremely hot tile you can learn to place the loaf directly so that bottom heat and oven spring become features of your baking.

The tiles I sell at PANARY are 12mm pottery kiln shelves cut to the common dimensions of domestic ovens, as shown here.

Baker’s Topic – Slashing the Loaves

Slashing the loaves with a sharp blade just prior to loading them in the oven is one of the most craftsmanlike pursuits in baking.

While it can often be referred to as “decorating” within the bakery, it is actually much more than decoration. Its main purpose is to allow the loaf to expand evenly and handsomely when the loaf is subject to the rapid expansion that occurs when it is placed in the oven.

Subjected to such massive heat all around it and particularly driving from the oven floor into the base of the loaf, the existing gases within the loaf start to expand. Further, the yeast reacts to this new burst of warmth and has a final flurry of excitement, creating more gas before expiring at around 60 degrees C. Hence, the loaf swells surprisingly quickly. The name for this expansion is “oven spring”. When it is a neat line running along the top of a tinned loaf it can be referred to as “oven break”. Unless the skilled baker intervenes the rapid expansion can cause the loaf to distort, perhaps leaning over, or changing shape from straight to curved, perhaps even blowing a hernia out one side.

The cutting or slashing of the loaf’s surface is done to control the oven spring. The blossoming of such energy will be released through the slashes, opening them out neatly and making the bread look so beautiful in its final form. Indeed the decoration itself can be pretty, but great beauty occurs where the slashes provide that lively contrast between the original crust, the ridge of the cut, and the different texture of the inner portion of dough erupting out through the opening made by the cut. The handsome loaf is a contrast of colour and texture.

A few tips

The blade must be extremely sharp, and that is why old-fashioned razor blades for shaving are so popular. I attach the razor blade to those slender sticks made as coffee stirrers, (like an ice-cream stick), They are vulnerable to pitting and rust, losing their edge after just a day or two, thus need to be constantly changed.

Razor blades, while preferred by many craft bakers, are not the only tool. Any type of knife does the job, provided it is extremely sharp, and has a blade length suited to what loaf you are slashing. My French pen knives are made of carbon steel which sharpens easily and, like a butcher, they are sharpened repeatedly in the bakery.

You have to learn through trial and error how deep to cut. A general rule is a deeper cut is required when the loaves are going into the oven a bit early, which means oven spring will be more pronounced. When the loaves are over-proved (you are having a bad day) there are types where it is best not to cut at all since the impact of knife or razor might deflate the loaf. Wholemeal would be such a type.

Cutting sticks

Cutting sticks is a joy since their slashes can open out so generously. Don’t apply the knife transverse to the slender shape; instead make the cuts run almost straight down the stick’s back, with the next cut starting right beside the end of the previous one. Experience baguette cutters will urge you to hold the blade leaning to one side as you cut, avoiding the vertical.

Enjoy your cutting, enjoy being the craftsman baker who controls the activity in the oven.

These rich tea breads are found all over northern Europe at Christmas time, having had ancient Christian religious connotations.  

They are German in origin, and come in endless regional variety, permitting a wide range of shape and finishing touches.   The rod of marzipan running down the middle is entirely optional, as is the use of spice, and the choice of liquor in which you soak the fruit.

In order to keep them fresh and attractively edible over the long Christmas season they would be repeatedly washed with melted butter.  In that way the outside of the loaf would be sealed so that it would keep well between its appearances at the table. Whenever it was put away in the pantry or in a tin, it was washed with the melted butter, whenever brought out to be served, it was dusted with icing sugar.

Method

Begin with a ferment.  The ferment gives the yeast a flying start, so that it will cope better when it meets all the rich and greasy ingredients which, while making the stollens delicious, are heavy going for the yeast and separate it from easy access to its food.

Beforehand, best overnight: soak the fruit (raisins and sultanas) in half a cup of rum. Yeast is upset when alcoholic liquor is added directly to dough, hence it is best to deliver the flavour of rum in the fruit

The ferment

• 350 ml. (5/8 pt.) warm milk
• 40 gm. ( 11/2 oz ) fresh yeast
• 15 gm (1/2 oz) sugar
• 110 gm ( 4 oz) strong bread flour

Whisk all these together in a deep bowl and put it aside in a place which is at room temperature.  In less than an hour it will have gassed up sufficiently to be used. It is ready when gas bubbles are bursting on the surface.

The dough

Add the ferment to the rest of the ingredients, making sure that you gather the dough together BEFORE adding all the butter.

• 2 eggs
• 800 gm ( 1lb 12oz) strong flour
• 15 gm (1/2oz ) salt – less if using salted butter
• 75 gm  ( 21/2oz ) brown sugar
• 175 gm  ( 6 oz ) butter                       

The aim is to have a moist and light dough. Adjust with more flour if it seems too sloppy, but it should remain a soft and pliable dough.   When you think it is silky and the gluten is sufficiently developed,

Add the following

The fruits

• 350 gm ( 12oz ) sultanas/raisins/chopped cherries
• Zest of  1 or 2 lemons

Let the dough sit, well covered, for at least an hour, longer if it is cool. It will have reached full proof when it has doubled in size, and looks so puffed up that it is almost ready to collapse.

This quantity will make two large, or four small stollens.  Divide the dough into the number you want.   Mould them by rolling and patting until you have gently expelled all the gas and got them into a neat oval shape.

They need another short rest before you flatten them out to the width of a bread and butter plate for the small ones, or a dinner plate for the large ones. Rather than having them round, try to keep them in an oval shape.  With quick and gentle movements of the rolling pin make a hollow down the length of the oval and lay the marzipan rod along the groove.   With the marzipan rod as a backbone fold the back towards the front so that the spread oval is turned into a half-circle.  Leave the edges puffy, not pressed hard together, so that they resemble a pair of lips.

Egg wash thoroughly , and prove them before baking in a moderate oven, which for most domestic ovens would be about 170 – 180 degrees C, or 330 – 350 F.  Squeeze them gently and feel their sides spring back to know that they are done.  After baking they are repeatedly washed over with melted butter.  Before serving they can be dusted with icing sugar and tied in a satin ribbon.

The marzipan, or modelling paste

• 120 gm  ( 4oz )  ground almonds
• 60 gm  ( 2oz )  icing sugar
• 90 gm  ( 3oz )  castor sugar
• 1 small egg
• Optional – the zest of an orange

Mix all together by hand or with a wooden spoon until it is properly gathered together.   It should not stick to you when it is rolled into rods on the bench.  Add some more almonds if it seems too wet.

Fashion the marzipan into a thick rod on the bench, then cut it into four. Now roll each segment into a slender rod about as long as your handspan, to neatly fit the width of the folded stollen.