Fruit pre-preparation. Leave them to soak in a salad bowl with rum at room temperature. To roast the almonds, pre-heat oven at 100ºC, spread almonds around on baking tin in oven and leave them to roast for 20 to 30 minutes until they become nicely golden brown. Chop them up into large bits and mix them into with the fruits.
For the pastry, dissolve the fresh yeast into half of the milk at tepid temperature in a large salad bowl and mix with 150 g flour. Then spread the remaining 350 g flour over the milk+yeast without mixing. Cover with a wet cloth and leave it to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
When little cracks begin to appear, add successively the almond paste, salt, sugar, spices and the rest of the milk. Use a wooden spoon to mix it all up well. Finally, add the soft butter and knead the pastry with your hands on a floured table for 10 to 15 minutes until it becomes smooth and with an even consistency.
Then add the fruit mixture and the rum. Divide the pastry into two lumps of the same weight (about 730 g) and leave them to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Spread out the two lumps of pastry (not too finely) and give them an oval shape. Put the almond paste in the form of a sausage in the centre of each and close up the pastry on itself. Lightly push down on each with a roller, cover with a cooking sheet and cook in the oven at 190ºC for 55 minutes.
After taking them out of the oven, sprinkle the Stollens with dark rum and cover them with melted butter using a brush. Roll the Stollens in sugar and allow them to cool for 12 hours. Sprinkle icing sugar over them before serving and wrap them in aluminium foil to keep them fresh for several weeks.
