• Heat Grand Marnier or liquid you are using to luke warm. Soak the raisins and candied citrus in the liquid for at least 30 minutes. It can be more. Reserve the liquid when you are finished soaking.
• Mix the yeast with the lukewarm water in a large bowl and set aside for 10 minutes to proof. Add 1 cup of the flour and a ½ cup of milk. Stir until smooth. Seal the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for at least one hour and up to four hours. This creates a 'sponge' as the basis for the stollen.
• After the sponge has stood, stir it and add the rest of the flour, remaining milk, butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt. Stir all together till ingredients are well mixed.
• Transfer the dough to your bread machine and start the Dough Cycle. Mine does a 5 minute knead, 5 minute rest and 2nd knead is 20 minutes. Check the dough after the first knead. If the dough is too dry add some of the liquid from the fruit soaking liquid. If it is too sticky or shaggy add a bit more flour. I removed the dough at the end of the 2nd knead because this is a big recipe and there won't be enough room in the bread machine container to allow the full rise. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl. Cover and allow to rise until doubled. Mine was done after 60 minutes but you can go up to 2 hours.
• Drain the raisins and dried citrus. Toss in a zip lock bag with a tablespoon of flour to coat them. This will prevent them from dropping to the bottom of the loaf.
• Punch the dough down. Add the fruit and the almonds and work the dough with your hands to distribute the fruit and nuts evenly through the dough.
• Turn the dough out to your work surface. My dough was soft and not sticky so I didn't need to flour the work surface. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Roll each portion out to a rectangle about 1 inch thick. See Note 1.
• Fold the long edge of the dough about ¾ of the way over to the other long edge. (The unevenness is meant to represent the baby Jesus in a swaddling blanket.) With the side of your hand, make an indentation the length of the loaf, just to the right of edge of the overlapped dough (basically down the center of the loaf). This helps with the traditional indentation of the finished loaf.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the loaves to the baking sheet and cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap. Let the loaves to rise until doubled (about another 60 minutes).
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the cover from the baking sheet. Bake loaves about 45 minutes. Check after 40 minutes. The crust should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle will come out clean. If using a thermometer, internal temperature should read 190℉. If you made smaller loaves check them after 30 minutes for doneness.
• While loaves are hot out of the oven, use a toothpick to poke holes randomly over the top and bottom of the loaves. Brush melted butter all over (including the bottom of the loaf). Sieve the icing sugar over all sides of the loaf including the bottom. Wait till the loaves have cooled and sieve remaining icing sugar over loaves again till they are generously, uniformly covered.
• Wrap tightly in plastic and then foil and store in a cool place for at least 24 hours and up to 2 weeks. You can freeze loaves, well wrapped in plastic and foil, for 3 months. Refresh the icing sugar coating if desired after defrosting before slicing and serving.

Serving

• Stollen is delicious at room temperature. Some people like to warm it slightly and some people like to even toast it lightly (a toaster oven is best here) before serving.