Dresden Stollen goes by many different names; Stollen, Strutzel, Striezel, Stutenbrot, or Christstollen. This traditional German Christmas bread, is a flavorful combination of rum soaked raisins and currants, almonds, candied citrus peel, spices such as cinnamon and cardamom, and of course lots of butter. Legend says that the shape of Stollen with the white layer of powdered sugar symbolized the swaddled Christ Child.
For probably the last five years I have stated that I wanted to have Stollen for Christmas, but for some reason have never done so. Last year we were in Munich at Christmas and I still managed to not savor any of the traditional treat. Part of the reason has been that no one else in my family has seemed remotely interested and I really don’t need one to myself. It seems that others equate Stollen to fruit cake (which I am also the only one to claim a fondness for) and while there are some similarities, they are not the same thing.
So this year I decided that I would go it alone if I had to and make my own holiday bread. I began searching for a recipe to try and found that there probably are as many versions of Stollen as there are Großmutters. I was not inspired by much of anything I was finding, then it occurred to me to change my search words to Deutsch. I replaced the word recipe with rezept and the results were much more what I was hoping for. I found incredible recipes from many German bloggers (remember you can always use Google translate if you need) and finally came across this one that particularly interested me. It was shared by a woman whose mother had worked in Dresden before the bombing at a bakery that was famous for making the Christstollen. Her mother claimed that this was the original recipe, whether or not this is actually true, it doesn’t matter, I love the story.
The dough for this bread is very heavy because of the large amount of butter and lard. After combining the dry ingredients and fruit it is best to just roll up your sleeves and mix in the milk, butter and lard by hand, it is much to heavy to stir. Due to the large amounts of butter in the bread, it requires very long rise times and will not double in volume like other breads. Because of the high fat content you need very little flour to keep it from sticking to your board or hands.
While the ingredients in the recipes I looked at varied somewhat, there was a consistency for the shaping. To form the loaves or ‘lugs’, turn the ball of dough out on a lightly dusted board and flatten it by hand into disc that is easy to divide in half. Then roll each half into an oval shape about 1″ thick using your hands to tighten up the edges as needed. Then fold the oval in half lengthwise allowing the bottom of the fold to stand out about an inch past the top.
I brushed these loaves with butter before baking, about half of the recipes I looked at instructed to do so. It did help to get a nice even golden color however I did need to tent them with foil after 45 minutes as they were getting too dark. I think on another round I would skip this step, there is enough butter in the dough and the added butter coating made a slightly crisper crust than I want. I also baked these lugs on a parchment lined sheet pan as recommended. Because of the long baking time and the high fat content the bottoms of the loaves did end up a bit dark. I would suggest baking the loaves on silpats or doubling up sheet pans to prevent this.
The completely cooled loaves are heavily dusted with powdered sugar then wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and should be held for several weeks before you enjoy them. I did cut into one of the two loaves of my experiment to see how things worked. I will tell you it is a bit denser that I would like but the flavor is amazing. I did not soak the citrus in the rum but I think I would do that another time, some of the bits seem a bit hard. It will be fun to see how this bread develops over the next couple weeks.
I find baking is always a fun challenge and experimenting with new recipes is very interesting. The techniques for making this kind of bread is one that will certainly require some practice. Overall I am pleased with my results, and remind myself that the Germans have been baking these breads for hundreds of years in order to perfect.
I found this recipe shared by a woman whose mother had worked in the bakery famous for making Christstollen before the bombing of Dresden during WWII. This traditional German Christmas fruit bread is also known as Striezel or Weihnachtsstollen.
- 2 ½ cups raisins
- 1 ¼ cups current
- ½ cup spiced rum
- 7 ½ cups flour
- 4 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugared lemon and orange peel fine diced
- 1 ½ cups almonds chopped
- 2 - 3 drops bitter almond oil
- 1 1/3 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 2/3 cup lard room temperature
- 1 cup lukewarm milk
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar more if needed
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Soak raisins and currents in spiced rum overnight in a non-reactive bowl with a lid
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In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix to combine. Add the soaked raisins, citrus peel, and almonds. Mix well.
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Add almond oil, butter, lard, and milk. Mix with hands until a dough is formed. Turn out on to a lightly floured board and knead for about 5 minutes. Return dough ball to bowl and cover with a tea towel. Allow to rise for 1 hour.
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Knead well again and let rise for another hour.
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Slightly flatten the ball of dough into a circle and divide in two. Working with one half at a time roll the dough into an oval about 1" thick. Use your hands to tighten up the edges if necessary. Fold the oval in half the long way (like a taco shell) bending it so the top is held back and not even with the bottom. Transfer the lugs to a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with a tea towel. Allow dough to rest for 30 minutes.
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While the dough is resting heat the oven to 350°F. Bake for one hour, cover with foil if necessary to prevent burning. Stollen should have a nice dark color but not be burnt.
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After baking, allow to cool slightly on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Brush warm lugs with the melted butter and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
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When lugs are mostly cooled, brush again with melted butter and heavily dust with powdered sugar. When loaves are completely cool, wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil.
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Stollen should be held for 2 weeks before serving.
This dough is very heavy almost like cookie dough. The bread does not rise very much during the resting periods but the sugar and flour become completely absorbed.
Very little flour is needed to prevent sticking.
I baked the loaves on a parchment lined sheet pan and the bottoms got a bit dark. I would suggest using a silpat or doubling up the pans to prevent this.