Traditional Christmas Stollen

⏳ Time

35 minutes

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

Stollen is a traditional German bread that is baked for Christmas. The filling includes raisins, candied fruits, dried fruits, nuts, and marzipan. The base of my stollen is a dough recipe by Richard Bertin, with adjustments to the amount of sugar (which is much less in the original) and the addition of zest. The filling is assembled to my taste and can be adjusted to your preference. Stollen can be made in the classic rectangular shape or baked in a round pan with a hollow in the middle to create a Christmas wreath after decoration. You will need zest from 1 lemon and 1 orange; 220 g of eggs is about 4 large eggs; almonds should be chopped coarsely; instead of essence, you can use rum and add it a little in advance to all the other filling ingredients.

Ingredients

Wheat Flour - 35.3 oz
Farm fresh eggs - 6 pieces
Dry yeast - 0.7 oz
Milk - 17 fl oz
Butter - 7.1 oz
Sugar - 5.3 oz
Salt - 0.4 oz
Citrus Zest Mix - 1 piece
Orange zest - 1 piece
Light Raisins, Seedless - 5.3 oz
Dried cranberries with sugar - 5.3 oz
Chopped almonds - 5.3 oz
Cinnamon - 1½ teaspoons
Nutmeg - 1½ teaspoons
Vanilla salt - 3 teaspoons
Rum essence - ½ teaspoon

Step by Step guide

Step 1

Pour the flour into a bowl and crumble the yeast into it with your fingers. Stir in the milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs, and citrus zest with a scraper; when the dough starts to form, transfer it with the scraper to a work surface and knead. Alternatively, mix everything in a mixer with a dough hook until smooth and homogeneous.

Step 2

Lightly dust the work surface with flour and shape the dough into a ball. Sprinkle a little flour in the bowl and place the ball inside. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 1–1.5 hours.

Step 3

Dust the work surface with a tiny bit of flour. Transfer the dough with a scraper and shape it into a square with your fingers.

Step 4

In another bowl, mix the filling ingredients. Spread it over the dough and fold it several times to fully incorporate the filling into the dough. Shape the dough into a ball and let it rise in a lightly floured bowl for another 30 minutes.

Step 5

Lightly dust the work surface with flour, place the dough on it, and divide it into 3 equal parts.

Step 6

Place each piece of dough on the lightly floured work surface with the smooth side down and flatten it into a rectangle measuring 15x20 cm with your fingers. Roll the dough into a log and pinch the edges to seal the seam. Place the stollen seam side down on a greased baking sheet. If baking in a round pan, roll the log on the table to stretch it slightly in length to fit the size of the pan. Place the dough in the greased pan and pinch the edges into a neat seam. Cover with a towel and let it rise for 2–2.5 hours. They should double in size.

Step 7

Place the baking sheet with the stollen in a preheated oven at 170°C (340°F) for 30-35 minutes, until they turn light golden brown. Remove the finished stollen from the oven and generously brush with melted butter. Immediately sprinkle with powdered sugar. If baking in a pan, first remove from the pan. Cool on a wire rack.