German Christmas Stollen Recipes

GERMAN STOLLEN

Steps:

• Place flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center, and crumble fresh yeast into it. Sprinkle in sugar and add 1 tablespoon milk. Cover and let rise at a warm place for 15 minutes.
• Heat 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat until butter is melted.
• Pour milk-butter mixture over yeast mixture and add 1 cup sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Knead until a soft dough forms. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Mix almonds, raisins, candied lemon peel, and candied orange peel together and fold into the dough. Shape dough into a loaf and place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and let rest until the loaf has risen again slightly, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven. Brush hot stollen immediately with 2 tablespoons melted butter and dust with confectioners' sugar.

CHRISTMAS STOLLEN

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the egg, white sugar, salt, butter, and 2 cups bread flour; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has begun to pull together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in the currants, raisins, dried cherries, and citrus peel. Continue kneading until smooth, about 8 minutes.
• Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the marzipan into a rope and place it in the center of the dough. Fold the dough over to cover it; pinch the seams together to seal. Place the loaf, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C), and bake for a further 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow loaf to cool on a wire rack. Dust the cooled loaf with confectioners' sugar, and sprinkle with the cinnamon.

BEST AUTHENTIC STOLLEN (GERMAN CHRISTMAS BREAD)

Steps:

• Place the raisins, candied citrus peel and almonds in a medium bowl and pour the rum over it. Stir to combine. Set aside and let the fruit mixture soak in the rum while the dough rises.
• Stir the yeast and 2 tablespoons of the sugar into the lukewarm milk and let sit in a warm place for 10-15 minutes until very frothy.
• Place the flour, remaining sugar, egg, egg yolks, butter, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, cardamom, mace and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast/milk mixture. Use a spoon to stir the mixture until it comes together. Knead the dough on the bread setting for 7-8 minutes. Remove the dough ball, lightly spray the bowl with a little oil, return the dough ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place or lightly warmed oven (just barely warm), to rise until nearly doubled in size, at least 1 hour (likely closer to 2 hours depending on the temperature of the environment).
• Punch down the dough and add the soaked fruit/nut mixture to the dough (it should have absorbed all the rum by now but if there is excess liquid, pour it out before adding the mixture to the dough). Using the dough hook, knead the fruit/nut mixture into the dough until combined. If the dough is too wet to handle, add a little bit of flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and cut it in two equal halves. Press or roll each piece into an oval to about 1 inch thickness. Roll each piece of marzipan into a log the length of the oval. Press the marzipan gently into the middle of the dough. Fold the left side of the dough over to cover the marzipan, then fold right side over on top of the left side so that the edge of it sits just left of the middle of the stollen (see pics). In other words, don't fold the right side all the way over to the left edge of the stollen. Pinch and tuck the top and bottom ends of the stollen to cover the marzipan. Use the bottom edge of your hand to press down along the length of the stollen towards the right of the center to create a divot and characteristic hump (see pics). Place the stollen on a lined baking sheet. Cover the stollen loosely with plastic wrap and let them rest in a warm place or lightly warmed oven for 40-60 minutes until puffy. At that point you can pick off any raisins that are sticking out of the dough (they will burn during baking).
• Towards the end of the last rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the stollen for 30-40 minutes or until golden. You can use an instant read thermometer to aim for an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. Let the Stollen sit for 5 minutes, then use a toothpick to poke holes all over the stollen (this will allow the butter to seep in), then generously brush the stollen with the melted butter while the stollen are still warm. Immediately sprinkle with a generous amount of powdered sugar, rubbing it into the creases and down the sides. Let the stollen cool completely. You may want to give it another dusting of powdered sugar once cooled.
• The stollen can be sliced and eaten now or wrapped tightly (wrap in plastic wrap then foil) and left to "ripen" in a cool place for 2 weeks. The liquid from the dried fruits will further penetrate the dough for more flavor and moisture. Stollen can also be frozen for longer storage.
• Makes 2 large or 3 medium Stollen.For eating, I like to warm the slices up for a few seconds in the microwave, it makes the crumb nice and soft.

GERMAN CHRISTMAS STOLLEN

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a medium bowl, soak the raisins, candied fruit, and almonds in the rum overnight, stirring occasionally.
• In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm milk with a pinch of sugar.
• Proof for 10 minutes, or until bubbles form.
• Mix 4 cups of the flour with the yeast mixture, egg, remaining 3/4 cup milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt using a spoon or in a stand mixer with the dough hook for several minutes. The dough should just come together and not be very smooth yet. Remove from the bowl and set aside.
• Cream 14 tablespoons of the softened butter and the remaining 2/3 cup of flour with the nutmeg and cardamom until smooth. Switch to the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer.
• Add yeast dough mixture to the creamed mixture and begin mixing with the paddle beater until incorporated and a dough begins to form. Switch to the dough hook and continue beating until the dough is smooth.
• Let the dough rest, covered, for 30 minutes.
• Turn dough out onto a tabletop or lightly floured board. Knead in the rum-soaked fruit and almonds. Let rest for 15 minutes.
• Return the dough to the floured board and form into a rectangle with 2 high sides and a dip in the middle. Fold one-third of the dough over to the middle, filling the dip. Pat into a stollen shape.
• Fold a piece of aluminum foil several times on the 2 long ends to build walls for the stollen, so it holds the shape while baking. You may also use a stollen pan if you have one.
• Let the stollen rise for 30 minutes in a warm place. Heat the oven to 350 F.
• Dot the top of the stollen with the remaining 1 tablespoon softened butter. Bake loaves for 45 to 55 minutes, or until loaves are golden and done, about 190 F in the center. Cover with foil if it begins to brown too much.
• Brush warm loaf with the melted butter and dust thickly with confectioners' sugar . Cool on a rack.
• Wrap tightly in foil and keep in a cool place for two to three weeks to ripen.

STOLLEN

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, granulated sugar, salt, mace, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir in milk and melted butter. Add dissolved yeast and the eggs. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth.
• Drain raisins and currants. Add raisins, currants, almonds, citron, orange peel, apricots, and lemon zest to dough, and continue kneading until incorporated, about 10 minutes. If dough is sticky, knead in more flour.
• Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 to 2 hours. Punch down dough, divide into 6 even pieces, and roll each piece into a 15-inch-long log. Braid 3 logs together, and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining 3 logs. Cover with plastic, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hours more.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake stollen until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Beat together confectioners' sugar and milk. Drizzle stollen with icing just before serving.

GERMAN STOLLEN

Steps:

• In a large bowl, soak raisins, fruit and currants in apple juice for 1 hour; drain and set aside. , In a large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt. In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add the eggs, zest and extract; beat until smooth. Stir in the almond, fruit mixture and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down; divide in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll each half into a 12x8-in. oval. Fold one long side over to within 1 in. of the opposite side; press edges lightly to seal. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 30 minutes. , Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks. Dust with confectioners' sugar or combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over loaves.

TRADITIONAL STOLLEN

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water, and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Stir in milk and 1 1/4 cups melted butter. Add dissolved yeast and eggs. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until fairly smooth.
• In two separate bowls, soak currants in cognac, and raisins in orange juice. Let each stand for 10 minutes.
• In a medium-size bowl, mix together currants and raisins with their soaking liquids, the orange peel, lemon zest, citron, apricots, and almonds. Work mixture into dough. Continue kneading for about 10 minutes. If dough is sticky, knead in more flour, but be careful not to overwork.
• Place dough in a large buttered bowl. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel, and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.
• Punch down the dough, and cut in quarters. Roll each piece into a 12-by-8-inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter, then fold one long side to the center. Fold other long side over first side, overlapping it by 1 inch. Turn dough over, taper the ends, and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat for remaining 3 loaves, using a second parchment-lined baking sheet for the third and fourth loaves. Cover loaves with plastic wrap; let rise again in a warm place, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees, with two racks centered. Bake stollen until golden brown, about 35 minutes, rotating the sheets between the racks halfway through baking. Cool on wire rack; dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve.