Stollen (German Christmas Bread)
This German Stollen recipe makes a rich, fruit-studded loaf that is a festive and tasty German Christmas bread, perfect for celebrating with family or bringing to a holiday party!
German Stollen: An age-old Christmas Bread
Stollen (pronounced SH-tohl-in) traces its history back to the 1400s in Dresden, Germany. However, at that time, people of the Catholic Church did not eat butter during Advent (the four weeks preceding Christmas) as a part of their fasting preparation for the special celebration of Christ's birth. With the abstinence from butter and rich foods, early Christmas breads were made from only flour, yeast, oil, and water. A far cry from the rich, fruited bread we know today, for years Stollen was a very dry and dull bread.
Towards the end of the 1400s, Lord Ernst of Saxony petitioned Pope Innocent VII to lift the Advent fast from butter, so that it could be used in their Christmas bread. An allowance was made, but for only Dresden, and they began the process of changing their traditional Christmas bread into the Stollen that we know today. Since the 1500s, Stollen has been sold at the Dresden Christmas market, which is the oldest known Christmas market in Europe.
German Christmas Bread today
Today, this German Christmas bread is colorfully studded with nuts, raisins, and candied orange and lemon rind. The traditional shape and white, powdered sugar topping symbolize the Christ Child wrapped in swaddling clothes. Another legend holds that the traditional ridge down the top of the loaves represents the humps on the backs of the camels that the Wise Men rode, carrying their gifts to the Christ Child. The candied fruits represent the precious jewels that adorned these Wise Men.
Stollen: An interesting name
Miners thought the shape of the bread looked like the tunnels of their mines, which is where the bread actually gets its name. "Stollen" literally means "tunnel." But, as the bread gained popularity, that name stuck, becoming the common term for this fruited Christmas bread.
Our German Stollen Recipe
Our Stollen recipe creates a rich and dense, pound cake-like bread. It is sweet and eggy, with hints of rum and a nice citrus flavor. The bursts of sweetness from the raisins and the occasional crunch of almond nuttiness give a fun mix of textures as you eat a slice and make it perfect for serving with a warm cup of coffee or spiced wine.
Making your own Candied Citrus Peel
You could use store-bought candied orange and lemon peel in the bread, but we find that sometimes these can be hard to track down. And, when we do, they are inevitably highly dyed, pumped with artificial flavoring, and full of high fructose corn syrup.
It is so easy to make your own candied citrus peel at home, and there's really no comparison to the flavor of real citrus. If you'd like to make your own, you can check out our Candied Lemon and Orange Peel Recipe. We suggest making your peel the day before you start the bread to give it a chance to dry out and cool properly.
Stollen (German Christmas Bread)
This German Stollen recipe makes a rich, fruit-studded loaf that is a festive and tasty German Christmas bread, perfect for celebrating with family or bringing to a holiday party!
If one 14-15 in loaf is too large for your family, feel free to make two smaller loaves and freeze or gift one. If baking half loaves, check them after baking around 30-35 minutes (but they may take close to the full time).
Ingredients
For the Soaked Fruit
- 1 c raisins
- ½ c candied lemon peel, diced
- ½ c candied orange peel, diced
- 1 small lemon, zested (roughly ½ teaspoon zest)
- ½ c white rum
- ½ c water
For the Dough
- 2 tablespoon - ¼ c milk, warmed to 80F
- ¼ c sugar
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 3 ½ c unbleached all purpose flour
- ½ c butter, unsalted, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ c almonds, chopped
Topping
- ¼ c powdered sugar
Instructions
Day 1
- Mix raisins, lemon peel, orange peel, lemon zest, rum, and water. Let stand overnight.
Day 2
- Drain the raisins, reserving the soaking liquid. Place the soaking liquid in a liquid measuring cup and add milk to reach ½ c + 2 tablespoon of liquid.
- In the bowl of a large stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook, mix together milk and fruit soaking liquid mixture, sugar, yeast, flour, softened butter, eggs, salt, and vanilla. Mix with the dough hook 7-10 minutes, until a smooth dough forms.
- Add the drained fruit and chopped almonds. Knead on low speed until the fruit and almonds have been incorporated, 5-7 minutes. (If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of flour to help the dough come back together in a smooth ball.)
- Take the dough hook off of the mixer and cover the dough in the bowl with a damp tea towel. Let it rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, 2 hours.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and shape it by rolling it into a 12 x 8 inch rectangle (roughly ½ inch thick). Fold the two long sides towards the middle, going ⅓ of the way, so that the middle ⅓ of the bread is now slightly higher (with 3 layers of dough). Place the shaped dough onto a greased baking sheet and press the long edges slightly to accentuate the bump down the center. Cover it loosely with your damp towel and let rise one final time, until doubled, roughly 1 hour.
- Near the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350F.
- Once risen, brush the top of the dough with melted butter and bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped.
- Once partially cooled, dust with powdered sugar. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Dust again with powdered sugar before serving.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
each of 10 slicesAmount Per Serving: Calories: 344
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
I followed the advice of making my own candied peel but don't feel it'd make that much of a difference to use high quality candied citrus peel (i.e., not on your common grocer's shelf). I also found the loaf to be H U G E and would recommend this be adjusted to make two loaves, one for you and one for giving away, as the single loaf is just too large.
Hi Christine. Thank you for sharing. For the candied peel, that would likely depend on the type of candied peel that you have access to. Also, many people prefer to make their own to avoid the chemical preservatives and colorants that are added to conventional candied peel. But, if that doesn't bother you, then using your grocer's version would be a more simple route to go. As for the size, that is all relative to how many people you are baking for, which is why we list the size of the loaf in the recipe. Dividing it in half is a great option if one loaf if too large.
Cannot wait to try
Hope you enjoy the stollen!
Do I activate the yeast in water or am I just pouring it in from the pack ?
Hi Corrin. No, you do not need to pre-activate the yeast for this recipe.
Am from the West Indies I use to work with in Venezuela with a German lady she uses to make it every Christmas it was the best I love it so so good
Thanks for sharing your memories Louisa! We hope you get a chance to try our recipe!
Do you have Irish recipes? My husband is Irish and German and we would love some Irish recipes. Love the vast German recipes you have! I've made German Chocolate Cake for over 30 years! I started baking it for my Daddy's birthday and have continued for others birthdays.
Hi K. We do have Irish recipes! (Authentic Irish and Irish-American, in fact.) You can find the authentic Irish Recipes here: https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/around-the-world/irish/
I am going to give your stollen recipe a try! Your stollen looks yummy!
Thanks Darlene. We hope you enjoy it!
My Mother just sent me this link. I believe I will try it. Love the story behind it too. Thanks Ma! You always have submerged me in culture(s) I am 48 and still learning new things from you. Couldn't ask for a more intelligent and knowledgeable person to call Ma. I love you.
I love the IDEA of giving something like this as a gift with a little card attached with the brief story told above. The only problem I have with gifting something like this is I see the love and labor time and money that goes into giving such a wonderful gift and it is in most cases under or not at all appreciated.
This year for a select for my wife will go through the time of making 4 bowl size loaves of cracked wheat bread (another recipe from my Mom thanks Ma) and will be making her vegetable beef stew. Then add 4 jars of this homemade delight for each bread bowl and give them to the few people we know will appreciate the time and effort that will go into each basket. Maybe after I show her this recipe she may add it to the basket.
Anyway Merry Christmas one and all, and thank you Ma for being so AWESOME!
These loaves would make a great gift! Putting the time into a gift basket like that is such a wonderful way to show you care! Merry Christmas!
Admire your stollen bread picture. Still trying to get it perfect
Thanks Phyllis! Keep trying! I'm sure you'll get it!
Very pretty! My (German) mom makes about 20 of these every year and gives them out as gifts. I've been eating stollen as long as I can remember. : )
Thank you! What a wonderful gift to give!