Make your holiday season stress-free by preparing a few loaves of stollen ahead of time. This delicious traditional German bread is perfect for the holidays as it has a long shelf life. You can make the bread ahead of time to gift to friends and family or just to have on hand to entertain guests.
Even better, the longer you wait to enjoy the stollen, the more flavorful it becomes. While the early versions of stollen were dry and hard, over the years, it has become a sweet and buttery bread that you won’t be able to stop eating. It’s perfect for satisfying a sweet tooth. Try my sweet Pfeffernusse recipe or easy potato candy if you’re looking for another sweet German treat.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Fillings — this stollen is filled with candied fruit, raisins, lemon zest, slivered almonds, and marzipan. Do not skip the filling or it won’t taste like traditional stollen.
Yeast — make sure the yeast you have on hand has not expired. It’s always best to purchase a fresh packet to ensure your stollen doesn’t come out dense.
Rum — not only does soaking the raisins in rum help make them plump, soaking the stollen fillings helps prevent drying out the bread. If you skip soaking, it can dry out the surrounding dough by absorbing moisture.
Butter — be sure to buy unsalted butter and not salted butter. Make sure to bring the butter to room temperature by taking it out of the fridge ahead of time. The butter should yield to the touch.
Confectioners’ sugar — you’ll need confectioners’ sugar for coating the loaves. If you don’t have any, you can see my post on how to make your own confectioners’ sugar.
How to Make Stollen
1. In a medium bowl, combine raisins, candied orange peel, and rum. Cover and let soak while preparing the dough.
2. Activate the yeast in a mixer by combining warm milk and yeast before adding flour, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, salt, cardamom, and mace. Using the paddle attachment, beat the mixture at medium-low speed until the dough is well combined and smooth.
3. Switch out the paddle attachment to the dough hook. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and the lemon zest. Mix on low speed until a soft and smooth dough forms. Cover, and let rise until the dough has doubled in size.
4. Add the soaked fruit to the risen dough along with the almonds and mix at low speed just until the fruit is combined. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead a few times to bring it into a ball, flouring the dough and your hands as needed to prevent it from sticking.
5. Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a 7×11-inch oval. Shape the marzipan into two 10-inch long logs and place a marzipan log down the center of each oval of dough.
6. Fold one long side of the dough over the marzipan to meet the other side, then gently press along the seam to seal the marzipan. Let the dough rise until visibly puffed, about 30 to 45 minutes.
7. Brush each of the stollen doughs with 1 tablespoon of melted butter and bake for 35 minutes, or until the outside is golden brown.
8. Place the baked stollens on a wire rack and brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter, and let cool for 20 minutes. Heavily dust the tops of the loaves in powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar). Pat down to adhere the sugar to the crust and cool completely. Dust with confectioners’ sugar again once cooled, including the bottom of the loaves, and pat to adhere.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Feel free to use your favorite chopped dried or candied fruit in this stollen recipe! Some ideas are chopped dates, golden raisins, chopped dried apricots, and dried cherries.
- To make smaller loaves for gifting, divide the dough into fourths. Press each quarter into ½-inch-thick ovals and shape the marzipan into a log about an inch shorter than each oval. Continue as directed, but start checking the loaves for doneness after 20 minutes of baking. The timing will differ based on the size of your loaves.
- If you do not have almonds, chopped pecans or chopped walnuts will work in a pinch.
- The time it takes for your dough to rise will depend on the temperature of your kitchen. It will rise slower in a cold kitchen. The ideal temperature is between 75 and 78F.
- If your kitchen is cold, you can place your stollen dough in an OFF oven with the light on.
- Make sure the milk is between 110 to 120F as milk that’s too hot will kill the yeast, and milk not warm enough won’t activate the yeast.
- Always dust with confectioners’ sugar twice. The first dusting will melt as the loaves are still warm, and the second coating ensures the entire loaf is covered.
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to bread dough is the most common mistake and will yield a dry and dense loaf of bread. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale.
- If you knock on the stollen, it will sound hollow once it’s completely baked.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does this keep? How do I store it?
This stollen recipe gets better with age and will last for up to 3 weeks after baking as long as it is stored tightly wrapped and stored in a cool place. The bread will get slightly more moist and flavorful as it absorbs the liquid from the soaked fruit filling.
Can I freeze this?
You can absolutely freeze stollen bread, especially if you do not think you can finish both loaves. You can also make this ahead of time to prepare for the holidays. Let the bread cool completely, do not dust with confectioners’ sugar, and then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw the bread overnight and brush with butter before dusting with powdered sugar right before serving.
Where did this originate?
Christmas stollen, known as Christollen in Germany, originated from Dresden, Germany, where it was first made in the late 1500s. Similar to panettone, this stollen was mainly made around the holiday season as the ingredients were expensive to acquire. Stollen has a long history in Dresden as it’s a symbol of the region. It was a tradition to bake and send stollen to their ruler for the holiday celebrations up until 1918 (source).
Also, Germany’s first Christmas market took place in Dresden, where stollen has continued to play a part in the market. It’s seen as a symbol of Saxony as tourists show up yearly to purchase stollen from the master bakers in Dresden specifically (source).
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Stollen
Equipment
- Mixer
Ingredients
For the Soaked Fruit:
- 1½ cups raisins (240g)
- 1 cup candied fruit (240g)
- ⅓ cup dark rum (80ml)
For the Dough:
- 1 cup warm milk (110-120F/240ml)
- 1 packet active dry yeast (.25-ounce/7g)
- 4 cups all-purpose flour divided (480g)
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter cubed and room temperature (142g)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (66g)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1¼ teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground mace
- Zest of 1 lemon
For the Filling & Topping:
- ½ cup slivered almond chopped (60g)
- 7 ounces marzipan or almond paste (198g)
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and divided
- confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
For the Soaked Fruit:
- In a medium bowl, combine raisins, candied orange peel, and rum. Cover and let soak while preparing the dough.
For the Dough:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm milk and yeast, stirring to combine. Let stand until the top is foamy, about 10 minutes.
- Add 1 cup flour, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, salt, cardamom, and mace. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-low speed until the mixture is well combined and smooth, about 1 to 2 minutes. Switch to the dough hook. Add the remaining 3 cups of flour and the lemon zest. Mix on low speed until a soft and smooth dough forms, about 10 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, cover, and let rise until the dough is about doubled in size, 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes.
For the Filling and Topping:
- Drain any remaining liquid from the soaked fruit add to the risen dough along with the almonds. Use the dough hook and mix on low speed just until the fruit is combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead a few times to bring it into a ball, flouring the dough and your hands as needed.
- Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a 7x11-inch oval, lightly flouring your hands as needed. Shape the marzipan into two 10-inch long logs. Place a marzipan log down the center of each oval. Fold one long side of the dough over the marzipan to meet the other side. Gently press along the seam to seal the marzipan.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and place the loaves on the baking sheet a few inches apart. Loosely cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise until visibly puffed, about 30 to 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F. Uncover the risen loaves and brush with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until the outside is golden brown. (The internal temperature should reach 190F when an instant read thermometer is inserted into the center of each loaf.) Place on a wire rack and brush with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Let cool for 20 minutes.
- Heavy dust the tops of the loaves in confectioners’ sugar. Pat them with your hands to adhere the sugar to the crust. Cool completely. Dust again once cooled, including the bottom of the loaves, and pat to adhere. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap until ready to serve. Stollen gets better with age and can be enjoyed up to 3 weeks after baking as long as it is stored tightly wrapped.
Notes
- Feel free to use your favorite chopped dried or candied fruit in the loaves! Some ideas are chopped dates, golden raisins, chopped dried apricots, and dried cherries.
- To make smaller loaves for gifting, divide the dough into fourths. Press each quarter into ½-inch-thick ovals and shape the marzipan into a log about an inch shorter than each oval. Continue as directed, but start checking the loaves for doneness after 20 minutes of baking. The timing will differ based on the size of your loaves.
- If you do not have almonds, chopped pecans or walnuts will work in a pinch.
- The time it takes for your dough to rise will depend on the temperature of your kitchen. It will rise slower in a cold kitchen. The ideal temperature is between 75 and 78F.
- If your kitchen is cold, you can place your stollen dough in an OFF oven with the light on.
- Make sure the milk is between 110 to 120F as milk that’s too hot will kill the yeast, and milk not warm enough won’t activate the yeast.
- Always dust with confectioners’ sugar twice. The first dusting will melt as the loaves are still warm, and the second coating ensures the entire loaves are covered.
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to bread dough is the most common mistake and will yield a dry and dense loaf of bread. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one, then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off. If you scoop the flour straight from the bag, you will overpack the measuring cup.
- If you knock on the stollen, it will sound hollow once it’s completely baked.
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