German Stollen (Christmas Bread)

Rachel
Dec 24, 2020
5 min read

Updated: Dec 10, 2022

ree — Sorry for so many pictures but this bread is simply breadtaking :D

Is it cake? Is it a giant cookie?! No it's bread that tastes like both and it has absolutely stollen my heart :D This delectable enriched bread is dense, sweet, very fruity, and divine. It's so jam-packed with butter and fruit that it barely rises at all but is still delicious nonetheless! If you want to try a fruity Christmas bread that's lighter and more bread-like than stollen, check out my Finnish Pulla or Norwegian Julekake recipes.

Candied orange peel recipe

Candied lemon peel recipe

The original recipe, which I modified, is from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyRbETlYNxM&t=218s

Here is the recipe, and pictures of the process of making this crazy bread are below:

Ingredients:

~40 mL or g dark rum (I used Captain Morgan)
140 g raisins
250 g all purpose flour
43 g sugar
25 g almond flour
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg (or mace)
pinch of cloves
pinch of cardamom
2 g salt
80 g warm milk
6.5 (or 7) g active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. fresh lemon zest (2 g)
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste or extract (6 g)
125 g salted butter, softened
40 g candied orange peel
25 g candied lemon peel
20 g slivered almonds (or chopped almonds)
Additional butter (~2 Tbsp.), sugar, and powdered sugar

Directions:

Day 1:

Add the raisins to a shallow tupperware and add ~40-50 g of dark rum. It won't cover them completely but they'll soak some up. Cover the container and let rest overnight (8-16 hours).

Day 2:

Note: I recommend watching the video linked above for a tutorial on how to make this bread (2 loaves instead of one) because it will be very helpful. Here I explain how I made this bread by hand.
When you start the bread start by draining the raisins in a sieve while you prepare the dough.
Mix the flour, sugar, almond flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and salt together in a bowl.
Heat the milk in the microwave or on the stovetop just until it's warm but not hot. Mix in the yeast until dissolved.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk-yeast mixture. Brush some flour on top of the milk and cover the bowl and rest for 30 minutes. The yeast should bubble and activate.
Once the yeast is active, add the vanilla and lemon zest. Then mix the dough together, it will be very dry and won't come together.
Then, about 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, add in the butter and mix well after each addition. The dough will gradually become like a shaggy cookie dough and then a slightly firmer cookie dough. Your hands are best for doing this unless you have a dough mixer.
Take the dough out onto a surface and knead for 5-8 minutes. The gluten won't develop a lot (don't worry if the dough still tears a lot), but the dough will get a slightly better texture.
Then roll out the dough and add the drained raisins, candied peel, and almonds. Fold it into the dough like a letter and then in half again and gently knead for about 2-3 minutes until the fruit is mixed in. It will fall out often but just be patient and don't crush all the raisins! The dough will still look torn after the fruit is mixed in and that's okay!
Shape the dough into a ball, put back in the mixing bowl, and cover and let rise for 1 to 1.5 hours in a warm place. My dough didn't rise at all after 1.5 hours but you should expect no or very little rise.
Then take the dough out onto a clean surface and shape into a stollen shape (see video link above). Important Note: Something that I did not do with this loaf, but will do in the future, is try to remove any fruit that sticks out on the top and bottom of the loaf, and put it in between the fold of the stollen, because when baking these can burn and/or get very hard.
Place the bread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 45 minutes, although it may not change much, or at all in size.
Bake the bread at 350F for 50 minutes on the middle or upper rack. I had to move mine to the upper rack after 20 minutes because the bottom was getting too brown and I covered the top with tin foil at the 40 minute-mark. However, at the very end I used the broil function for 1-3 minutes to brown the top slightly.
Remove the bread to a wire rack after baking and let cool about 1 hour before brushing the whole loaf with butter (top and bottom and sides) and then immediately coating it with a layer of white sugar while the butter is still wet. Then once the bread has cooled further, you can dust the entire thing with powdered sugar, mine cracked when I turned it over so I only dusted the top.
Note: Traditionally this bread is covered with the butter and sugar (and then wrapped well) because it is traditionally stored for 1-2 weeks in a cool place before eating (for the flavor to develop), but I did not do this and I don't regret it at all :)
Enjoy your bread anytime you like. You can freeze leftovers or share with friends!
Makes 1 loaf.

Here is how I made this bread:

All the ingredients I used, 19 ingredients!. Not all have labels since some things like the peel were homemade.

Start a day before by soaking the raisins in rum. I DO NOT recommend using a jar like this, and instead use a shallow container so you use less rum.

Start by straining the raisins while you make the dough.

Before whisking the flours, sugar, salt, and spices together.

After whisking together.

Dissolve the yeast in warm milk.

Pour the milk mixture into a well in the dry ingredients and add some of the flour on top. Let rest 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes my yeast was bubbly and active so I added the vanilla and lemon zest before mixing it.

After mixing together. Obviously it's very dry but we're about to add a shit ton of butter!

Now we start adding the butter and mixing it in gradually.

After mixing in about half the butter.

After mixing in the rest of the butter. It will feel like a buttery dense cookie dough.

Take the dough out onto a clean surface, we're going to knead it.

After kneading. It will still tear easily and not look like normal bread dough, this is okay!

Then roll the dough out to start the fruit addition process.

Add all the fruit and almonds.

Spread the fruit out and then fold it like a letter.

Then fold it like a letter in the other direction. Then you'll knead to incorporate the fruit. Even though it will fall out while mixing this "folding" process helps even the fruit out. So just keep adding the fruit back in as you knead.

After kneading and distributing the fruit as evenly as possible.

Before (and after) the first rise. I could post the actual "after" photo honestly it looked EXACTLY the same, i don't think it rose at all after 1.5 hours.