Christmas Stollen

Christmas Stollen, or Christstollen, is a Christmas bread that is full of nuts, raisins, and candied fruit, and dusted with confectioner’s sugar. Like so many other holiday breads, you will find so many versions of this lovely holiday bread. It is typically made weeks in advance and should mellow in flavor Christmas fruit bread recipes, stollen is best when made weeks in advance.

I had plans for so many Christmas breads this month. I wanted to revisit a stollen I made last year. Well, I actually didn’t plan to revisit the same recipe. I was going to try a new recipe and make a pretty wreath. I tried this recipe from Cooking Light magazine that I saved from last year.

It was going to be really festive with cranberries on top of the sugar glaze. But something went wrong. Not baking catastrophe wrong where I was crying over my dough. I almost did. I was sort of in denial that it wasn’t quite rising as it should. I was heading to a Christmas Eve party and thought by the time I’d come home, it would for sure be doubled in size. It maybe quartered in size. Or maybe it never did and I was just hoping for a Christmas baking miracle.

I thought maybe my milk was too cold when I added the yeast. I know that sometimes could make it take longer to rise. I baked it anyway and figured it would be dense and just perfect to dip in my caffe’ latte that morning. It actually wasn’t as dense as I thought it would be. It just wasn’t fluffy and perfect like the one I made last Christmas. I even had some of that first batch today for breakfast and it’s softer than it was the first day. But still, no fluffy factor.

This is the first stollen that just didn’t rise to it’s fullest potential:

What really went wrong? I’m not sure. Maybe the milk was too cold and the dough needed more time. Maybe my rise temperature was too high and that caused it to be a flop.

*Ok-slight update to my post I’m just working on this morning. I know what happened to the 1st recipe from Cooking Light from reading readers’ comments on their link to recipe. The Cooking Light recipe has you add too much sugar to the yeast. The excessive sugar is probably what killed my yeast. Did anyone else ever have this happen?

Why did I stray from this trusty recipe from Daring Baking Challenge-Christmas Stollen? I had hopes of making a lighter dough. I wanted the same thing but slightly better. Sometimes it’s best to stick with what’s worked for you. So I made my Christmas Stollen one more time from last year. It was perfection.

After I gave the Cooking Light recipe another try…this is the way my stollen was supposed to look. I also was finally successful in making a Kalacs-Hungarian Nut Roll with mom. Love it!

If you never made a stollen, this recipe is a great recipe to start (and end) with.

You know I’ve been busy with all this holiday baking. I’ve been baking every thing on a new wonderful cookie sheet! This was a batch of glazed lemon cookies I made.

This is where I’ll be most of Christmas break. I am still dreaming of seeing some snow. In the meantime, I’ll take the sand, surf, and warm ocean breezes.

What ingredients are needed to make a Christmas Stollen?

Here is what you need to make a delicious Christmas stollen:

• active dry yeast
• milk
• egg
• granulated sugar
• salt
• butter
• bread flour
• currants
• sultana raisins
• red candied cherries, quartered (I skipped this and added dried cranberries)
• candied citron (skipped this and added zest of 1 large orange)
• marzipan (I did not have marzipan to do the marzipan surprise for this one, but usually add it in)
• confectioners’ sugar
• ground cinnamon

How do you make a Christmas Stollen?

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 combine 1 tablespoon milk and 1 egg. Brush dough gently with milk mixture.

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.

*This year I did a sugar glaze like on the Cooking Light Magazine. Here is the recipe:
Combine 1 tablespoon milk and powdered sugar, stirring until smooth; drizzle over cooled loaves

Hope you are having a FABULOUS week:)Thank you for stopping by to say HELLO:)

Some other yeast dough recipes to enjoy:

• Anadama Bread
• Sicilian Orange Sweet Bread
• No-Knead Olive Bread
• Strawberry Monkey Bread

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Christmas Stollen

Christmas Stollen, or Christstollen, is a Christmas bread that is full of nuts, raisins, and candied fruit, and dusted with confectioner's sugar. Like so many other holiday breads, you will find so many versions of this lovely holiday bread. It is typically made weeks in advance and should mellow in flavor Christmas fruit bread recipes, stollen is best when made weeks in advance.

Prep Time1 hr 20 mins

Cook Time40 mins

Course: Bread

Cuisine: German

Keyword: Christmas, yeast bread

Servings: 1 loaf

Author: Lora

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup warm milk 110 degrees F/45 degrees C
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter softened
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1/3 cup currants
• 1/3 cup sultana raisins
• 1/3 cup red candied cherries quartered (I skipped this and added dried cranberries)
• 2/3 cup diced candied citron skipped this and added 1 large orange zest
• 6 ounces marzipan I did not have marzipan to do the marzipan surprise
• 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

• 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, 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. IF you are using marzipan in the center, 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 combine 1 tablespoon milk and 1 egg. Brush dough gently with milk mixture.
• 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.

Notes

Sugar glaze: Combine 1 tablespoon milk and powdered sugar, stirring until smooth; drizzle over cooled loaves; drizzle over cooled loaves.

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