It’s still several weeks until the Holidays, and although I am not in a very festive mood just yet, I am already incredibly excited about all the baking and cooking! I have started to comb through my baking books thinking about what cookies to bake and what desserts to make.
While I enjoy experimenting with new recipes and exotic flavors, when it comes to the holidays I am all up for traditional baking. Last year it was the first time I made my grandma’s famous fruit bread which represents everything I associated with the holidays when I was little. This year, I decided to tackle another German Christmas classic: Christmas stolen (or Christstollen how you’d call it in Germany). Stollen is a bread-like cake filled with fruit and nuts and is a staple at most German households during the holiday season.
I know very few people who make Chrsitstollen themselves because it is pretty tricky to get it right. You want the Stollen to be moist and rich, but not overly sweet. When growing up, we would only have the store-bought version because my mum couldn’t bother to make it herself. And I was never a huge fan, to be honest. While I love raisins (and there is a ton of it in the bread) I don’t like the artificial flavor of candied peel. And I always found it was way too sweet. But I was always intrigued by the challenge of baking a good Christstollen. So this year I decided to give it a go. I did quite some research on how to make the perfect Christstollen, and I realized that there is a lot of different approaches – some rather simple ones and some more time-consuming.
And because I am totally into the science of baking and more sophisticated recipes, I went for the more complex one inspired by Plötzblog. It doesn’t require any specific baking skills, just some time and dedication to very precise baking.
Traditionally you want to make Christstollen ahead of time – around 3-4 weeks – for the flavors to intensify. But if you can’t resist the smell of the freshly baked Christstollen, you can absolutely eat it the same day.
Have fun baking!
Love,
Marion
If you are looking for more holiday related recipes, check out these matcha gingerbread cookies or these almond biscotti.
Christstollen (German Christmas Stollen)
A German Christmas Classic! A rich bread-like cake filled with fruit, nuts, and spices.
Ingredients
- For the fruit mixture:
- 400g raisins
- 100g candied lemon peel (use organic for a more natural flavor)
- 40g candied orange peel (use organic for a more natural flavor)
- 150g rum
- 150g white wine
- For the water roux:
- 80g bread flour (wheat flour type 550)
- 380g whole milk
- 8 g salt
- For the butter-spice mixture:
- 190g whole almonds
- 330g cold organic butter
- 70g sugar
- 50g honey
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon all-spice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon aniseed
- For the pre-dough:
- 220g bread flour (wheat flour type 550)
- 135g whole milk
- 33g fresh yeast
- For the dough:
- 360g bread flour (wheat flour type 550)
- For sprinkling:
- 140g warm organic butter, melted
- 100g sugar
- 100g icing sugar
Directions
- Step 1 The day before:
- Step 2 For the fruit mixture, roughly chop the candied peel. You don’t have to do that, it just makes the texture of the peel less prominent (which I prefer). In a medium bowl, mix raisins, candied peel, rum, and white wine and let soak at room temperature for 12-24 hours. Before adding the fruit into the dough, drain the fruit well.
- Step 3 The water roux is a paste of flour cooked in milk which is used to incorporate additional moisture without making the dough too liquid to shape. Mix flour, milk, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil while continually stirring. Keep stirring vigorously until thick (about 1-2 minutes). Set aside to cool.
- Step 4 To remove the skin of the almonds, put them into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 10 minutes. Use your fingers to gently squeeze the almonds and loosen the skin. Transfer to a food processor and grind the blanched almonds. In a medium bowl, mix almonds, butter, sugar, honey, and spices, and place the mixture in the fridge for 12-24 hours.
- Step 5 On the day of baking:
- Step 6 To make the pre-dough, mix flour, milk, and yeast in a large bowl and knead for 7 minutes. You can use a standing mixer with the dough hook or your hands. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let rise until tripled in size (45-60 minutes). During the colder months make sure that you keep the dough in a warm place (25°C / 80°F).
- Step 7 After 30 minutes, remove the butter-spice mixture from the fridge so it can slightly soften before mixing it with the other components.
- Step 8 Add the flour, water roux, and the butter-spice mixture to the risen pre-dough. On low speed, mix until the dough just comes together, about 3 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and mix until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 7 minutes. If the dough is too wet, add a little bit of flour.
- Step 9 Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise for another 20 minutes in a warm place (25°C / 80°F).
- Step 10 Add the drained fruit to the dough and mix on low until integrated.
- Step 11 Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Shape each into a loose log. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Step 12 Cover the loaves loosely with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise for another 30 minutes in a warm place (25°C / 80°F).
- Step 13 In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220°C / 430°F.
- Step 14 Bake the loaves for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 180°C/ 360°F and bake for another 40 minutes.
- Step 15 Remove the loaves from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Generously brush the loaves on both sides with the melted butter and dust with sugar. Let cool completely.
- Step 16 Once they are cool, dust the stollen again with icing sugar. Wrap each loaf in plastic wrap and let sit for at least 1 day before serving. Christstollen keeps well for up to 3 months. Store the wrapped loaves in a cool place.
