Original Dresdner Stollen – Christmas Bread

Learn today how to make Original Dresdner Stollen which is a traditional Christmas cake in Germany since centuries,  and this is an authentic German recipe. The “Dresdner Stollen” is popular all over the world.  This German cake has its own history. Have you ever asked yourself what it is actually symbolizing?

The form of the Stollen  is supposed to symbolize the baby in the cradle, wrapped in linen. The Stollen recipe was created in Sachsen (Saxon). The making of the Stollen needs more attention than a regular dough done with yeast.
You need to use all ingredients as listed, don’t change the measures or ingredients. Important seems the fact that you won’t using the ingredients directly out of the fridge. The ingredients need to be kept at room temperature, and some even bring them the evening before they bake, into a warmer room.

Don’t forget it is a winter recipe and in Europe many rooms of a home used to be cold during the winter season due to low temperature and bad heating. Of course this has changed, still the recipe is based upon these facts. Happy Baking!

Ingredients Original Dresdner Stollen

For 2 medium size Stollen
500 g wheat flour
100 g fresh yeast or 2 packages active dry yeast
250 ml milk, luke warm
100 g sugar
200 g butter, soft plus 100 g pork lard, alt. butter
zest of 1 lemon (organic)
1 sachet vanilla sugar
– How to make Vanilla sugar –
1/2 tsp level cardamon and 1/2 level tsp mace
1 dash salt
100 g Zitronat
100 g Orangeat
1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
100 g ground almonds and 50 g chopped almonds
200 g raisins (organic, no sulfur), can be soaked over night in dark rum
100 g Zitronat and 100 g Orangeat (candied lemon and orange peel
Note: American products contain often chemicals such as high fructose syrup and preservatives. The best is the homemade variation: Find out how to make Orangeat and Citronat from scratch or get the German or all natural products.

butter tp spread on top, and powder sugar  for dusting

Makes a Great Gift – Contains German Stollen

German Christmas Box from Lovegermanfood.com

Baking Instructions

All ingredients should have room temperature.
Make the starter dough
– Place 100g flour into a baking bowl and make a mold in the middle.
– Dissolve yeast in the warm milk with 1 tsp sugar.
– Add the yeast milk to the flour. Mix until you get a smooth dough
– Cover with a clean kitchen cloth and keep at a warm place so it can rise for 30 minutes.
You should see bubbles and an increased dough volume.

– Combine remaining flour with starter dough with remaining milk and sugar, warm butter, vanilla sugar, lemon zest, spices and salt.
– Knead this dough until it is very smooth and until the dough peels away from the inside bowl walls.
– Boil water and scald raisins, dry them on kitchen cloth or paper.
– Add raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, chopped and ground almonds to the dough. Cut the candied peel into little pieces if needed.
– Knead everything thoroughly and form a ball.
– Cover again, let rise for 60 minutes, dough volume needs to be doubled

– Again knead the dough very thoroughly, form into a Stollen, place on a baking tray layered with parchment paper, and let sit for 20 min.
– Preheat oven to 180 degrees C or 375 F.
– Bake for 50-60 minutes until the surface is golden brown. If the Stollen gets brown early cover it with aluminum foil or a sheet of greased parchment paper.
– When Stollen is done brush right away melted butter onto its surface.
– Dust with powdered sugar. Repeat this several times until you get the desired sugar crust – SEE TIPS

TIPS:
– Wrap the Stollen in aluminum foil or a linen cloth.
– Use freshly ground spices.
– You can roast the chopped almonds in a pan without any grease.
– Let the stollen sit at a cool place for at least 1-2 weeks – The best would be 3-4 weeks.
– Keep the Stollen at a cool, dark and somewhat moist place. You can keep it also in a tin. Stollen is good for 4-6 weeks.
– Increase the baking time to 70 min at reduced temperature – 150-16- C or  This will prevent the stollen to dry out.
– You can use a mix of butter and clarified butter if you don’t want to use lard. Clarified butter adds a slightly nutty taste, and keeps the stollen fresher.
– There’s a trick for getting a nice sugar crust: In between spreading butter and dusting powdered sugar on top wait a bit until the butter has soaked into the coating.
– If you have the patience, let the stollen mature for at least 2 weeks, preferably 3-4 weeks. The longer it rests, the more intense the aroma becomes, as the spices and fruit have time to unfold.

Below is a video of a German bakery – the Bäckerei Ermer – where they make the Dresdner Stollen. This is in German but they don’t talk – just watch them making the most traditional Christmas cake of Germany. It’s very interesting.

Photosource Candied Peel