German Stollen is a beautiful and delicious Christmas bread that you can make for your family and friends. While Stollen seems to be a complicated bread to make, I’ve broken down each step so that even bread baking beginners can take part in this favorite Christmas tradition.
Yield: 3 breads
Prep Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 50 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1-1/4 cups milk, room temperature
- 1/2 cup butter, soft
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2-1/4 tsp or 1 pkg. (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup currants
- 1/4 cup chopped, mixed candied fruit
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 2 Tbsp grated orange peel (1 large orange)
- 1 tbsp grated lemon peel (medium lemon)
- 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, about
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp butter, soft
- water
- candied fruit
Preparation:
- In large bowl, mix together milk, 1/2 cup butter, sugar, yeast, salt, egg, and cardamom. Mix in 2 cups flour. Mix in raisins, currants, candied fruit, almonds, orange peel, and lemon peel. Mix in the remaining flour until you have a soft dough. You may or may not need as much flour as stated in the recipe.
- Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for 8 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl. Turn dough over so that the dough is greased on both sides. Cover and let rise in warm, draft-free place for one hour.
- Punch down dough and turn out onto floured board. Knead for 5 minutes. Divide dough into three equal parts. Roll each part into a 10 x 6-inch oval. Fold the length of the oval in half so that the top short edge is about 1-inch in from the bottom short edge. Place each folded bread onto a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in warm, draft-free place for about 40 minutes or until double in size.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove breads from baking sheets and let cool on rack until warm. While the bread is still warm, mix together the confectioner’s sugar, 1/2 tsp butter, and enough water to make a thick icing. Ice each stollen while it is still warm and top with pieces of candied fruit.
