Eat like a German - German Recipe:
Dresdner Christstollen (Christmas Stollen from Dresden)

Dresdner Stollen
[ source: Wikipedia]

Serves: 4 persons

Prep time: n/a
Cook time: n/a
Total time: n/a

A Stollen is a loaf shaped fruitcake, powdered with icing sugar on the outside. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices. Stollen is a traditional German cake, usually eaten during the Christmas season, when called Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. A similar cake from the Dutch cuisine is called a Kerststol in Dutch.

Stollen is a bread-like fruitcake made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Candied orange peel and candied citrus peel (Zitronat), raisins and almonds and different spices such as cardamom and cinnamon are added. Other ingredients, such as milk, sugar, butter, salt, rum, eggs, vanilla, other dried fruits and nuts and marzipan may also be added to the Stollen dough. Except for the fruit added, the dough is quite low in sugar. The finished cake is sprinkled with icing sugar. The traditional weight of a Stollen is around 4.4 pounds (2 kg), but smaller sizes are now available.

The Dresden Stollen (originally Striezel), a moist, heavy bread filled with fruit, was first mentioned in an official document in 1474, and the most famous Stolen is still the Dresdner Stollen, sold, among other places, at the local Christmas market, Striezelmarkt . Dresden Stollen is produced in the city of Dresden and distinguished by a special seal depicting King Augustus II the Strong. This official Stollen is produced by only 150 Dresden bakers.

[source: Wikipedia ]

Ingredients:

• 7 C Flour
• 2-1/2 Tbsp active dry Yeast
• app. 2 C Milk
• ¾ C + 3 Tbsp Sugar
• Grated peel of one Lemon
• ½ tsp. Cardamom
• ½ tsp. Mace
• 2-1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 lb Butter
• 2-1/3 C Raisins
• ¾ C Candied Lemon Peel, chopped fine
• ½ C + 3-1/2 tsp. Candied Orange Peel, chopped fine
• 1-1/3 C Almonds, ground

Procedure:

Set out ALL ingredients and allow to sit overnight in a warm room.

On the next day, sift the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the middle. Put the yeast, 3 tsp of the sugar, and half of the milk into the well. Mix this with just a little of the flour. Allow to sit just until the yeast starts bubbling. Work the dough together, adding the remaining sugar, salt, spices, softened (but NOT melted!) butter, and just enough milk to make a smooth, non-sticky dough. Knead well several minutes. (This initial kneading is the most important!)

Sprinkle app. 1 Tbsp flour over the raisins. Shake to cover. Knead raisins, finely-chopped lemon and orange peel, and ground almonds into the dough only until evenly distributed.

Form the dough into a ball. Cover, and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes. Knead through. Cover and let sit again for 30 – 50 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 – 400 degrees.

Butter a large baking sheet. Make the dough into several Stollen loaves*. Bake for 70 – 90 minutes, until golden. If the surface of the Stollen becomes brown too quickly, cover the top with a piece of buttered parchment paper.

While still warm, butter the Stollen well. Sprinkle first with Raw Sugar, then Vanilla Sugar. Finally, sift powedered sugar thickly over the entire Stollen.

Cover and allow to sit for at least a week—best if longer! (I prefer at least 2 weeks!)

Notes:

* A Stollen form is quite easy and universal throughout German-speaking countries. It represents the swaddled Christ Child. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Fold one end over the other to ALMOST the other side, leaving a small edge. On this particular large Stollen, the edge should be about an inch wide.

** You can find Vanilla Sugar at certain specialty stores, especially if you live close to a German one! It is also easily made by splitting two vanilla beans in half, lengthwise and kind of digging them into 5 lbs of sugar. Store this in a sealed container to age for at least 2 weeks. Keep stored in an air-tight container. Otherwise, you can also substitute 1 tsp Vanilla Flavoring for 1 Tbsp Vanilla Sugar.

Cathy Lemmon

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