Holiday Stollen Recipe (2024)

Found my mother’s old German cookbook and it called for 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks. (Used 500g of flour) Wondering, given the notes on dryness which I experienced as well, if another egg or egg yolk (or 2) would be advised? Otherwise best recipe I’ve found!

A superior stolen. I doubted the recipe and myself each step of the way, from the seemingly minimal amount of rising (should I start over?), to the cup of melted butter, to the two-day wait between sugar coatings. Once you commit to the several-day process, you owe it to yourself to see it through. The buttery, crusty, ginger-zinged coating tastes like Christmas manifest, something that could not be achieved skimping on the amount of butter or sugar. The interior is dense and moist. Otherworldly

This is a great recipe. It has become a tradition in our family. My mom is German so this reminds her of home and her childhood. I make candy pineapple and use that instead of the candied ginger, and I do make smaller loaves. Doubling the recipe, I get 6 from this. It also seems to help it to not get overdone on the bottom, as the entire loaf cooks faster. Labor intensive but worth it!

I added marzipan paste to the center of this. Yum. I froze one and I think it was better after freezing. So for me I am going to make it in November and freeze until Christmas.

I went through the same thing yesterday - added a little additional egg yolk and milk...very little change. I think "smooth and glossy" is a real misnomer here. It's a very dense dough, though it will rise more as it continues to sit out. I say forge ahead and you will be delighted with the results! (I have made this a number of times and stress out each time because the dough doesn't seem right!)

This is a great recipe. I substituted Grand Marnier for the rum. Baking on stacked sheet pans kept the bottom from over browning. I was afraid the amount on ginger in the sugar coating would be overpowering, but it is just right.This recipe takes time to make, so it is not for impatient folks. It is worth every hour and I will definitely bake it again.

I've made this six or seven years in a row, and it's never risen much. This time, I read up on how yeast works and the penny dropped. You need milk that's warmer than room temperature. This year, I heated the milk to 110 and VOILA - got more of a rise. It's still a dense loaf, but less so than before. Yummy either way!

I've made this every Christmas for many years now, and everyone looooooves it, and it just tastes better every day. I never use as much ginger as the recipe calls for (since I'm not a huge fan), and it's not missed. Because of the wet ingredients, it doesn't rise much - that's not a bad thing. It's really forgiving. Highly recommend!

Yep, used all the butter; very rewarding !!

I made this for Christmas holiday and received rave reviews. I didn’t have a mixer so made by hand. The dough is very dense as others have said and my arms were tired from the mixing! I did not get as much rise from the yeast as I had expected, but the result was marvelous. A rich seasonal treat that I will be making again !!

Add some more butter to the dough, if you find it's a little too dry. Or add some cream. I like the addition of some almond paste to the dough, too!I've kept an old recipe from the old Newsday newspaper from 12/14/1978- it makes 3 huge loaves, if anyone wants the ingredients, I can send it along.I lived in CO for almost 40 years, so I can tell you no high altitude adjustments are needed.

This is a really good recipe and very close to my mums. She is german and has been baking about 3-4 of those every year since I can remember. She actually wraps them in aluminum foil, puts them in a plastic bag and lets them sit outside in the cold for at least a month before having the first slice. She says it results in a moister Stollen. I honestly lack the experience to say if thats true, but the taste is defnitely better compared to a Stollen thats only been put aside for a week or so.

Yes. I add about 5 oz per loaf every year. The baking time remains the same.

We have been making this ever since it was originally published and it is a tradition we have dubbed Stollen Saturday. Usually 5xs the recipe and 5 stand mixers are used. We make soup and eat decadent grilled cheese sandwiches while the dough rests. Perhaps some chardonnay is consumed. Everyone leaves with his loaves ready to bake and enjoy over the holiday season. One of my favorite parts of Christmas. Such a treat to enjoy.

Did anyone actually pour 1 c. of melted butter over the loaves when they came out of the oven? Seemed a bit excessive, so just brushed 4 Tbs. over the two and sprinkled them with gingered-sugar and called it good. Not a true stollen w/out the xxx sugar, though, but much neater to eat with coffee in bed. Subbed dried apricots for candied fruit FWIW. After doing all work by hand, am now looking on craigslist for a stand mixer - heh!

As an addendum to my below note, I plan to try this with my usual sourdough starter in the future. I'll keep the day-long rise in my cold kitchen. Also there are some nice videos online that show the shaping process for stollen (along with the rest of the making). I highly recommend them!

This was excellent. I did add a big spoonful of sourdough discard for flavor and shelf-life, but otherwise followed the recipe. My dough was *plenty* moist. For technique: Warmed the milk to proof the yeast (my kitchen is cold). A short rise with a few folds, then overnight in the fridge. Then I realized it was *dumb* to let a fat-based dough rise in the fridge (the fat sets solid) so I let it rise another day in my cold kitchen, then shaped and baked as in recipe. Superb.

I’ve been making Christmas Stollen for 20 years and I found this to be a faulty recipe. To get the starter to rise that quickly, you need warmer milk. There was far too little liquid, leaving the dough to be crumbly. I added another 1/2 cup of milk. I didn’t understand why a whole cup of butter is necessary at the end. I brushed about 4 Tbsp over it. I’m also not sure why you would put the ginger sugar and confectioners sugar on the bread. Overall, the flavor was good but it was too dense.

Love this so much, I decided to double it to have some to give away. Unfortunately, I am prone to laziness and tried mixing double batch in my KitchenAid mixer. Burned my motor 🔥

What is the starter supposed to look like after 40 minutes?

Nothing worked for me. The dough was too dry. The timing for cooking was too long.

I've been using the Joy of Cooking's much simpler recipe for years because it's the closest thing to the taste of my mom's stollen. But she always complained that hers didn't rise enough and was too dry. I (horror of horrors for traditionalists) switched to putting it in bread pans and it comes out moister and not quite as heavy. This one looks interesting but I think I will stick to using bread pans.

I have tried this recipe many times. The first time, and right after baking the stollen, I thought this was a terrible recipe. However, the flavors develop as the bread ages during refrigeration, freezing or just at room temperature. I love it. I make it for my entire family as a gift during the holiday season. I have used other dried fruits but the basic recipe based on relative ratios and flour, yeast, etc. is kept as the recipe calls for. I have also made my own candy fruit.

I had a problem with the dough not coming together with the amount of liquid in the recipe. Basically 1/2 cup of milk and a stick of melted butter created a very floury, hard loaf. i had to add a lot more moisture to turn it into a pliable dough. Will see how it turns out!

Fantastic ! I worried over it and was very happy with the results. My husband loved it. Would make a great Christmas gift. So good with coffee. Thank you for this recipe. Does my soul good.

For a more authentic recipes go to: https://www.daringgourmet.com/stollen-german-christmas-bread/ , or, go to:https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/christmas-stollen-recipeThe picture above looks like it's very dry was baked too long. Any candied fruit should be home made. It should never be dry like stale bread.

made my own citrus peel (amazing and perfect)overall this is very very work intensive and it never rose. Super dense loaves and I allowed for >3 hour rise time for each and in a proofing oven. I didn't trust the process. I cut one open after the last sugaring to check it. It was so dense/seemed not cooked. Before throwing it out I decided to bake it again and sliced it like a biscotti and baked it for a bit. WOW. flavor bomb very lovely rich cookies. will try again next year - was that good.

I was skeptical once I was deeply into making it. It goes on for DAYS and the dough weighed a ton. But, it is spectacular and as someone else said here; trust the recipe. It's surprising alchemy and the whole is so much better than the parts.

This recipe makes an exceptionally good stollen! I have spent many a Christmas in Dresden, and this is very close to the traditional stollen I've eaten there. I omitted the spices and ginger, as I wanted a simpler flavour. I also left out the rum, as I have young children, and soaked the fruit in fresh orange juice and vanilla extract. Like other commenters, I had doubts about the texture of the dough. I added an extra egg, and next time I will add an additional yolk. So beautiful. What a joy!

Totally awesome, crowd pleaser. I toasted the almonds (6 min at 350), then threw all of the fruits/raisins and almonds into the rum, tossed it around a bit. Let it sit at room temp while getting everything else going. Made the loaves Christmas Eve day, ate on Christmas Day - And it was fabulous. I will make this every Christmas - Next year I'll do the timing as instructed, but it's hard to imagine it being better than it was today. Merry Christmas to all!