Buttery Holiday Stollen

The amazing stollen pictured above was made by Floriole Bakery in Chicago (photo by Rachel Brown Kulp).

The recipe below is one that Jill Brockman-Cummings, Manager of Janie's Mill, has made for family and friends every winter for many years (viz., the hand-written recipe below!) We’ve altered it slightly in the typed version, making it 50% All-Purpose Flour and 50% Whole-Kernel Bread Flour, on the recommendation of pastry chef Sandra Holl, owner of Floriole Bakery. We also slightly reduced the amount of flour and added one more egg, since our whole-kernel flours tend to be thirsty! You can adapt the flours and fillings as you like, or try one of the additional versions of stollen at the bottom of this post . . . any stollen is a good stollen!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups Janie’s Mill All-Purpose Flour
• 2 cups Janie’s Mill Whole-Kernel Bread Flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups raisins or currants
• 1 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1 4-ounce container diced candied citron (or make your own candied citrus peels)
• 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup blanched whole almonds, coarsely chopped

• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 2 Tb Lemon juice
• 1 Tb rum or water

Instructions

1. In a 1-quart saucepan over low heat, heat milk and butter until very warm (120-130 F). (The butter doesn’t have to melt completely.)

2. In a large bowl, combine the 2 cups Whole-Kernel Bread Flour with the sugar, salt, and yeast. With a mixer at low speed, gradually beat until just blended. Increase blender speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the eggs and about 1/2 cup of the All-Purpose Flour to make a thick batter. Continue beating another 2 minutes, scraping the bowl often.

3. With a wooden spoon, stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups of All-Purpose Flour, using a little more or a little less to result in a soft dough.

4. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. You may need to work in a little additional flour if the dough is very sticky.

5. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a greased large bowl, turning the dough once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

6. In a small bowl, mix the raisins, citron, walnuts, and almonds; set aside.

7. Punch the dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in the raisins, citron, and nuts. Divide dough into 2 or 3 pieces (depending on how many loaves you’d like to make).

8. On a lightly floured surface, with a floured rolling pin, roll one piece of the dough into an oval about 12” x 8”. Fold dough almost in half lengthwise, pressing top edge down lightly with your fingertips. Place on a large cookie sheet.

9. Repeat with the remaining piece(s) of dough, placing them on the same cookie sheet, about 3” apart. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

10. Preheat oven to 350F. Bake the stollen 35-40 minutes until lightly browned and loaves sound hollow when tapped. Place on a wire rack to cool.

11. When loaves are still warm, coat with a thick layer of powdered sugar (some recipes say to rub with butter first so that the powdered sugar coating sticks better and can be thicker). Or . . .

12. Let loaves cool, and prepare a glaze by mixing confectioners sugar, lemon juice, and rum or water in a small bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the top of each stollen. Then, if you like, cover with a generous layer of confectioners sugar . . . the finished product should look snow-covered!

Other Stollen Recipes to Try

Here’s a Stollen recipe from Food 52 that starts with a slightly fermented sponge.

This is a terrific Stollen recipe from David Leibowitz (based on a NY Times recipe by Melissa Clark) that uses some rye flour in addition to the wheat flour, and also has about twice the amount of butter as other recipes!

For a somewhat more involved stollen recipe (including how to make your own homemade candied citrus peel, and your own almond paste marzipan filling) from a person who grew up in southern Germany, take a look at this German Christmas Stollen.