Stollen Christmas Bread
This is an authentic recipe for stollen, a slightly sweet Christmas bread with nuts, raisins, and candied citrus peels. It’s delicious and easy to make for the Christmas holiday!
One of my family’s favorite holiday traditions is making Stollen. It’s a sweet dessert bread, similar to Italian panettone, just a bit denser.
The delicious loaves typically appear in supermarkets and specialty stores just before the Christmas season. If you have never tasted it, you are in for a treat!
What makes this stollen recipe special
Best of all, with this recipe, you can make traditional Christmas bread quickly and effortlessly.
The ingredients
Aside from the common bread-baking ingredients of all-purpose flour, active dry yeast, sugar, sea salt, milk, eggs, and butter, you will need a few ingredients that are unique for a Stollen recipe.
- Unsulfured raisins: I prefer to use organic raisins, but regular work just as well. For a more authentic Stollen, you will want to soak your raisins in rum overnight. During baking, the alcohol will evaporate but the fruit will retain the flavor and aroma of rum.
- Candied lemon peel: You can buy candied citrus peel, or use my recipe to make the lemon peel candy yourself.
- Nutmeg and cinnamon: For the best flavor, buy whole nutmeg and grate it on a box grater.
- Chopped almonds: add a bite and crunch to the Christmas bread. You can blanch, peel, and chop your own or buy them already chopped.
- Marzipan: is a sweet almond candy, primarily made of almond meal and sugar. It’s very popular in Europe, but can sometimes be difficult to find in stores in the U.S. So, feel free to omit it if you need or want to.
How to make a traditional stollen
- Combine the basic bread dough ingredients, cover the bowl, and let it rise. *Don’t mix in the nuts, lemon peel, or rum raisins yet.
- When the dough has visibly risen, fold in the nuts, raisins, and candied lemon peel. *You can use your mixer if you prefer.
- Shape the stollen. Using your hands or a rolling pin, roll the dough into a square shape. Make an indentation in the center – if you’re using marzipan, it will go into the indentation.
- Fold the dough 2/3rds over and hide any raisins that are visible on the surface to prevent them from burning in the oven. Then, let the bread dough rise again.
- Bake the stollen for about 50 minutes, then remove from the oven and brush melted butter over it.
- Dust the warm dessert with powdered sugar. I like to place the powdered sugar in a small sieve.
Serving and storing stollen
You may want to eat the Christmas bread right away while it is still warm, as I often do. It looks and smells so good, it’s hard to resist. However, for the best flavor, wrap the dessert tightly in foil and keep it in a cool place for about 3 weeks. The flavors will develop more, making the dessert even more delicious.
Alternatively, you can double this recipe, eat one stollen right away, and keep the other one for later. Ideally, you’ll want to bake this some weeks before the holiday season so that you can impress both your family and friends with this authentic German Christmas dessert.
Be sure to check out this gluten-free stollen if you’re trying to avoid gluten.
Other German Christmas desserts you might enjoy
- Authentic German Cinnamon Star Cookies
- Lebkuchen – This gingerbread cake has an irresistible flavor and texture!
- Easy Fried Donuts – In Germany, these tiny donuts are known as Pfannkuchen
- German Eggnog Cake
Classic Stollen | Christmas Bread
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg freshly grated if possible
- 2 whole eggs
- ½ cup warm milk about 112℉
- ¾ cup soft butter
- 4 oz candied lemon peel
- 4 oz chopped almonds
- 1 cup raisins best if soaked in ½ cup rum overnight
- ⅓ cup butter melted, for brushing on the bread after baking
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar for dusting the bread after baking
- 4 oz marzipan optional
Instructions
- To a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, sugars, yeast, salt, spices, warm milk, eggs, and butter. Stir with a mixing spoon or mix on medium-low speed until well combined.
- Loosely cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and set in a warm place until dough has visibly risen.
- Add in the raisins, candied lemon peel, and chopped almonds and mix until well combined. *This can be done in the bowl or on the kitchen counter with your hands.
- With your hands or a rolling pin, roll the dough into a big square. In the middle of the square, using your hands or the rolling pin, create an indentation the length of the dough. Roll the marzipan out the same length as the dough and place into indentation (if using).
- Fold the dough about 2/3rds of the way over itself.
- Pick off any raisins that are visible on the surface and stick them deeper into the loaf (they'll blacken during baking if they're sitting on the surface).
- Transfer the stollen onto a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with a kitchen towel. Let it sit in a warm place for 30-60 minutes, or until visibly risen.
- Bake the bread at 320℉ for about 50 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and immediately brush generously with melted butter and dust with powdered sugar.
- The Christmas bread can be enjoyed immediately but for the best flavor, I recommend tightly wrapping it in foil and keeping it in a cool place for about 3 weeks.
Notes
- Marzipan is an almond-flavored confection that is very popular in European baked goods. It can be difficult to find in the U.S., so feel free to omit it if you need or want to.
- Nutritional information includes the use of marzipan but does not include rum for soaking the raisins.
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I soak my nuts and fruit in Stroh 80 proof Austrian rum, for a very long time, generally in a mason jar for a year. This way the nuts soak up the rum and are very flavorful. I fill a quart jar half full with lemon and orange peel then fill the rest of the way with whole skin almonds. I then put a cup of rum in the jar, seal the lid and shake. I turn the jar over and shake it throughout the year. I store it in the basement where it’s cool and dark. When I go down to do the laundry, I generally give the jar a shake and turn. A quart will last me for two years of making multiple Stollen as gifts. Once the jar is empty I wash it out and start the process over again.
That sounds great and a bit like Rumtopf. Thank you for sharing ~ Anja
how long should the first proof be done…I am making this for my mother’s 96th birthday and I want my first attempt at this recipe to be a success…thank you!
That depends on your dough and temperature but I would say at least 1 hour ~ Anja
Christmas Greetings
We enjoy Stolen each Christmas which is always purchased. We’re European and have had original in Europe many times. This recipe is reminiscent of that taste.
However, definitely the size was very large and will make two next time. I didn’t get the rise expected so the end result was dense. Even though it was over baked , it was underbaked in the centre. So, lessons learned. I’ll try again. It’s mellowing now so looking forward to the result. Thanks Anja
If it’s overbaked on the outside but underbaked in the center, I recommend lowering the oven temperature and baking it longer. Sometimes you need some trial and error ~ Anja
Thanks. Yes good advise about oven temperature.
Regardless, this was enjoyed By all at Christmas. The mellowing added depth even though it was denser than I would like. I had made two so I still have one in my cold room mellowing. I plan to check it out this weekend.
Cheers I’m enjoying your site
I am glad to hear people liked your Stollen. Just note that it is dense ~ Anja
Hi Anja,
Greetings from New Zealand. My husband and I are both South African, and he is of German heritage so naturally there must be stollen each Christmas. This is the first time I’ve had the guts to try make it. I even made the candied lemon peel from your recipe 🙂 I baked it today, but will wait the 2 weeks until Christmas to enjoy it.
It was very big (too big for the 2 of us) so next time I’ll probably split the dough into 2 loaves.
I am so glad you gave my Stollen recipe! And yes, splitting it in half is absolutely fine! We just had family from NZ stay with us ~ Anja
I love Stollen!! My mom always got a loaf from an older German couple who made and sold it every year before Christmas, but that was many years ago and they are long gone, so I’m glad to see this recipe!
BUT…. I have to ask…. 3 WEEKS???? It won’t go moldy????
Yes, 3 weeks and longer! With the sugar and keeping it in a cool spot, it will not go moldy ~ Anja
Thanks to your easy recipe and advice Anja, my first ever attempt at your stollen was a resounding success! . I did as you suggested in order to make sourdough stollen – omitting milk, yeast and part of flour but, looking at the sad dry crumbly dough I decided to cheer it up by adding the milk after all. I warmed the milk to help things along, and dough felt and looked much happier once milk was incorporated. But, then I noticed my cup of starter lurking in the background, I’d forgotten to add it. It was so funny, in any case I threw that in the dough which ended up being a wee bit slack but after kneading felt just fine so just went with it. I threw a couple of tablespoons of homemade rum vanilla extract into my luxury brandy soaked fruit mix bought from last xmas, this was wee bit dry and sad looking but waste not want not. I also used 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom in addition to your spice mix. The finished product was so buttery, not dry nor soggy despite all of the extra moisture and v moreish even for me who likes stollen but who isn’t a mad fan like my husband. Th other thing to mention that might be useful for others – proving times especially the second proving which took several hours until I was happy with how it looked. I live in v old cold stone cottage in Scotland so no doubt the temperature was wee bit low but also perhaps the sourdough influenced as to how long it took. Thank you so much. I will be making more to tuck away for xmas for ourselves and for gifting. 🙂
That sounds great! I am so glad to hear it worked out and you are enjoying your Stollen ~ Anja
I can’t find your recipe for the marzipan/almond paste! Where can I find it?
I don’t have one yet but they’re pretty easy to find online ~ Anja
Greetings from Scotland Anja, thank you for all of your lovely recipes. I really love the simplicity of your stollen recipe but I need to make everything with my sourdough chum or I just cannot eat it. Is there a way to adjust your recipe in this case. Thank you
I am glad to hear you like my Stollen recipe. Nobody in Germany uses sourdough but I had been thinking of posting a SD Stollen recipe. I would use 1 cup of SD starter and omit the yeast, milk and ½ cup of flour. Happy baking ~ Anja
Thank you so much for your advice, I will try this tomorrow as I have all of the ingredients and will let you know how it turns out. 🙂
Great!
I have almond paste. Could I use that instead of the marzipan and would I need to add anything to it? We love stollen and I look forward to making it myself!
Almond past will work!
Your timing is perfect. I usually purchase about 2 dozen Stollen’s around Christmas. I put them in gift bags and give them to friends and co-workers. I like to keep my gift giving original and special.
This year, I will bake my own with your recipe. Even more original and special.
Thank you for a great and special gift idea.
Oh, nothing better than to give homemade Stollen to lucky recipients! Happy baking ~ Anja
Thanks for this recipe Anya! I will definitely be making this. I have made and gifted both stollen and panettone in the past, but it has been quite a while since I did make stollen.
Our Christmas dinner is always German food and a big family feast.
This looks so delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
I was so impressed with this recipe. It was so addicting- couldn’t stop eating it. Will be making this Christmas morning.
Yay! It makes me so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe!!
I’m so glad you shared this! I used to love buying Christmas stollen for special a treat when we lived in Germany! Delicious! I look forward to trying to make it myself now.
Nice! If you liked store-bought Stollen in Germany, you will love this one so much better ~ Anja
ooh this looks incredible!
Thank you so much, Megan!
Looks awesome Anja, it’s been a very long time since I had a Christmas stollen. Looks delish!
Thank you so much, Jersey! Sounds like it’s time to make it 😜