This week I have a special recipe test for all of you! It is sort of a guest test, but in another way it isn’t.
This week, we all get to enjoy a recipe tested out by my mother!
This is Stollen!
AuthorRetroRuth
From Best Loved Foods of Christmas, Pillsbury, 1959
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Add yeast to warm water
Add butter to hot milk and stir until melted. Add sugar, egg, salt, and spices. Stir and let cool to lukewarm.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix milk mixture and yeast. Add dried fruits and nuts. Gradually add flour until a stiff dough forms. (We used all 5 cups of flour)
Switch to a dough hook and mix in your mixer OR turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 5 minutes or until satiny. Turn into a greased bowl and cover.
Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. If it is chilly in your house, turn on your oven to the lowest setting for a bit, then turn off. Slide the dough into slightly warmed oven to rise.
Divide risen dough into three parts and roll each into a 12x7 rectangle. These do NOT need to be perfect. Fold over the long side to within one inch of the other side to shape.
Cover formed loaves and let rise again until doubled in size.
Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown. While warm, brush with butter and sprinkle with confectioners sugar.
Ingredients
Directions
Add yeast to warm water
Add butter to hot milk and stir until melted. Add sugar, egg, salt, and spices. Stir and let cool to lukewarm.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix milk mixture and yeast. Add dried fruits and nuts. Gradually add flour until a stiff dough forms. (We used all 5 cups of flour)
Switch to a dough hook and mix in your mixer OR turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 5 minutes or until satiny. Turn into a greased bowl and cover.
Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. If it is chilly in your house, turn on your oven to the lowest setting for a bit, then turn off. Slide the dough into slightly warmed oven to rise.
Divide risen dough into three parts and roll each into a 12x7 rectangle. These do NOT need to be perfect. Fold over the long side to within one inch of the other side to shape.
Cover formed loaves and let rise again until doubled in size.
Bake in a 350-degree oven for 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown. While warm, brush with butter and sprinkle with confectioners sugar.
Notes
Though this recipe mostly originated from the Best Loved Foods of Christmas, which was put out in Pillsbury, it was tweaked very slightly by my mother.
If you are wondering what stollen is, it’s a yeast-raised coffee cake from Germany that is primarily made during Christmas. It is similar to many other European bread/cakes like panettone and three king’s cake. If you’ve ever had a New Orleans King’s Cake, you have an idea of what stollen is.
My father loves stollen. Loves it. And the stollen he loves most is his childhood stollen that was made by his aunt. And in the long tradition of good bakers, she never told anyone the recipe she used. So when she passed away, her famous stollen was gone as well.
My father tells a story every Christmas, usually while we are eating that year’s experimental stollen, about his aunt and what a generous woman she was. Every holiday she would make and donate dozens of stollen to their church bake sale, and every year people would go crazy over them. But she would always make a special one for my father, so heavy with fruit and nuts that lifting it, according to my father, it was like lifting a ham.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that my mother has been on a quest to reproduce this recipe for many years now. It turns out that the constant search for the perfect recipe IS hereditary (see my lamb cake quest). After her success remaking her mother’s cheese ball, Mom and I have been working together to find a stollen recipe that would fit the bill for Dad. Since it turned out that my grandmother’s cheese ball was actually a Kraft recipe, we decided to make our way through some of the well-known books of the time and look for stollen recipes. After all, many, many times beloved family recipes turn out to be brand recipes.
Mom finally hit right this year in a recipe from Pillsbury. We were thrilled with how simple it was and how well it came together. There weren’t even that many tweaks. Mom used dried fruits instead of candied fruits and added a small amount of nutmeg.
I wish I could show you a picture of Dad trying it, but we were so excited at our success that we forgot to snap pictures! The only reason I was able to take a picture of a full loaf is because the recipe made three whole loaves. And a day after Mom made these, this one was the only one left.
But here is Tom, wolfing down a slice for science.
“I think this is the best thing your mother has ever made.”
The Verdict: Perfect
From The Tasting Notes –
This is exactly the recipe my parents were looking for! According to Dad, this is exactly the one his aunt made. It has a great flavor, a lovely texture and is simple to make. We definitely prefer using a mix of dried fruits over candied fruit, and the nutmeg is a must. Dad is very, very happy with this one!
Not waiting till Christmas. Already bookmarked it and dragged it to the top of the page. Like the dried fruit idea. Sounds like moms.
The butter percentage in my blood is finally dropping. Time to bake!
So, I’m glad for your Tom, that he finally had a perfect treat to eat. (I just read your 2015 recap … oh my gosh, I’m sorry Tom!)
But, my German Grandmother made this every year for us at Christmas. I love stolen. Love it, love it!
Only 344 baking days left till Christmas so—
Is there a microwave way to scald the milk? I hate scrubbing that pan. How hot how long?
Will a dough machine work OK or should it be by hand? Granny J had a farm girl bread maker. A wooden bowl and strong arms. She never had to go to the gym.
Please re post this just after Thanksgiving. It’s a brain cell thing.
I was introduced to stollen only a few years ago—a friend brings them back from a bakery near D.C. Theirs has a ribbon of marzipan running through it. SO good.
I am so psyched about this. I had store bought stollen on the recommendation of a German on some comments on an unlikely site. I ended up buying several loaves of it and eating the majority by myself. It was also filled with marzipan.
I think I am going to make this and that’s saying a lot, since I don’t like to bake.
I’ve never tried it, but this recipe looks good! And I’m part German, no less, but nobody in the family made it that I can remember. I wish I could find a good fruitcake recipe. I have a brother and sister who are adopted (cousins by blood) and the woman who was their father’s mother made one to die for. I never got her recipe and my sister doesn’t seem to have it. Fruity dark and very good. Even my husband would eat it and he doesn’t like fruitcake! I waited for it to come in the mail every Christmas she was alive.
My old-country German mother always bought stollen, because she hated cooking. I learned how to make it myself about twenty years ago, and try to make at least one batch per year. Anyone who is hesitating to try this because it might appear complicated, don’t be afraid of it! It really is easy. Even if your loaf is a little mangled-looking, a powdered sugar dusting will cover your sins. I found that the key flavor (for us, at any rate) is the orange and lemon zest. You could add those two things to nearly any sweet bread recipe and get a little stollen zing.
Tomorrow the five year old comes over. Last Thanksgiving she made her first turkey. In the morning we try Stollen! Grandpas got to make a supply run. This still sounds good.
Easter Stollen? Why not.
Totally why not – because Stollen and Hot Cross Buns are very similar!
Might try a cream cheese filling. But don’t want first try to be too far off spec.
About scalding milk. is that boiled or almost burnt?
Will be looking for a good ” Kolache”. Granny J was a old farm girl and made Blue berry and a cheese one with “Hoop Cheese”. Good luck finding the cheese.
Still have not tried the Disney Land Tuna Burger that first led me to your site. Thanks.
Its in the “rising stage” . Had her taste all the fruit to see what she likes.Needed Extra flour due to the fact that 10% missed the mixer bowl.Big mess. Tried to explain yeast. She got it when I said “microbe gas”. Thought that was funny. Updates to come.
Turned out very good! Forgot the zest.Needs it. It’s a brain cell thing.
Will make it again.
Hi – Scalded is milk heated to just below the boiling point, then you let it cool to the right temp you need.
I forgot to tell you – I found Hoop Cheese at a local specialty store! I was very excited to use it in recipes, but Tom ate it all down before I could experiment with it. But it was very good, very nutty in flavor.
Hope it turns out! Sounds like you are having a blast. 🙂
Hooray!!! Yes – don’t forget the zest next time – it’s a great addition. So happy that it worked out for you. 🙂
I split the lump in 3 parts. The second one we put the zest in the fold. The first was good, the second off the charts. Third lump is in the freezer.
Re post this next fall!!
Baked the last chunk. Held up well in the freezer. Just let it get warm and need it again a little.
Good make ahead food. Most bread dough freezes well. The trick is to work it after it thaws.