German Christmas Stollen with Raisins
6 servings
100 minutes
While Christmas stollen cakes are baked according to various recipes throughout Germany and other German-speaking countries, "Dresden Stollen" is a protected geographical indication, meaning that it can only be prepared and sold in the vicinity of Dresden and only by members of the bakers' guild Schutzverband Dresdner Stollen. The special features of this type of cake are a heavy, very rich dough (according to the classic technology, 3 kg of butter are added to each kilogram of flour), which is thickly stuffed with candied fruit, nuts and raisins. Correct stollen are baked 30-40 days before Christmas, thickly greased with honey and butter, wrapped in parchment and sent to "ripen" on a buffet shelf or in the cellar. The thick layer of powdered sugar with which the stollen is covered at the very end has its own sacred meaning - the cupcake symbolizes the baby Jesus, wrapped in snow-white swaddling clothes.
1
Soak raisins and candied fruits in rum in the evening.
- Seedless raisins: 500 g
- Candied fruit: 200 g
- Rum: 125 ml
2
Prepare sweet dough: dissolve fresh yeast in warm milk, add part of the sugar, and gradually mix in half of the sifted flour. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes. When the mixture has risen, mix in the egg, yolks, remaining flour, sugar, add salt, vanillin (or vanilla sugar) to taste, raisins, candied fruits, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Stir and add softened butter. Knead the dough, cover the bowl with a towel, and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour. When the dough has doubled in size, knead it again and let it rise once more. After the dough has doubled in size again, roll it out on a floured board into a round flatbread 2 cm thick.
- Fresh yeast: 50 g
- Milk: 400 ml
- Sugar: 130 g
- Egg yolk: 2 pieces
- Chicken egg: 1 piece
- Wheat flour: 1 kg
- Vanilla sugar: to taste
- Salt: to taste
- Cinnamon: 1 tablespoon
- Lemon zest: 1 tablespoon
- Butter: 200 g
3
Shape a rectangle from the dough by hand, fold the edges along the long side towards the center, shifting one edge further from the middle. Slightly round the edges by hand. Place the stollen on a greased baking sheet, cover with a napkin, and let it rise for about an hour. Bake for 15 minutes at 220 degrees and about 30-35 minutes at 170 degrees. If the surface of the stollen burns, cover it with foil.
- Butter: 200 g
4
Generously brush the hot stollen with melted butter, then generously sprinkle with powdered sugar to make it white.
- Butter: 200 g
- Powdered sugar: 200 g