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Stollen: A
German Holiday Tradition
Dresden
Striezelmarkt Is Home Of World-Famous Christmas Bread
by Barbara Gibbs
Ostmann
The fragrance of freshly baked
bread has ushered in the Christmas season for centuries. Perhaps nowhere is this
more true than in Germany, where specialty breads, cakes and cookies are
synonymous with the season. According to "The Cooking
of Germany" (1969), one of the popular Time-Life Foods of the World
cookbook series, "The most popular fruit breads are the various stollen
made for Christmas, the time of greatest rejoicing. The most famous was
developed in Dresden; correctly made, it consists of just enough dryish dough to
hold together a treasure of the strongly flavored tidbits of Christmas --
almonds, raisins, currants and gaily colored glaceed fruit." In a German home, it just
wouldn't be Christmas without a festive stollen, rich in eggs and butter and
laden with fruit and nuts. The tradition has carried over to the New World,
where Americans of German heritage continue to bake stollen. The traditional
shape of stollen -- tapered at each end with a ridge down the center --
represents the Christ Child wrapped in swaddling clothes. There are probably as many
recipes for stollen as there are home bakers, but the original is said to have
been created in Dresden around 1400.
That was the beginning of a
world-famous holiday baking tradition.
Beginning in 1560, the bakers of
Dresden annually presented their rulers with large stollen weighing about 36
pounds each. In 1730, August the Strong, electoral prince of Saxony and King of
Poland, decided to illustrate the splendor of his court by holding a four-week
entertainment festival. As part of the lavish farewell dinner, he had the
Dresden bakers' guild produce a giant stollen weighing 1.8 tons -- large enough
to feed his 24,000 guests. This elaborate event was the
predecessor of the modern-day Dresden Stollen Festival, which is held each year
on the first Saturday of December. Using a specially built horse-drawn cart, a
giant stollen made by members of the Dresden bakers' guild is driven from the
courtyard of the historic Zwinger complex past the famous Opera House to the
Altmarkt market square. The stollen weighs more than two tons and measures more
than four yards long. The public buys the stollen by the slice and the proceeds
go to local charities. The commercial production of
Dresden stollen is carefully licensed and regulated, to ensure quality and
authenticity. There is even a "League for the Protection of Dresden Stollen."
Today, 120 bakeries in the Dresden area
are authorized to use the official seal. Among them is the Kreutzkamm
family, which has baked stollen for five generations, passing down the recipe
from generation to generation. The family established the Konditorei Kreutzkamm
in Dresden in 1825, and the coffee shop/bakery is still there alongside market
square, bustling with holiday shoppers taking a break for coffee and stollen or
other baked treats. The grandfather of Elizabeth
Kreutzkamm, who today runs the family business in Dresden, was the last purveyor
to the Court of Saxony. Today, the German chancellor places his stollen orders
with the Kreutzkamm family.
Although today stollen is widely
available commercially throughout Germany, in the old days home cooks prepared
their own stollen from secret family recipes, then took the loaves to the
village's public oven to be baked. The cook collected the baked loaves, wrapped
them and stored them for the holidays. In many families, one stollen was always
saved for Easter. Stollen improves with age and
many bakers recommend allowing at least four weeks for the bread to age. Home
bakers wrap the bread in linen or cheesecloth and put it in a tin in a cool
place. Commercial bakers pack the stollen in boxes or tins and then seal the box
or tin with plastic wrap. The stollen baking season begins in September, with
the first ones arriving in the marketplace in October. Although stollen is a classic,
even the most enthusiastic fans will admit that it has two drawbacks. It tends
to dry out and loose aroma once it is cut, and it tends to crumble when served
with a cake knife or pastry tongs. The solution -- other than to eat the cut
stollen quickly -- is to bake large stollen that tend to hold moisture and
flavor better. For the latter problem, the solution is a specially designed
stollen knife that serves as both a cutting and serving utensil. As for stollen etiquette, here
are some tips: Cut and serve the stollen with a
knife. (In some families, it is traditional to make the sign of the cross three
times with the knife before cutting the stollen.) Eat it with your fingers.
Don't dunk it in your coffee. Serve it at room temperature. Most of all, enjoy! DRESDNER CHRISTSTOLLEN Dresden Christmas Stollen Basic sweet yeast dough:
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast Stollen:
1 1/3 cups golden raisins The day before: Prepare basic sweet yeast dough:
Dissolve yeast and granulated sugar in warm water. Let rise in a warm place
about 10 minutes, or until bubbly. Sift half of the flour into a
large mixing bowl. Sift the other half onto a large piece of waxed paper or into
a bowl; set aside. Make a well in the center of the
flour in the mixing bowl. Heat the milk until just warm to the touch, about 80
degrees. Pour milk into well along with dissolved yeast mixture. Draw in the
flour with a wooden spoon, beating well, to make a thick batter. Dust some of
the reserved flour over the top, cover with a damp towel, and let the sponge
rise in a warm place about 30 minutes, or until bubbling and double in bulk. Grate the lemon peel into a
bowl; add eggs, salt and superfine sugar. Beat lightly. Add cooled melted
butter; beat lightly. When the sponge has risen
sufficiently, beat it briefly to deflate it. Add egg mixture, then gradually
beat in enough of the reserved flour until dough becomes manageable enough to
handle. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and shiny, or use an
electric mixer with a dough hook, adding more flour if necessary to keep dough
from sticking. You will probably need most or all of the reserved flour. By
hand, kneading will take 15 to 20 minutes. Place dough in a clean,
well-buttered bowl; turn dough to coat surface. Cover bowl with a damp towel.
Let rise in a warm place about 1 1/2 hours, or until double in bulk. Punch down
dough with your fist and knead briefly. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, then
in a large, heavy plastic bag. Refrigerate. For best results, refrigerate
overnight if time permits. An hour after putting dough in refrigerator, punch
down dough in the bag -- it will have expanded considerably. Put golden raisins and currants
in a bowl; add rum. Let soak overnight, stirring occasionally. Baking day: Remove dough from refrigerator
and unwrap. Knead the dough again briefly. Cut round of dough into 6 pieces;
place pieces in a large mixing bowl. If the dough has been refrigerated
overnight, cover with a damp towel for 30 minutes to let it come to room
temperature. Drain raisins and currants. Toss
with 2 teaspoons flour to absorb moisture and keep them from sticking together.
Combine raisins, currants, chopped candied peel and coarsely chopped almonds;
toss to mix. Sprinkle some of the fruit-nut
mixture over each piece of dough until mixture is all used. Knead dough together
with fruit, first in the mixing bowl and then on a lightly floured surface. When
well mixed, divide dough into two (for large 14-inch loaves) or four (for small
8-inch loaves) pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a long flat oval, about 1
inch thick, using a rolling pin. Wrap and refrigerate the pieces not being
shaped. With a rolling pin (preferably a
long, narrow one), press a firm indentation down the center of the dough. This
will make the stollen fold more securely. Fold one half of the stollen over the
other, lengthwise. Press the overlapping edge firmly to help seal the seam.
Taper the ends neatly to make slightly rounded points. Use your hands to plump a
small rounded ridge down the center: place the side of each hand lengthwise on
either side of the visual center of the stollen, leaving a space of about 2
inches between your hands. Press them simultaneously into the soft dough,
causing the ridge of dough to protrude slightly. Continue down the length of
stollen. Place it on a buttered and floured baking sheet. If placing more than
one on a sheet, leave 3 inches between them. Brush each loaf with some of the
melted butter. Let rise in a warm place about 45 minutes, or until double in
bulk. Note: Refrigerate any shaped
stollen not being baked with the first batch. Take out to rise about 45 minutes
before the oven will be free. When the stollen has risen, bake
one sheet at a time in the middle of a preheated 350-degree oven. After 15
minutes, drape a large piece of aluminum foil loosely over the stollen, covering
the top, sides and ends, to keep it light in color. Bake 50 to 70 minutes,
depending on size, or until lightly colored and a wooden pick inserted in center
comes out clean. Remove from oven and brush
generously with the remaining melted butter. Let cool 5 minutes on baking sheet.
Dust first with superfine sugar, then with confectioners' sugar while bread is
still warm. Transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. When well wrapped in several
layers of aluminum foil, stollen will keep in a cool place or in the
refrigerator for up to one month, or in freezer for up to three months. To refresh refrigerated stollen,
slice it thin, stack slices on top of one another and wrap them in foil. Place
in a preheated 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until warmed through. Yield: 2 large or 4 small
loaves. Note: The basic sweet yeast
dough can be used for other breads or coffee cakes, such as a Christmas braid or
an Easter wreath. CHRISTSTOLLEN MIT MARZIPAN (Christmas Stollen with
Marzipan)
1 recipe Dresden Christmas Stollen Prepare the loaves as directed
in the master recipe. Before folding them in half lengthwise, roll out the
marzipan on a surface lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar. Roll out
marzipan slightly shorter than the length of the stollen and wide enough to cut
two or four 2-inch strips (depending on whether you are making 2 or 4 loaves).
Cut the strips of marzipan to fit down the center of each loaf. Fold the loaf
over the marzipan as directed in the master recipe, tucking in any marzipan that
protrudes; marzipan should be completely covered by dough. Press the edges down
well to seal loaf. Proceed as directed in master recipe. Recipes adapted from
"Festive Baking" by Sarah Kelly Iaia (Doubleday, 1988) For more information:
http://www.dresden-tourist.de
Images by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann.
Text and photos copyright 2000
Barbara Gibbs Ostmann |
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At that time, the stollen, which
was made without butter or milk, was little more than a tasteless pastry. At the
request of local bakers, Ernest, the electoral prince of Saxony, and his brother
Albrecht applied to the Pope to lift the butter prohibition that was in effect
during Advent. His Holiness relented and declared that for a small fee, Dresden
bakers could use milk and butter in their stollen while still enjoying a good
conscience and God's blessing.
Originally called Struzel or
Striezel, which means yeast pastry roll or loaf, the festive bread lent its name
to the Dresden Christmas Market, which dates to 1434 and is traditionally called
the Striezelmarkt. Another traditional item at the Striezelmarkt is the
Pflaumentoffel, little figures made of prunes and dressed in chimneysweep
costumes. 
After the bombing of Dresden
during the war, the family moved to Munich and established a stollen bakery
there. However, they can't call it a Dresden stollen if it is baked in Munich,
even though it's from the same family recipe. After reunification, Elizabeth
Kreutzkamm returned to Dresden, where she re-established the family business.