Oma’s Stollen

“It’s the butter”

Growing up the job of cooking and creating meals was very much my mom’s, and baking was my dad’s. I know my sisters and I are very lucky and I love my folks, but sometimes (and I hate to admit this) I am just like my dad. So much so that my family is always joking that we can’t be left alone for more than a few minutes before an argument breaks out. We are both very stubborn and constantly butt heads. Baking is one of the few things we both love to do, and can relatively get along long enough to finish baking something together. Though my dad claims to have baked this recipe for 20 years, we have never quite gotten it like my Oma’s. Maybe it’s from the conversion rates of the ingredients or the oven temp and baking times, but I think he just remember’s Oma’s stollen as the perfect Advent Sunday treat. Dad tells the story of how the stollen was rationed out between the 7 of them for afternoon cake and coffee on those Sundays. Gifting some to the neighbors as a holiday tradition, they would say Frau Walenta! Ihr Stollen ist der Beste den wir jemals hatten, was ist ihr Geheimnis? And Oma would answer: es ist die Butter. She meant that her secret was the amount of butter, because as we all know, butter makes everything better!

It’s been a year and like many people, I have lost some family members. My last two grandparents, my mom’s mom and dad’s dad. While this recipe was from my Oma who passed away years ago, it’s still something that the whole family enjoys. Baking it this year made me feel a little more connected to all my grandparents. Among all of the holiday treats, stollen was the one we HAD to make first, in order to send over to Germany to my Opa and to Ohio for my Grandma and Grandpa to make it in time for Christmas. This year we made just as much but shared it between our neighbors and friends. 

Stollen is a traditional German holiday bread, think of a winter fruit cake flavor mixed with the crumbliness of a soda bread. The absolute best part of stollen, aside from being a delicious snack to have with your tea, is the baking experience. Shoving your hands into all the ingredients, feeling the warm butter and the cold squish of eggs between your fingers, kneading gently as not to kill the yeast and just bringing it all together. Of course you can use a wooden spoon, but it gets tough to mix and some things just need to be done by hand.

It is an all-day baking event, so if you haven’t fallen into the bread-making frenzy of the pandemic, then now might be the time to start. Stollen isn’t the easiest bake and my Oma’s recipe is a little confusing with the European measurements, but I hope you give it a try!

Oma’s Stollen

Ingredients :

• 1 kilo (1000grams) flour

• 100grams yeast

• 1 lemon zested

• ½ liter milk (finger warm)

• 100g sugar

• 450 to 500g softened butter

• 2 eggs

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 250 to 300g almonds (finley ground)

• 500g raisins (or substitute dried cranberries)

• 150 to 200g zitronat (candied citrus peel)

• A shot (or 3) of rum 

For sugar crust:

• Powdered sugar (as much as needed) 

• 2 sticks melted butter

Method

1. In a small bowl, crumble in the yeast, half of the warm milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar and sprinkle some flour top. Cover with a towel and let rise in the heat for 15min or until bubbling.

2. In a large bowl, pour in flour and make a hole in the middle. On the sides of the flour circle put the butter and in the center hole add the eggs, lemon zest, sugar, salt, milk and then the yeast mixture. Mix together with hands in a gentle motion, as to not overwork and kill the yeast. 

3. Once the dough is nicely mixed, fold in the raisins, citronat, almonds and rum. Mix together gently into a nice loaf that is a little sticky. If too wet add more flour, if too dry add more milk. 

4. Cover the bowl with a towel and leave it to rise in a warm area for 60 to 90min. The dough should double in size.

5. Put parchment paper on baking sheets and form 2 large loaves or split into 4 loaves from the dough. Bake in the oven at 340F for 50min to an hour (temperature and time depends on the oven)

6. Keep an eye on the loaves, they should be done once the top is golden brown. 

7. Melt the butter and brush it onto warm loaves right out of the oven. Sift on powdered sugar to create a sugar crust. 

8. Let them sit for a few hours and then keep them wrapped in plastic wrap and tin foil to keep for a month or until gone!

EMILY E. WALENTA is a freelance multidisciplinary designer in the greater NYC area, who sometimes is baking classical German goods. 

Her work can be found here www.eewalenta.com