Stollen - WikiHQ

Stollen ( or ) or stol () is a fruit bread of nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, often coated with powdered sugar or icing sugar and often containing marzipan or almond paste. It is a traditional holiday sweet bread in Northwestern Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands. The bread is also popular in Suriname.

In Germany during the Christmas season the cake-like loaves are called Weihnachtsstollen () or Christstollen (). A ring-shaped Stollen made in a Bundt cake or Gugelhupf pan is called a Stollenkranz (). In the Netherlands the bread is called kerststol () when eaten around Christmas, and paasstol () when eaten around Easter.

In Germany, stollen are produced year-round, but are traditionally eaten during Advent or Christmas. In the Netherlands, a full-size stollen is typically only available in the Christmas and Easter seasons, but miniature stollen are sold year-round as a pastry snack.

Ingredients

thumb|Dutch kerststol with [[almond paste in the middle]]

Stollen is a cake-like fruit bread made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Orangeat (candied orange peel) and candied citrus peel (Zitronat), raisins and almonds, and various spices such as cardamom and cinnamon are added. Other ingredients, such as milk, sugar, butter, salt, rum, eggs, vanilla, other dried fruits and nuts and marzipan, may also be added to the dough. Except for the fruit added, the dough is quite low in sugar. The finished bread is sprinkled with icing sugar. The traditional weight of a stollen is around , but smaller sizes are common. The bread is slathered with melted unsalted butter and rolled in sugar as soon as it comes out of the oven, resulting in a moister product that keeps better. The marzipan rope in the middle is optional. The dried fruits are macerated in rum or brandy for a superior-tasting bread.

Dresden stollen (originally Striezel), a moist, heavy bread filled with fruit, was first mentioned in an official document in 1474, and Dresdner stollen remains notable and available – amongst other places – at the Dresden Christmas market, the Striezelmarkt. Dresden stollen is produced in the city of Dresden and distinguished by a special seal depicting King Augustus II the Strong. This "official" stollen is produced in only 110 Dresden bakeries.

A Dutch stollen is a white bread with raisins or currants and, unlike in Germany, it always contains almond paste. Many also contain nuts, and have almond shavings and/or powdered sugar on top. In supermarkets nowadays, the difference between a Christmas stollen and an Easter stollen is negligible, but traditionally only a Christmas stollen is topped with powdered sugar, while an Easter stollen contains candied orange peel and more commonly has various other ingredients, such as candied citron peel and both raisins and currants. The yeast-based bread often contains dried fruits, raisins and currants, lemon and orange zest, water, milk, butter, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. A more luxurious variety may include chopped walnuts, almonds, or hazelnuts. Ginger powder or grated crystallized ginger, dried cherries and cranberries, apple, kiwi or cardamom may also be added to this pastry dough.

History

thumb|200px|Stollen with candied fruits and without marzipan

Early stollen was different from the modern version, with the ingredients being flour, oats and water. As a Christmas bread, stollen was baked for the first time at the Saxon Royal Court in 1427, and was made with flour, yeast, oil and water.

The Advent season was a time of fasting, and bakers were not allowed to use butter, only oil, and the cake was tasteless and hard. denied the first appeal. Five popes died before finally, in 1490, Pope Innocent VIII (1432–1492)

Commercially made stollen has become a popular Christmas food in Britain in recent decades, complementing traditional dishes such as mince pies and Christmas pudding. All the major supermarkets sell their own versions, many made in Germany, and it is often baked by home bakers.

Dresden stollen festival

thumb|200px|Augustus II the Strong, by [[Louis de Silvestre]]

Every year the Stollenfest takes place in Dresden. This historic tradition ended only in 1918 with the fall of the monarchy,

In 1560, the bakers of Dresden offered the rulers of Saxony Christmas stollen weighing each as gifts, and the custom continued.

thumb|right|The Grand Dresden Stollen Knife

Today, the festival takes place on the Saturday before the second Sunday in Advent, and the cake weighs between three and four tonnes. A carriage takes the cake in a parade through the streets of Dresden to the Christmas market, where it is ceremoniously cut into pieces and distributed among the crowd, in return for a small payment which goes to charity. A special knife, the Grand Dresden Stollen Knife, a silver-plated knife, long weighing , which is a copy of the lost baroque original knife from 1730, is used to cut the oversize stollen at the Dresden Christmas fair.

Surinamese stol

Suriname was a colony of the Netherlands from 1667 until 1954. Surinamese stol is lighter and sweeter than traditional Dutch and German stol. The dish is very popular in Suriname and is eaten in large quantities around Christmas and Easter.

Gallery

Rosinen-Christstollen angeschnitten.jpg|Christmas stollen with raisins

StollenSide.jpg|A stollen, close up detail

Kerststol met amandelspijs.jpg|Dutch kerststol slices with almond paste filling

Mohnstollen.JPG|Stollen made with poppy seed paste

Stollen-w.jpg|Sliced stollen on a plate

Loaves of stollen.jpg|Loaves of stollen

Stollen de Magmot.jpg|Stollen

Mini Marzipan Stollen (Detail).jpg|Mini Marzipan Stollen

Cut stollen on wooden board.jpg|Cut stollen on wooden board

Stollen with candied fruits and nuts.jpg|Plaited stollen (Strietzel) with candied fruits and nuts (before baking)

Stollen-how-to.jpg|Making stollen

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References

External links

Dresden Stollen Festival