Stollen – German Christmas Bread/Fruit Cake
Stollen, the festive bread, and a fruit cake is originated from a city called Dresden in Germany. You can never miss this delicacy when you are here around the Christmas season. The Yeasty cake is very easy to prepare. There are some variations of this bread with stuffed filling and Marzipan inside or adding rum and leaving the dough to ferment overnight. I have  tried my variations and additions in a simple recipe without any filling. This is so flavorful and has a rich taste and less sugary. We enjoyed homemade StÜllen and this is already my second batch this year.
Ingredients:
- All purpose flour – 3 cups
- Butter -100gms + 2 Tbsp
- Almond coarsely ground – 1/2 cup
- Haselnut coarsely ground – 1/2 cup
- dried Grapes- 1/2 cup
- Candied lemon – 1/2 cup
- Candied Orange – 1/2 cup
- Yeast- 2 tsp
- Lukewarm Milk- 100ml
- Luke warm water – 50ml
- Sugar- 1/4 cup
- Powdered sugar- 50gms
- Salt- 1/4 tsp
Method:
1.Mix yeast in warm water and a spoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave it closed for 15 minutes.
2. Once the yeast has risen up, add this to the flour,salt, milk,sugar,butter and mix it thoroughly. Let this mixture rest for about 1 hour. It will raise in size.
3. Now add the ground nuts, grapes, candied orange, and lemon and mix it evenly.
4. Knead the dough for few minutes and shape it like a bread loaf. Let it sit for about 1 and a half hours covered.
5. Preheat the oven at 170C and bake it for 20 minutes at 160C.
6. Once the bread is cooled, brush it with butter and sift powdered sugar on top.
7. Cut it into slices and enjoy the Christmas delicacy.