Authentic German Holiday Stollen Recipes

Steps:

• Place flour in a large bowl, make a well in the center, and crumble fresh yeast into it. Sprinkle in sugar and add 1 tablespoon milk. Cover and let rise at a warm place for 15 minutes.
• Heat 1 1/2 cups milk and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat until butter is melted.
• Pour milk-butter mixture over yeast mixture and add 1 cup sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Knead until a soft dough forms. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Mix almonds, raisins, candied lemon peel, and candied orange peel together and fold into the dough. Shape dough into a loaf and place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and let rest until the loaf has risen again slightly, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, 45 to 60 minutes. Remove from oven. Brush hot stollen immediately with 2 tablespoons melted butter and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine yeast and 1/2 cup warm water, and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Stir in milk and 1 1/4 cups melted butter. Add dissolved yeast and eggs. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until fairly smooth.
• In two separate bowls, soak currants in cognac, and raisins in orange juice. Let each stand for 10 minutes.
• In a medium-size bowl, mix together currants and raisins with their soaking liquids, the orange peel, lemon zest, citron, apricots, and almonds. Work mixture into dough. Continue kneading for about 10 minutes. If dough is sticky, knead in more flour, but be careful not to overwork.
• Place dough in a large buttered bowl. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel, and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.
• Punch down the dough, and cut in quarters. Roll each piece into a 12-by-8-inch rectangle. Brush with melted butter, then fold one long side to the center. Fold other long side over first side, overlapping it by 1 inch. Turn dough over, taper the ends, and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat for remaining 3 loaves, using a second parchment-lined baking sheet for the third and fourth loaves. Cover loaves with plastic wrap; let rise again in a warm place, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees, with two racks centered. Bake stollen until golden brown, about 35 minutes, rotating the sheets between the racks halfway through baking. Cool on wire rack; dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve.