German Stollen Wreath for Your Holiday Table
This Stollen wreath is a bread-like fruitcake made with yeast, water, flour, milk and butter. Candied citrus peels, nuts, dried fruits and chocolate add a complement of flavors. This recipe produces a beautiful and festive addition to your holiday dessert table.
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Stollen wreath is a yeasted German fruitcake with a quaint history. You can make countless variations of this sweet bread simply by altering the ingredients you choose to include. My recipe includes citrus zest and juice, raisins, chocolate and almonds. Use your imagination when deciding ingredients to add to your Stollen. Following are a few ideas:
- Dried fruit: cherries, plums, apricots, figs, cranberries, etc...
- Nuts: pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc...
- Many recipes will use marzipan. If this is your preference, roll a long tube of marzipan and place it on the dough before rolling and forming into a wreath.
Be sure to set aside two days to finish this recipe. After kneading the dough it will be placed in the refrigerator overnight for a slow, yeasted rise.
This Stollen wreath is a bread-like fruitcake made with yeast, water and flour, and usually with zest added to the dough. Check out this site for an in-depth review of Stollen and its history.
One of the advantages to making this recipe is it will last at least a week at room temperature. So it is an ideal option to make ahead during the busy holiday season. The butter and sugar coating helps to preserve it. 
Yes, wrap well with plastic wrap or foil and freeze for up to two months.
Stollen Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup Lukewarm water (110° F / 43° C) 2 fluid ounces
- 14 grams Active dry yeast 4 ½ tsp
- 1 Cup Whole Milk 8 fluid ounces
- 140 grams Unsalted butter 10 tablespoon / 5 ounces
- 700 grams All Purpose Flour 5 ½ cups
- 100 grams Granulated Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 3 Large Eggs, lightly beaten Room temperature
- 1 Large Orange, zest and juice
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 170 Grams Raisins 1 cup
- 100 Grams Almonds, sliced 1 cup
- 170 Grams Chocolate, coarsely chopped 1 cup
- 140 Grams Unsalted butter, for coating the wreath
- 120 Grams Confectioners' sugar, for dusting wreath 1 cup
Instructions
Day #1
- Soak the raisins and orange zest in the orange juice and vanilla extract. Set aside.
- Place ¼ cup of warm water ((110° F / 43° C) in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and set aside.
- In a saucepan combine milk and butter. Heat over medium-heat until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
- Place flour, salt, granulated sugar and ground cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir until combined (1 minutes).
- Add the yeast/water mixture, eggs and milk/butter mixture to the mixer bowl. Turn mixer on low speed and mix for 2 minutes (note: it should be a soft ball of dough - not sticky).
- Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Add the bowl of orange zest, raisins, orange juice and vanilla to the mixing bowl
- Add the chocolate to the mixing bowl.
- Affix the dough hook to the stand mixer and place the bowl back on the mixer. Knead the dough on low speed for 6 minutes. The dough will be soft and satiny when ready. If the dough is still sticky add a few tablespoons of flour and mix another 2 minutes.
- Oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Turn the dough to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to rest overnight.
Day #2
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for 2 - 3 hours (dough will soften as it rests at room temp).
- Punch down the dough and place on countertop dusted with flour.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough the dough into a 16" by 24" rectangle (approximately ¼" thick).
- Begin rolling the dough into a cylinder. Start with the long side and roll tightly into a cylinder.
- Transfer the dough to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Join the ends together to form a circle. Seal the ends by pressing with your fingers.
- Using kitchen shears, cut around the outside of the circle in 2 inch intervals. Make deep cuts approximately ⅔ of the way through the dough.
- Lightly grease a sheet of plastic wrap with vegetable oil and place over the dough wreath.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F approximately 1 hour before baking.
- Let the wreath sit at room temperature for approximately 2 hours to proof. The dough should have risen about 50%.
- Remove the plastic wrap and bake Stollen for 20 minutes, rotate the sheet pan and bake an additional 20 - 30 minutes. Internal temperature should be 190° F in the center of the loaf. Additionally the loaf should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
- Remove from oven and set on a cooling rack.
- Melt butter and brush on top of the Stollen while it is still hot. Sprinkle generously with confectioners' sugar. Wait a few minutes then sprinkle more confectioners' sugar on the Stollen.
- Let the Stollen cool for another hour and repeat brushing with melted butter and sprinkling with confectioners' sugar.
- Transfer the Stollen wreath to a serving platter and decorate as desired.
Charles says
Delicious ? and easier to make than it looks.
Debbie says
This Stollen wreath is beautiful and I love a bread-like fruitcake or any yummy dessert-like bread. Excited to try this recipe!
Ntensibe Edgar says
Nnniiicceeeee...stollen bread reminds me of the giant donuts. I love what I have seen of it, even if it's my first time ever seeing it.
Andy T says
Wowzie! This is going to look great for our Christmas dessert. I tried it with almonds, dried cherries and lemon zest. It was awesome.
Leanne T says
This was much easier to make than I would have thought. Will be making it again a few days before Christmas. We loved this recipe.