Frequently Asked Questions About Our Genuine Dresden Stollen (2024)

FAQs

Should stollen be refrigerated? ›

No, generally you do not need to refrigerate or freeze your stollen. If you will not be eating the bread for a few months, you may want to store it in the freezer. Otherwise, storing your stollen at room temperature in a bread box or drawer will allow it to last for months.

As a Christmas bread, stollen was baked for the first time at the Council of Trent in 1545, 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.

Keep in a cold dry place, in a tin/container where it's covered but can breathe. Or fully bake the stollen and freeze, well wrapped in foil, for up to 1 month. The spice mix will keep in a sealed container for 3 months.

Minimum shelf life from purchase:

Dresdner Christstollen ® – Raisin Stollen: at least 16 weeks. Almond stollen: at least 6 weeks.

Serve sliced with good coffee, spreading on butter if it seems too dry. It can't be toasted, but a very light microwaving, so it is just warmed, can be very rewarding because the spices are energised to share their fragrances.

Make sure to cover your bread in plastic food wrap to ensure it stays moist. On the other hand, if you want to keep your Stollen for longer than that, for example a year then it is safe to freeze. Our Stollen is made with only fresh ingredients and does not contain any preservatives.

Expensive ingredients like almonds, nuts, raisins, orange peel, essence of rose and rum were imported. Because the coronation occurred during the Christmas season, the bakers shaped the loaves to resemble a baby in swaddling clothes in respect for the Christ Child. Ask any baker: Stollen is a labor of love.

Stollen, or Christstollen, is a baked Christmas loaf made from a heavy yeast dough mixed with a lot of butter, dried fruit and almonds.

Like you'd expect, you eat a Stollen in slices, often with your coffee or Christmas punch. Some people put butter and jam on it. As with just about every baked product in this part of the world, you find different varieties in Vienna.

Why is my stollen dry? ›

Stollen can often be dry and tasteless. The key in my recipe is to soak the fruit at least 24 hours before you want to make it. I would advocate even longer; 5-7 days if you can because the longer the better.

Stollen will last up to a year if you keep it frozen, but we recommend eating it within 6 months for best flavor.

Storing the Stollen

The best way to store stollen is in a cool dark place like a bread box or pantry. Kept this way, our stollen will stay fresh throughout the holiday season.

Panettone typically contains candied orange peel and raisins; traditional stollen had candied lemon peel and dried cherries as well. The extra fruit and sometimes even a layer of marzipan, plus added milk and flour, contribute to the compact shape of classic stollen versus the loftier panettone.

Like you'd expect, you eat a Stollen in slices, often with your coffee or Christmas punch. Some people put butter and jam on it. As with just about every baked product in this part of the world, you find different varieties in Vienna.

Stollen will last up to a year if you keep it frozen, but we recommend eating it within 6 months for best flavor. At room temperature (under cool and dry conditions) stollen will last for weeks, but refrigeration will extend it's life substantially.

Stollen is traditionally eaten at room temperature, with slices served either right away or very soon after being cut, but it's not rare to have it slightly warmed as well. In recent years it has become more and more common to have the slices toasted or microwaved before serving the bread.

Expensive ingredients like almonds, nuts, raisins, orange peel, essence of rose and rum were imported. Because the coronation occurred during the Christmas season, the bakers shaped the loaves to resemble a baby in swaddling clothes in respect for the Christ Child. Ask any baker: Stollen is a labor of love.