Stollen is considered one of the recognizable business cards of traditional German cuisine. Long, flavored with fruits and candied fruits, the delicacy really resembles a pillar or a tunnel in shape (the original meaning of the word Stollen). They baked such a cupcake for Christmas. Dusted with powdered sugar, it is intended to remind of the swaddled Jesus Christ. Another indisputable advantage of the gingerbread is the ability to store it frozen for up to three months.
From time immemorial: the fight for butter
The famous cake came from Saxony under the name Striezel, it is mentioned in a source from 1329. It was then an exceptionally lean Christmas dish, and it was prepared from oats, flour, water and rapeseed oil - only plant-based products were allowed. Of course, the taste did not benefit from this.
The first to revolt were the aristocrats who were not accustomed to simple food. In 1430, the Elector of Saxony and his brother dared to ask Pope Nicholas V for permission to replace rapeseed oil with butter. However, another Pope, Innocent, heeded the pleas. In 1491, the "oil decree" was signed - for a certain contribution to the church treasury, Catholics were allowed to consume dairy products: butter and milk.
And much later, the court baker Heinrich Drazdo came up with the idea of adding candied fruits, raisins and fruits. Since then, the stollen has only tasted better. And he has a lot of varieties.
A boring classic
The classic recipe is also called "butter stollen" - a lot of oil must be added to heavy yeast dough. The zest of the recipe is the obligatory impregnation of dried fruits and candied fruits with rum or cognac.
For oil shtollen you will need:
- Flour - 600 g. If desired, you can mix wheat and almond in a 5: 1 ratio.
- Butter - 350 g, of which 50 - for lubrication
- Warm milk - 250 ml.
- Sugar - 85 g.
- Fresh yeast - 50 g.
- Filling - 400 g.
- Ground spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, anise, cloves) - 1 tsp.
- A pinch of salt
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Mix the filling 12 (more) hours before baking:
- raisins - 200 g,
- any dried fruits or dried berries (especially lingonberries) - 100 g,
- chopped nuts - 100 g,
- candied peel of citrus fruits - 100 g,
- dates - 100 g
- juice of 1 orange - 100 ml,
- aromatic alcohol - cognac, rum, brandy or gin - 100 ml.
Everything is finely chopped, mixed and poured with a mixture of orange juice and alcohol. Leave to infuse in a closed, preferably glass container.
For the dough, mix the yeast with sugar, add half of the prepared milk and stir until it dissolves. We remove the dough in a warm place until it begins to grow and foam.
Pour the rest of the milk into the mixture of flour, the remaining sugar, salt, spices, then the dough and knead for about 10 minutes. Soften the butter and add to the dough. We continue to knead until complete unification. After this, the test should be given 1-1.5 hours to rise. The finished mass will have a loose consistency. Almond flour is added to it, and only then - the filling along with the liquid. As a result, you should get a slightly sticky, but very delicate mass. We form long rolls from the dough and bake for an hour in an oven preheated to 190 ° C.
Big celebrity - dresden stollen
The most famous variety of stollen is produced annually in the city of Dresden in huge quantities. The Dresden Stollen is a registered geographical mark, and only a cake made in Dresden itself and its environs can officially be called so.
Not all bakers have the right to bake it: there is strict control over the skill and the observance of proportions during baking. But the taste is not patented: each master strives to improve his work.
Here are the main features of the Dresden Stollen:
- Stick to the proportions: 10 parts flour, 4-5 parts butter and 7-8 parts filling.
- Yeast dough on dough, prepared in the same way as for the classic stollen. It is better to take pressed yeast.
- It will be useful to knead the grated zest directly into the dough. This will give a magical scent and attractive color.
- Use both sugar and honey - usually they take the same amount of sugar as honey. It is better to be guided by your taste - honey can be of varying degrees of sweetness.
- Eggs are not worth adding - this is still a traditional lean dish.
- Knead well, especially after adding the filling.
- The filling - the same as for the classics - is soaked in aromatic alcohol, but after infusion, the liquid must be drained - it is not needed for baking. There is room for experimentation, but within the framework of the basic recipe. You can change the types of nuts or dry berries.
- The last feature is the appearance. The dough sausage slams and folds unevenly so that there is an impressive crest on one side. This is how it is baked - at a standard temperature.
- Bake 3 weeks before sample. Then the taste will be perfect.
Dresden is famous for its huge gingerbreads, which are presented annually at the festival and break records for size, weight and taste. A special knife was even created for them.
Simple and delicious yeast-free curd
The everyday version of the stollen is yeast-free curd. Everything is clear from the name: no dough, no yeast. The recipe is very quick and practical - a tribute to the modern lifestyle and less nutritious too.
We need:
- 500-600 g flour
- 250 g butter
- 250 g caster sugar
- 250 g fat cottage cheese.
- 2 eggs
For filling:
- Candied fruits - 100 g
- dried cranberries - 100 g,
- raisins - 100 g
- dates -100 g,
- nuts - 100 g
In total, you need the same amount of filling as flour. As a result, you get about 1 kg of the finished product.
Beat butter with sugar almost into a cream, then add eggs, cottage cheese, spices, zest and finally - sifted flour. The dough is kneaded and the filling is also added.
For this type of gingerbread, only raisins are soaked in rum, and then it is recommended to roll them in flour before adding. Put the cake in a preheated oven, bake at 180 ° C for 1 hour. If it starts to darken, cover with parchment. The yeast-free Christmas cake is not only flavorful and tasty, but also light enough for the stomach.
A bouquet of variations
The named varieties of delicacies are just the most sensational. In fact, there are an incredible number of recipes and types of such a cake. Here are just a few of them:
- Poppy seed - add 200 g of poppy filling for each kilogram of flour. Such a stollen looks like a roll and has a wet taste. Dried fruits and candied fruits are not excluded.
- Marzipan - Marzipan (or persipan) is added to dried fruits. 1 kg of flour accounts for 50 g of the product.
- Almond - is distinguished by the complete absence of raisins. But almonds for 1 kg of flour we take as much as 200 g. Candied fruits can also be safely used.
- Nutty - the only difference is in a larger amount of nuts - 200 g per 1 kg of flour.
- Stollen of Westphalian bakers - similar to Dresden, geographical. In it, all overseas products are replaced with "our own": instead of raisins - dried apples, almonds are replaced with nuts, and rum - with apple vodka.
There is even a special competition in which the participants compete for the "Oscar Stollen". There are both dietary and quite exotic options. Gourmets will appreciate, for example, the stollen with red wine or chocolate.
The secret of exquisite taste
In fact, all Christmas cupcakes have legs that grow from the classic version, so we take its composition and proportions as a basis. If you knead the dough in a bread maker or food processor, it will be very smooth and soft.
Lemon and orange zest are often added during the kneading step. Mix it with melted butter for a richer scent.And the rest of the mixture can be cooled and stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, using as a flavoring.
Experiment with spices and toppings. Chop dried fruits finely - this will mix better with the dough.
Don't eat stollen right away. After 2-3 weeks of storage, it will reach perfection - and will not get stale at all. The cupcake must be carefully covered with foil and cloth or parchment and stored not in the refrigerator, but at room temperature.
Not a single stollen
Don't stop with the cupcake. German cuisine is replete with great, hearty and delicious food - and sweets are no exception. The famous Berliner donuts, Bavarian Rornudeln donut buns with fruit or vanilla cream filling, Bavarian dessert Prince Regent's cake, potato pancakes with applesauce, traditional cookies in the form of stars and crescents - German cuisine will not leave you indifferent.
In addition, Germany has a creative approach to traditional cuisines of other nations. What is the value of a sweet omelet borrowed from the Austrians or a beer with whipped cream - for very bored experimenters.
Conclusion
German cuisine is renowned for centuries of tradition and attention to detail. Stollen is one of the gems of traditional holiday baked goods. Despite the mass of varieties of aromatic cake, they all have a rich taste and combine delicious soft dough stuffed with candied fruits, fruits and nuts. It takes a long time to bake this delicacy, but the result is worth it. During storage, the cake only improves its taste and is filled with an extraordinary aroma.
