German Stӧllen Bread

This is Mom’s recipe for German Stӧllen Bread!

There were many revisions over the years. She also divides the recipe for making half a batch or 6 loaves instead of 12. I am going to type out the most recent revision then copy the 4 pages of her hand written recipe to post along with it. She has a note to read the whole recipe and revisions each year before she would start making the loaves for that year.

I remember Mom and I having a production line of making loaves of bread each year. We would make somewhere between 18 and 24 loaves. She would take some as gifts for her Minister at Church, friends from Church Circle; Dad would take to boss, or special clients. And of course we would have some for ourselves. She would freeze at least 3 so we would have this delightful fruit bread for at least several weeks for breakfast or a special after school treat.

1994 Revised Stӧllen Bread Recipe

For 6 Loaves       For 12 Loaves                     Mix Together:

¾ cup                    1 ½ cup                                 Lukewarm Milk

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Sugar

¾ tsp                     1 ½ tsp                                  Salt

2 pkg                     3 packages                          Dissolve fresh dry yeast in:

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    Water, lukewarm, & stir well. Add to:

2                              4`                                            Eggs

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Shortening (mom used Crisco)

2 cup                     4 cup                                     Flour

                                                                                Put all this in mixer bowl with dough hook attached. Add:

2 cup                     4 cup                                     flour and mix very well at slow speed. Add:

1 cup                     2 cup                                     more flour when mixed until dough leaves side of bowl.

Put out on the Table (Mom had a formica topped kitchen table, she would sprinkle the top with flour and do this step) and knead for about 5 minutes with a little more flour until it “Feels right”. (It’s springy and has a tight consistency.)

Put in large, greased bowl covered with greased aluminum pie pan & place in slightly warm oven. Be sure to put a cookie sheet underneath in case it runs over and drips down when it rises. (She would prewarm the oven and turn it off, so it was warmer than room temp. This creates a warm, dry atmosphere and reduces the chance of humidity changing how well it rises.)

Punch down in 2 ½ to 3 hours and let rise- turn over to bring greased side to the top.

Second rising is 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Meanwhile – prepare the fruit & nuts by putting each of the following into 2 equal piles.

This much in each pile

For 6 Loaves       For 12 Loaves                     Ingredients

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Old English Fruit & Peel Mix

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Raisins

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Currants

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    Citron

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    candied Cherries

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    mixed orange & lemon peel (candied)

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Broken Pecans

1 Tblsp                  2 Tblsp                                  grated fresh lemon rind

Put ½ the dough and the abovelisted fruit in the mixer with dough hook – on slow speed & let the mixer do the work of mixing in the fruit. When well distributed, turn out on floured board – let rest for 15 minutes to make it easier to handle and shape into 5 loaves (approx. 13 oz each) Let rise one hour while preparing second half of the dough.

Bake only one cookie sheet in each oven at 350° degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Frost with XXXX icing and decorate with candied Cherries & Green Pineapple creating flowers. Be sure to use evaporated milk for icing – skim milk makes a grainy consistency.

* In 2000 not too successful because dough didn’t rise properly & bread was too dense and heavy.

      In the future start the first steps very early so dough can have plenty of time for 3 risings & still be finished the same day.  ( If Cannot finish in one day, do NOT put dough in refrigerator overnight. (It seemed to have killed the yeast.) Just leave it out & punch it down the next morning.

These are the 4 pages of the original recipe from Mom's Cookbook! She had this filed in the book under "Yeast Breads"!