#christmas bread

[some1s-sista]

My Day

Sixx was a huge help! She decorated the gingerbread cookies, and then baked the Anise Italian Wedding (b&w) cookies while I showered. She forgot to roll them smooth before baking but like I told her, they’ll taste the same! And the ones there in the middle. Bought those. Dansk does a fine job with butter cookies, why reinvent the wheel?!

I’ll let the decorations on the Xmas Bread dry and then re-wrap them in clean wrap. Then they’re ready for delivery tomorrow!

All I have to do now is the Chocolate Trifle for Xmas Dessert.

[ainawgsd]

Stollen is a fruit bread of nuts, spices, and dried or candied fruit, coated with powdered sugar or glaze and often, but not necessarily, containing marzipan. It is a traditional German Christmas bread. During the Christmas season the cake-like loaves are called Weihnachtsstollen (after "Weihnachten", the German word for Christmas) or Christstollen (after Christ).

Dresden Stollen (originally Striezel), a moist, heavy bread filled with fruit, was first mentioned in an official document in 1474. Early Stollen was different, with the ingredients being flour, oats and water. 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. In the 15th century, in medieval Saxony (in central Germany, north of Bavaria and south of Brandenburg), the Prince Elector Ernst (1441–1486) and his brother Duke Albrecht (1443–1500) decided to remedy this by writing to the Pope in Rome. The Saxon bakers needed to use butter, as oil in Saxony was expensive, hard to come by, and had to be made from turnips.

Pope Nicholas V (1397–1455), in 1450 denied the first appeal. Five popes died before finally, in 1490, Pope Innocent VIII (1432–1492) sent a letter, known as the "Butter-Letter", to the Prince. This granted the use of butter (without having to pay a fine), but only for the Prince-Elector and his family and household.Others were also permitted to use butter, but on the condition of having to pay annually 1/20 of a gold Gulden to support the building of the Freiberg Minster. The ban on butter was removed when Saxony became Protestant.

Over the centuries, the bread changed from being a simple, fairly tasteless "bread" to a sweeter bread with richer ingredients, such as marzipan, although traditional Stollen is not as sweet, light and airy as the copies made around the world. Commercially made Stollen has become a popular Christmas food in Britain in recent decades, complementing traditional dishes such as mince pies and Christmas pudding. All the major supermarkets sell their own versions, and it is often baked by home bakers.

My family’s Christmas Stollen recipe. Original recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cookbook, Ninth Printing (1969); p. 72

1 package active dry yeast 1/4 Cup water 1/2 Cup butter or margarine 1 Cup milk, scalded 1/4 Cup sugar 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 4 1/2-5 Cups sifted flour 1 egg 1/4 Cup chopped blanched almonds 1 Cup raisins 1/2 Cup currants (or golden raisins if currants are unavailable) 1/4 Cup candied frut 2 Tablespoon grated orange peel 1 Tablespoon grated lemon peel

Glaze: 2 C. sifted confectioner's sugar 1/4 C. hot water 1 tsp. butter, melted 1 tsp. flavoring (orange, vanilla, etc; optional)

Mix all ingredients well and glaze bread while still warm.

Soften the yeast in 1/4 C. warm water.  Whisk the cardamom into the sugar.  Melt the butter in the hot milk and add the sugar/cardamom and salt (? somehow this didn't get transcribed in the ingredients list, maybe 1/4 tsp?).Cool to lukewarm.  Stir in 2 C. of the flour.  Add egg and beat well.  Stir in the yeast, fruits, peels, and nuts.  Add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.  

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes, or until smooth and satiny.  

Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease the surface.  Cover and let rise until doubled (about 1 1/2 hours).  

Punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface and divide dough into 3 equal parts.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  

Roll dough into 12x7 inch rectangles.  Fold the long side of the rectangle over to within 1 inch of the opposite side and seal the edges.   Repeat with the other two portions of dough.

Place rectangles on greased baking sheets.  Cover and let rise until almost doubled (about 30-45 minutes).

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375* or until golden brown.  While still warm, brush bread with butter and dust with confectioner's sugar or glaze.

[coffeecupandcorgi]

this year’s attempt at julebrod, from ellen foscue johnson’s the garden way bread book, 1979

[jonsnork]

Aunt Judy's Christmas Bread

This braided yeast bread filled with almond, pastry cream, and walnut fillings is the perfect Christmas morning treat.

[dloburns]

Recipe for Aunt Judy's Christmas Bread This braided yeast bread filled with almond, pastry cream, and walnut fillings is the perfect Christmas morning treat.

[noshedoesntlabel]

Aunt Judy's Christmas Bread - Yeast Bread The ideal Christmas morning treat is this braided yeast bread filled with almond, pastry cream, and walnut fillings.

[fullcravings]

Hot Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

[bewitchingkitchen]

CHRISTMAS SOURDOUGH

I love it when a friend shares a baking idea with me, and in this case I am talking about Alex, my tent-baker partner of three years ago (time flies!). I gilded the lily by coupling some air-brushing with the basic scoring pattern, and I must say I’m pretty smitten by this little loaf of sourdough, perfumed with a touch of za’atar. ZA’ATAR CHRISTMAS SOURDOUGH(from the Bewitching Kitchen) 385g…

[kushi-s]

Only one week for Christmas and I highly recommend you add this Christmas tree themed bread to your menu 

Recipe https://bit.ly/3G18hix

This is going to be a total crowd pleaser at your holiday dinner table

[celebrationgeneration]

[daily-deliciousness]

Beef tenderloin crostini with parmesan wine cream sauce

[csmaha]

Vianočka

Our family stories are filled with memories of great good, many of which are family traditions handed down from our ancestors. Vianočka is a Czech/Slovak Christmas bread, similar to other Christmas breads that I enjoyed in my childhood. My Mother and later myself, would make a Norwegian version Julakake. Global Slovakia hosted an online cooking class last December taught by Lenka of…

[lilybug-02]

Bribed with Chocolate. The way it should be.

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--Full Series--

More to come as this is a two-parter. But you know how I am with schedules.

Bonus:

I think this was an equally possible reaction from Chara.

[fatty-food]

Rosemary honey butter dinner rolls (via Instagram)

[julieterbang]

_kirilova_kat

[fullcravings]

Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls