Traditional German Christmas Fruit Bread Kletzenbrot Recipes

TRADITIONAL GERMAN CHRISTMAS FRUIT BREAD - KLETZENBROT

Steps:

• Place the dried pears, figs, prunes, raisins or sultanas, candied orange and lemon peel, and the spices into a medium saucepan with a cup of water, the sugar, and the kirsch or rum. Bring just to a boil over high heat, stirring often. Immediately remove from heat and cover; set aside to steep.
• Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl dissolve the yeast in a half cup of the lukewarm steeping liquid, and let sit until bubbling (about 5 minutes).
• Gradually stir the flour into the yeast mixture, adding a little more liquid or flour if necessary to make a firm dough. Wrap the dough with a clean tea towel, and leave to rise for 30 minutes.
• Gradually add the nuts, candied orange and lemon peel, and the dried fruit and knead well into the dough. Form the dough into a loaf. Leave to rise for an hour again.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Butter the baking sheet (or line with parchment paper), and bake the loaf for about an hour (50 to 60 minutes).
• Let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing bread to rack. Allow to cool completely.
• Wrap bread in cling wrap and then in foil, and place in a cool spot or the refrigerator to mellow for up to several weeks.
• Allow bread to come to room temperature before serving. Serve sliced with or without fresh butter, as desired. Good with a cuppa. Frohes Fest!

BEST AUTHENTIC STOLLEN (GERMAN CHRISTMAS BREAD)

Steps:

• Place the raisins, candied citrus peel and almonds in a medium bowl and pour the rum over it. Stir to combine. Set aside and let the fruit mixture soak in the rum while the dough rises.
• Stir the yeast and 2 tablespoons of the sugar into the lukewarm milk and let sit in a warm place for 10-15 minutes until very frothy.
• Place the flour, remaining sugar, egg, egg yolks, butter, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, cardamom, mace and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast/milk mixture. Use a spoon to stir the mixture until it comes together. Knead the dough on the bread setting for 7-8 minutes. Remove the dough ball, lightly spray the bowl with a little oil, return the dough ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place or lightly warmed oven (just barely warm), to rise until nearly doubled in size, at least 1 hour (likely closer to 2 hours depending on the temperature of the environment).
• Punch down the dough and add the soaked fruit/nut mixture to the dough (it should have absorbed all the rum by now but if there is excess liquid, pour it out before adding the mixture to the dough). Using the dough hook, knead the fruit/nut mixture into the dough until combined. If the dough is too wet to handle, add a little bit of flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and cut it in two equal halves. Press or roll each piece into an oval to about 1 inch thickness. Roll each piece of marzipan into a log the length of the oval. Press the marzipan gently into the middle of the dough. Fold the left side of the dough over to cover the marzipan, then fold right side over on top of the left side so that the edge of it sits just left of the middle of the stollen (see pics). In other words, don't fold the right side all the way over to the left edge of the stollen. Pinch and tuck the top and bottom ends of the stollen to cover the marzipan. Use the bottom edge of your hand to press down along the length of the stollen towards the right of the center to create a divot and characteristic hump (see pics). Place the stollen on a lined baking sheet. Cover the stollen loosely with plastic wrap and let them rest in a warm place or lightly warmed oven for 40-60 minutes until puffy. At that point you can pick off any raisins that are sticking out of the dough (they will burn during baking).
• Towards the end of the last rise, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the stollen for 30-40 minutes or until golden. You can use an instant read thermometer to aim for an internal temperature of 190 degrees F. Let the Stollen sit for 5 minutes, then use a toothpick to poke holes all over the stollen (this will allow the butter to seep in), then generously brush the stollen with the melted butter while the stollen are still warm. Immediately sprinkle with a generous amount of powdered sugar, rubbing it into the creases and down the sides. Let the stollen cool completely. You may want to give it another dusting of powdered sugar once cooled.
• The stollen can be sliced and eaten now or wrapped tightly (wrap in plastic wrap then foil) and left to "ripen" in a cool place for 2 weeks. The liquid from the dried fruits will further penetrate the dough for more flavor and moisture. Stollen can also be frozen for longer storage.
• Makes 2 large or 3 medium Stollen.For eating, I like to warm the slices up for a few seconds in the microwave, it makes the crumb nice and soft.

SCHNITZBRODT (GERMAN FRUIT BREAD)

Steps:

• Cover mixed dried fruit and apples with boiling water in saucepan and soak overnight.
• Next morning, cook until fruit is quite soft, about 15 minutes, then drain well in a colander.
• Chop or cut up fruit.
• Soften yeast in lukewarm water, add 1 Tbsp sugar and let stand 10 minutes.
• Add milk.
• Add 1 ½ C flour to make a sponge and set aside until bubbles break on top.
• Cream butter in a large mixing bowl.
• Add 1 C sugar and cream well.
• Mix in beaten eggs.
• Add the sponge, chopped fruits, salt, cinnamon, raisins, currants and nuts.
• Beat in 3 cups flour.
• Divide dough into fourths.
• Take out ¼ of the dough and knead on a floured pastry cloth or board adding enough flour to keep the dough soft but not sticky.
• Continue doing this 3 more times until all the dough has been worked up, then knead it all together.
• Lightly oil a clean bowl, take dough and run the top around the inside of the bowl, place it in the bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.
• Knead lightly, divide into 4 portions and shape each into a loaf, place in greased loaf pans.
• Cover and let rise until double.
• Bake at 400° for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350° and bake 45 minutes longer or until done.

SCHNITZBROT (GERMAN CHRISTMAS BREAD)

Steps:

• Grease a large bowl. Lightly grease three 5 x 9-inch loaf pans.
• Pour the warm water into a large mixing bowl, and stir in the yeast until dissolved. Allow to rest until the mixture becomes creamy, about 15 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of white sugar and 3 cups of flour until evenly blended.
• Pour the prune juice into a pan, and stir in the condensed mincemeat. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and cook 1 minute at a rolling boil. Remove from the heat, and stir in the prunes, butter, raisins, walnuts, brown sugar, and salt. Combine the prune mixture with the yeast mixture in the mixing bowl. Gradually stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, until well blended to make a moist dough. Turn out onto a floured board, and knead in any remaining flour to make 9 cups. Gather dough into a ball and place into greased bowl. Cover with a cloth, and place in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Punch down dough, knead lightly on a floured board, and return to the bowl. Allow to rise again, about 1 hour.
• Turn dough out onto a floured board. Punch down and shape into 3 loaves. Place each loaf into a prepared loaf pan. Lightly grease tops of each loaf with1 teaspoon butter. Cover with a clean cloth, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Lower heat to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C), and bake 1/2 hour more. Remove from pans, and cool on racks.