Stollen is a classic German yeasted bread, that is traditionally made to enjoy over Christmas. Originally, the 'food of German kings', Stollen is now enjoyed all over the world and you can buy it in most shops during the festive period. Here, we are sharing our homemade naturally leavened Sourdough Stollen version, created without any commercial yeast. Generously studded with brandy-infused dried fruit and rolled with luxurious marzipan, Sourdough Stollen undoubtedly presents serious competition to even the best of the traditional British Christmas Cakes.
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Why is Homemade Stollen Better?
It's just a personal preference but I would take a Christmas Stollen over a more traditional Christmas Cake any day. I bought many of them in my life and I've eaten even more! So, here's why I think everyone should attempt to make their own...
- You can use all the dried fruit that you love and not settle for just raisins and sultanas that shop-bought Stollens mainly contain.
- You can soak your fruit in your favourite brandy, or spiced rum (!) and make sure you can taste it in your finished Stollen (if you like the taste, of course)
- Let's be honest, the white icing-sugar coating of shop-bought Stollen isn't exactly the nicest thing ever, right? Commercially produced Stollens are typically made with lots of cornflour mixed with icing sugar to make sure the coating sticks to the top and keeps dry in their packaging.
- You can pack in a lot more marzipan!!!
- Most importantly, you can make a naturally leavened Sourdough Christmas Stollen without commercial yeast, making it easier to digest. Moreover, I feel a great sense of achievement when I make things work using sourdough 😉
- And you can experiment! Try our Sourdough Stollen Focaccia or Sourdough Stollen Bites!
Method
The Night Before: Prepare the Levain and Soak your Fruit
Let's begin! The night before you want to bake your Sourdough Stollen, prepare your stiff sourdough levain. Take 125g of your starter. It should be the starter that's not been fed for the last day or two or even the one that's been stored in the fridge for a week or so. Add 125g of strong bread flour, 60ml of milk and a teaspoon of caster sugar. Mix together to make a ball, partially cover and leave at room temperature overnight (or 8-12 hours).
Your mixture will be quite stiff. It's certainly different from 100% hydration starter that I make for our White Sourdough Bread (which I make by mixing equal parts of starter, flour and water). The stiff starter made with milk is slower to rise and is perfect for leaving overnight. Furthermore, a stiff starter means I can pack more of it into the dough without making it too wet. With all the butter, fruit and marzipan that goes into our Stollen, some extra oomph from the additional starter definitely helps the rise.
Deciding on the fruit to use in your Sourdough Stollen will greatly determine its flavour. We love the combination of sultanas, dried apricot, dried cranberries and cut mixed (candied) citrus peel. Whatever you use, this recipe requires a total amount of 200g of dried fruit, including the peel.
I soak my fruit in brandy overnight, but I always leave out the peel. We love a bit of zesty flavour in my Stollen. Soaking the peel in alcohol overrides the fresh zesty flavours too much, so I add the peel the next day.
To soak, put the dried fruit in a shallow bowl, pour your brandy all over and mix to coat. You don't need to fully submerge your fruit. I normally use about 50ml. You can use other spirits, like dark or spiced rum, bourbon or cognac to soak your fruit. Cover and leave to soak overnight!
The Next Morning: Make the Dough
Overnight, your sourdough starter should have grown into a ball twice the size! Scoop it out into a large mixing bowl, and add 125g of strong white flour, 25ml of milk, 20g of sugar, and a pinch of salt. Knead it just enough to bring it all together into a cohesive ball of dough. You can do this in a standing mixer with a dough hook attachment or by hand on a clean surface. The dough will be rather firm at this point but don't worry, butter and fruit will soon change that.
Cube 75g of your room temperature butter (the softer it is the easier it'll be to incorporate into your dough). One piece at a time, slowly work the butter into the dough. As soon as the butter is fully incorporated, leave it to rest for an hour in a covered bowl. We will knead it again when we add fruit.
In the meantime, weigh out your citrus peel and finely chop your almonds. Drain your fruit, that's been soaking overnight. Make sure to squeeze out most of the moisture.
After an hour of resting, lightly flour your kitchen surface and stretch the dough out into a rough rectangle with your hands. Sprinkle ¼ of your soaked fruit, ¼ of mixed peel and ¼ of chopped almonds. Roll it into a log and then flatten it into a rectangle again. Sprinkle with fruit, peel and nuts again and roll in a different direction than before. Repeat twice more. This way, it's easy to distribute your fruit evenly in the dough. Knead for another 8-10 minutes until the dough becomes very soft, smooth and elastic. Using a flexible dough scraper, shape it into a ball, place it into a clean large bowl, cover and leave to rise until it doubles.
The time it takes to rise hugely depends on the temperature of your kitchen. It's best to leave it in a warm spot (21-25°C). If your kitchen is colder than that (ours is!), here's what I do. Turn your oven to the lowest temperature possible for 1 minute. Then turn it off and put the covered bowl with your dough in the oven. Close the door and leave it in there whilst the oven cools. It normally takes my dough about 3 hours to double.
In the Afternoon: Assemble
Once your dough has risen, place it on a floured surface and roll it out to 30x20cm rectangle.
Then, in a different spot, sprinkle the work surface with icing sugar and roll your 125g of marzipan out into a 20x12cm rectangle. Your marzipan sheet has to be smaller than your dough. Yes, it means that you won't get marzipan in the corners of your loaf (!?). It is, however, necessary, to make sure the dough fully encases your marzipan, otherwise, it will leak out during the time in the oven.
Stollens are often made with a log of marzipan in the middle, rather than a swirl. It's certainly less risky that it will leak out from the centre of the loaf if you take the log option. However, we much prefer the more even distribution of the marzipan that a swirl provides.
Lightly brush your dough with melted butter and place the marzipan in the centre of your rolled-out dough. From the shorter side of the dough, start rolling it into a log. Make sure your roll it really tightly, or else you'll have big gaps between your marzipan and the dough once baked. Carefully tuck both sides of the loaf under to encase the marzipan completely.
Place your stollen roll onto a baking parchment-lined tray. Carefully cover with greased cling film or a clean plastic bag and leave to rise again at room temperature (again 21-25°C, ideally) for 2-3 hours until just about doubled in size.
Head to our dedicated article about How To Know When Your Sourdough is Done Proofing to learn more.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 170°C Fan. Place your Sourdough Stollen on the middle shelf and bake for 45-50 minutes. When baked, take it out of the oven and brush it with some melted butter. Sift icing sugar on top and leave to cool completely.
Fun fact, I've recently discovered that the shape of baked Stollen and its thick icing-sugar coating is meant to represent baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Christmas Sourdough ebook
Celebrate the holiday season with a unique twist this year with our 24 Christmas Sourdough recipes! Discover the magic of using active sourdough starter, sourdough discard, and leftover baked sourdough bread to create a memorable and flavoursome Christmas feast.
Other Christmas Recipes
If you are looking for more Sourdough recipes to cook over the holiday period, visit our article on a bunch of Sourdough Christmas Recipes. For more festive ideas, have a look at our other Christmas-inspired recipes, including:
- Christmas Eclairs
- Galette Des Rois
- Orange & White Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding
- Spiced Oat & Cranberry Cookies
And if you are looking for a marzipan filled Christmas bread that doesn't use any sourdough starter, head straight to our Cranberry & Apricot Couronne (French Christmas Bread) recipe.
Sourdough Stollen
Ingredients
For Sourdough Levain:
- 125 g starter unfed
- 125 g strong bread flour
- 60 ml milk
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
For Stollen Bread:
- 300 g sourdough levain
- 125 g strong bread flour
- 20 g caster sugar
- 75 g butter plus a little extra for brushing
- 25 ml milk
- 50 ml brandy or spiced rum or cognac
- 70 g sultanas
- 70 g dried apricots roughly chopped
- 30 g dried cranberries
- 30 g mixed cut peel
- 20 g almonds roughly chopped
- 125 g white marzipan
For the Top:
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 2 tablespoon icing sugar
Instructions
The Night Before:
- Make a stiff levain by mixing your unfed starter with flour, milk and sugar. Place it in a semi-covered bowl and leave to rise overnight (8-12 hours) at room temperature.
- Pour brandy over your sultanas, dried apricot and dried cranberries in a shallow bowl and mix to coat. Leave to soak overnight.
The Next Morning:
- Your starter should have doubled in size. Place it in a large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, milk and a pinch of salt. Mix together into a cohesive dough. It will be very firm, but don't worry. It will change once we add butter and fruit.
- Cut room temperature butter into cubes. One piece at a time, slowly work the butter into the dough, kneeding it until butter is fully incorporated. Then pop the dough back into the bowl. Cover and leave to rest for an hour.
- In the meantime, finely chop blanched almonds and weight out the mixed peel. Drain the dried fruit and squeeze out excess brandy.
- Get the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Stretch it out into a rough rectangle and sprinkle ¼ of your dried fruit, ¼ of the peel and ¼ of almonds onto it. roll it up and flatten again into a rectangle. Sprinkle with fruit, peel and nuts again. Roll it again, but in the opposite direction to last time. Repeat twice more. This will make sure the fruit is evenly distributed in your dough.
- Knead your dough for 10 minutes until it's smooth, soft and elastic. Then shape into a tight ball and place into a large clean bowl. Cover and leave at 21-25°C temperature to rise for 2-3 hours, or until doubled in size. If your kitchen is much colder than that, see tips in the text above.
- Once doubled, scoop the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface and roll out into 30x20 cm rectangle.
- In a different spot, dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out your marzipan into a thin 20x12cm rectangle. Make sure your marzipan sheet is smaller than your dough sheet.
- Brush the surface of the dough with some melted butter and place the marzipan on top in the centre of the dough rectangle. From the shorter end of the rectangle, tighly roll the stollen, leaving the seam at the bottom.
- Tuck both edges of the roll under to fully encase the marzipan so that it doesn't leak out during baking.
- Transfer the Stollen roll onto a baking parchment-lined sheet. Carefully cover with lightly-greased clingfilm or a clean plastic bag and leave to rise again for 2-3 hours until just about doubled in size.
- Once doubled, preheat the oven to 170°C Fan. Place your Sourdough Stollen in the centre of the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.
- When cooked through, take it out of the oven and immediately brush with melted butter. Sift 2 tbsps of icing sugar all over the top and sides and leave to cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition
Elisa says
Never tried this Sourdough Stollen recipe, but definitely will have to make it soon, looks so delicious!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ann says
My mother loves stollen but she's only had store bought. I can't wait to make this for her. I already fed my sourdough starter. Thanks.!
Charla says
I used to absolutely hate stollen but my friend introduced me to some homemade stollen that she made about 2-3 years ago and won me over, so now I eat it every chance that I get.
Ieva says
I used to be the same with matcha cheesecake 😀
Roberta says
First attempt and we LOVE it! I have never understood my husband's fascination with stollen, but I am a convert now. Thanks so much! P.s. highly recommend making marzipan too - dead easy and makes a world of difference.
Ieva Greber says
Thanks, Roberta! So glad our recipe converted you into a fellow stollen-lover! And thank you so much for taking the time to leave such great feedback!
Gina Abernathy says
I just sent this recipe to my dad. He loves trying new recipes for the family during the holiday season. Fruits and nuts are always so good when baked into a delightful dessert.
Ieva says
Thanks, Gina! I really hope your dad likes the recipe! It's one of our personal favourites for the holiday season! 🙂
Sara Welch says
Enjoyed this for dessert last night and it was a sweet success! Turned out light, fluffy and delicious; easily, a new favorite sourdough treat!
Karlie says
I'm always on the hunt for more ideas for my sourdough starter and all the fruit and marzipan in this made it so special. Can't believe I've not known about stollen before!
Kim says
I was really surprised to learn that stollen was a German thing. My grandmother was from Sweden and made it all the time so I always thought it was Swedish! Anyway, this looks really good. I haven't had it in at least a decade so I'm excited to try making it myself.
Ieva Greber says
Really? Maybe there's a Swedish version of Stollen? I hope our recipe will live up to your grandmother's stollen 😉
Carrie Robinson says
Such a classic sweet treat for the holidays! 🙂 Saving this one for the next couple of months.
Ieva Greber says
I'm sure you'll love it!
Suja md says
This looks amazing and such a treat! Thank you!
Chenee says
I loved this! It was so fruity and relatively easy to make (as far as sourdough recipes go), too. I'll definitely be making this one again!
Ieva Greber says
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Dina and Brucet says
My mother always made Stollan. Now we can make it with sourdough starter! Thank you for this recipe.
Kechi says
This looks so gorgeous and effortless! I have been on the look out for a Christmas loaf and I just bookmarked this recipe. Cannot wait to try!
Annie says
This recipe looks great and I can't wait to try it. How long will it keep, and can you freeze it? Many thanks
Ieva Greber says
Hi, Annie. I have to admit, we always freeze leftover stollen after 3-4 days, so I am not sure how long it would actually stay fresh. It freezes well, though. We typically slice it into portions, wrap each individually and just grab a slice as and when we need a treat. I would stay, after 3 months of being frozen, the marzipan gets slightly sticky and unpleasant though, so we try to eat it quicker 🙂 Hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Silène says
I’ve made this recipe in the past and we loved it! Is it possible to stick the loaves in the fridge after proofing, before putting them in the oven? My schedule won’t allow me to bake right away when the proofing will be done.
Ieva Greber says
You can absolutely refrigerate the loaves after proofing, but I recommend doing so when they’re slightly underproofed, as they will continue to proof while cooling down. Just make sure your fridge temperature is no higher than 4°C (since yeast activity stops around that point). When you’re ready to bake, add a minute or two to the baking time to account for the cold dough. Happy baking!
Silène says
Thank you so much for the speedy reply! I will keep these tips in mind when making it tomorrow. Cheers!
Sue says
I’ve just made this, divided the dough into 12 x 70g balls and wrapped them around the 125g of marzipan also divided into 12. Baked for 20ish minute. Worked an absolute treat! Thank you so much, also going to make this with a plant based milk and butter for a vegan friend!
Ieva Greber says
Oh, I love this — thank you so much for sharing the details! Splitting them into 12 with marzipan centres is such a great idea, I must try that! 😊
And how lovely that you’re adapting it for a vegan friend too! Thank you for taking the time to leave such a kind comment, and happy baking 💛
Miriam Attard says
This was fun to make and so delicious!! I made it for my parents for Christmas. I made it dairy free with almond milk & a dairy free butter, with home made marzipan. So fun to experiment with different sourdough options. Thank you & merry Christmas!!
Ieva Greber says
Thank you so much for the comment, and it's so great to know it can be made dairy-free! I'm sure readers will find it valuable! Wishing you a wonderful 2026! 🙂
Mary says
My loaf did not turn out as pretty as yours but with all those wonderful ingredients it tasted phenomenal! My mom used to make this but I don’t recall her ever using marzipan filling. I do agree rolling it into the dough would be preferable to just placing a log into the center spreading that goodness and flavor throughout each slice. TY for sharing your recipe. I have 3 more batches of homemade marzipan to perfect my loaf! My loaf shredded at the top while final proof ing. I’m not used to working with such rich sourdough. I’ll keep trying. Thank you again. Your instructions were very detailed and easy to follow.