German Christmas bread goes by
many different names in German: Stollen, Dresden Stollen, Strutzel, Striezel, Stutenbrot,
or Christstollen. The traditional German Christmas cake, is a colorful collection
of nuts, raisins, currants, candied orange and lemon peel, traditional spices of Christmas
such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, mace or cloves, brandy or rum and lots of butter.
1400s - Stollen is thought to have originated in Dresden in the 1400s.
However, at that time the Catholic Church, as part of the fasting rules in preparation for
Christmas, forbade the use of butter during Advent. Thus, the stollen of the middle ages
was a somewhat tasteless pastry.
1650 - In 1650 Prince Ernst von Sachsen at the request of bakers in
Dresden, successfully petitioned Pope Urban VIII to lift the restrictions on the use of
butter during Advent. The restrictions were lifted only in Dresden and thus began a baking
tradition that continues to this day.
The following information on stollen are from German websites describing stollens of
their area:
Dresden Stollen - Dresden Stollen ® - a masterpiece of baking -
treasured around the world, Trade Protection Society, Dresden, Germany, http://www.dresdnerstollen.com/english/e_hist_g.htm,
an internet web site.
The tradition of baking Dresden Stollen ® is a very old
one and can be traced back to around 1400 A.D. Originally baked without butter and milk,
the stollen (striezel) was a rather dull pastry. Elector Lord Ernst of Saxony and his
brother Albrecht appealed to the Pope to rescind the so-called "butter ban" in
effect at the time. The Holy father eventually gave in to their entreaties and declared
(in what came to be known as the "Bufferbrief") that milk and butter could
indeed be used in baking the stollen - this could be done with a "clear conscience
and with God's blessing", after making the "appropriate penance". "Butterbrief"
Around 1500, "Christbrote uff
Weihnachten", were being sold at the Dresden "Striezelmarkt", the oldest
existing german christmas market. From 1560 onwards, Stollen-bakers delivered one or two
Christmas stollen with a total weight of 36 pounds to the king of Saxony for the holy
celebration. Eight master bakers and eight apprentices carried it to the castle. In 1730
"August the Strong", elector Lord of Saxony, commanded the bakery gild of
Dresden to make a huge Stollen with a weight of 1.8 tons! To commemorate that event, a
similar stollen is baked every year on the Saturday before the second advent the annual
Dresden Stollen Festival.
Bakery Krause, About Rochilitz Christmas Stollen.
Here is a bit of the history of stollen baking in
the Rochlitz region. "The Christmas stollen is an age-old tradition for us. In many
places, including Rochlitz, " Christbrot" had been available perhaps since the
colonization time (The German settlement of the Rochlitz area)." By the late Middle
Ages, Christbrot was already called " Christmas stollen" in the Zschillen
monastery, according to Professor Pfau in his article in the Rochlitzer Chronicle, 1927,
on the tradition of this popular Christmas bread, without which no Christmas would be
complete for the Saxons. A hundred years ago there were 20 bakeries in Rochlitz. Large
commercial bakeries simply cannot replace the master baker and many people still swear by
genuine "baker-made" stollen. Today fewer and fewer housewives bring their own
homemade stollen to be baked. But in the seven Rochlitz bakeries and confectioneries, i.e.
Boerner in Dresdner Straße, Goldammer on the Topfmarkt, Krause on the Hauptstraße,
Meichsner and Weiße on Clemens-Pfau Platz, Stoelzel on Bahnhofstraße and Thalmann on the
Markt, thousands of stollen are baked annually according to time-tested recipes. These are
bought and enjoyed by Rochlitzer over the Christmas holidays. I am proud to have followed
in the footprints of my father in learning the baking profession. For me this occupation
is particularly special, for it is now in the fifth generation in our family. The most
Important recipes are always passed on to the next generation, as well as the tricks of
the trade and that certain "something."