From fasting bread to festive baking
Christstollen is one of Saxony’s characteristic Christmas bakes. Its history connects a simple fasting bread with the rich fruit bread familiar today. The papal Butter Letter of 1491 is associated with permission to use butter.
Bakeries and families maintain different recipes with butter, dried fruit, almonds and spices. “Dresdner Stollen” is a protected geographical indication with defined requirements; the name does not apply to every stollen baked in Saxony.
A loaf can be cut from the middle and the remaining halves pushed together afterwards. Follow the particular bakery’s instructions for storage and shelf life.
Images from the Weihnachtsfreu archive
