Stollen from Dresden Stollen Bakers

This was Stollen from Dresden Stollen Bakers in Bainbridge Island, the state of Washington.

I have been interested in Stollen, a traditional German Christmas fruit bread that has a long interesting history back to Medieval era. It appears that Stollen has recently become more famous in the US, being sold at Zingerman's, Dean & DeLuca, Williams Sonoma, and so on. My currently favorite German baking recipe book also has a recipe of stollen. I thought of baking one, following the recipe, but wanted to try one professionally made in an authentic way first. After my intense online research, I found a company called Dresden Stollen Bakers. It seems that they bake and sell only stollen only during a short time before a holiday season. Their business has been busy for 76 years through three generations, started with a lady, Ms Irmgard Maron who was immigrated from Dresden, home of Stollen in Germany prior to WWII. Even though technically their Stollen is not baked on the soil of Dresden, they strictly bake Stollen in a traditional way that Maron family has been proud of. I have seen many happy comments from buyers about their Stollen's authenticity and deliciousness. I was hooked. Instead of Made-in-Dresden Stollen, I decided to buy one from Dresden Stollen Bakers - our first Stollen! I registered myself on their mailing list in Spring 2015, and I received an invitation mail to order Stollen for the coming Christmas in Fall 2015. The order should be placed by November 15th. I ordered a two pound stollen. They make Stollens from one pound up to five pound. Two pound was supposed to "work well for an individual who really enjoys stollen, a couple, or a small family." A few days before Christmas, our first Stollen knocked the door! Welcome!

The discolored and/or cracked sugar top was due to natural aging and/or shipping. No problem. When I sliced the Stollen. There was a problem. Almost all sugar top fell off! Maybe it wasn't a problem after all because we would like to avoid consuming a mountain of sugar.

This Stollen was terrific! It was lovely moist and so tasty! Even after several days, it kept being moist nicely and didn't change its taste. I would love to make ordering this Stollen as a new tradition for us. I am pretty much sure J won't say no. Meanwhile it would be fun to try different Stollen from a different bakery/store and perhaps make one by myself.