This year, I'm embracing my German heritage a bit for Christmas. I am baking a Stollen, made from scratch.I'm a pretty good baker and I am not intimidated by the yeast, the kneading, the ingredients, or the time. I just need to take the time.
This recipe is from the Farm Journal Homemade Bread cookbook. I found it at a thrift store 8 or 9 years ago, and it has been a terrific cookbook. I love making bread. The whole process is therapeutic to me and nothing can rival the scent and taste of home baked bread.
I have had much success with vintage Farm Journal cookbooks. These books are American heartland cooking at its best. Hearty foods with basic flavors that fuel hard working people. These cookbooks tend to have a German/Eastern European inclination in the recipes because many Germans immigrated to America and settled in the farming midwest - Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.Update 12/25/14: Added photos of my Stollen. It is crazy delicious!! What an awesome recipe!
On being German:
To the best of my knowledge, I am about 75% German heritage, and 25% Polish. There may be a little English sprinkled in, too. I never thought much about being German as anything distinct from American. In some ways I envied my friends who had a more distinct heritage, such as Indian, Syrian, Italian, or Jewish. That may be because my forefathers and mothers immigrated in the late 1800's where many of my friends at the time were second generation or so.
As I grew older, I realized that some aspects of my upbringing were distinctly German. For example, Mom cooked cabbage and pork butt, sauerkraut and sausage (often kielbasa) sometimes for dinner. In the summertime, Mom made Blueberry Kuchen, not blueberry cake. My grandmother frequently replied with "Yah" (German for "yes") instead of "yeah." Interestingly, I never encountered pierogies, a much-loved Polish dish, until college. I suppose that is because my Polish heritage is through my father's father....and mothers typically dictate the menu at home. Also, we didn't practice the more common German religions - Lutheran and Catholic.
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| Whole Stollen - the recipe made two! |
Mom liked her Stollen at Christmastime. As a child, I didn't particularly like it; it is not sweet enough and it doesn't contain chocolate! Sometimes those candied fruits tasted bitter to me (probably the candied citrus peel). Now I am growing older, and I am developing a taste for spice and fruits, so Stollen is more appealing. I also thought it would be a nice treat for Dad. Since Mom insisted on her Entenmann's Stollen every year, Dad embraced the tradition.
Unfortunately, Entenmann's Stollen seems to be a regional product to the North East US. It was difficult to find near Mom's home in central Virginia. Mom grew up in central New Jersey, and I grew up in Northern New Jersey, where it was pretty common. I can't find it here in Eastern Kansas either....but there are plenty of other bakeries!
This year, we host a college student from China over the holidays. I hope to share this tradition with her, too.
