This recipe barely rose at all, but my husband (who is dutch and grew up eating stollen) decided to throw it into the oven away. It rose a bit more, but it still came out like a brick. The taste is not bad, but it is also not the same as the stollen he grew up with. I doubt we will try this recipe again.

I ended up with a big wet gloppy mess. I threw out the dough without baking.

I have tried making this twice and both times it failed to rise. The second time I proofed the yeast to ensure that it was good. I couldn't toss it out, so I cut it into thick slices and baked it again to get a biscotti type of bread.

This was my first attempt at making a stollen and it came out PERFECT!!! I come from a German family so to make something authentic around the holidays was great. This is definitely becoming a staple in my family's Christmas tradition.

Just a note about the rising time - with other stollen recipes I've read (and used), they say it will take up to 3 hours for the dough to double. I think it may be all the butter, plus the weight of the fruit. At any rate, it did take a long time for this to rise, but it came out fine in the end.

followed the recipe step by step... stollen turned out great!!

This is the 4th year I've used this recipe to make stollen as gifts for family and friends. It's great! A few tips for people first setting out: 1) Marzipan contains almonds, so take care if you or anyone you make it for has nut allergies. 2) This makes a HUGE stollen. When the recipe calls for folding the halves it over onto one another, instead put each half on its own tray (or well separated on a large baking pan) and make two in one go. 3) Sprinkle icing sugar on the stollen just after you pull them out of the oven - don't wait! The heat from the dough will be sufficient to melt the sugar and create a sugary 'crust' instead of just powder.

A difficult recipe that didn't rise well. I know that there was nothing wrong with my yeast or the temperature in my kitchen. I am wondering if it would be better to let the dough rise initially without the fruit, and then knead it in before letting it rise for a second time. It was still delicious even though heavy, so I am going to try that next time.

For those saying they had a problem with yeast may have added it to too warm a liquid and killed it OR if you use Rapid Rise, it must be added to the dry ingredients like the package says. I love almond and the marzipan or almond filling works great and makes it even more wonderful. Different dried fruits can be used depending on your taste.

This was great - not only good to eat, but pretty. I used fast action yeast instead of regular dried yeast, and the recipe worked fine. I stirred the fast action yeast into the dry ingredients, then added the warmed milk and egg. Normally, fast action yeast takes less time to double and requires one raising time. With all the fruit in this, the dough took a good hour and a quarter to double. Then I shaped it, left it for about ten minutes and put it in the oven. I thought the dough was easy to handle.

If you own a bread machine, you should follow the advice of JDMinNoVa. It's so easy and turned out beautifully!!!!! I've never used my bread machine before today but it was just THAT easy.

While I'm not personally big on eating this my friends and family love it when I do. It is now requested annually. Best part of this recipe: EVEN IF YOU MESS UP IT IS STILL FANTASTIC!!!

This recipe is nice and easy enough but there are several noteable problems that I (and others) seemed to have had with it. First the flour content in this recipe is inadequate and I found that it took at LEAST another cup in the kneading process for it not to be just a pile of goop. Second this dough does not like to leven well. I was very careful to use a measured tablespoon of newly procured 'Flieshman's Rapid Rising Yeast' mixed into scalled and cooled to 115F milk with a teaspoon of honey and waited till it foamed a bit. An hour later the first proof was virtually non-existant and the dough was well oiled and sitting covered with a damp towel over it in a bowl above the preheated oven on a BALMY Florida Xmas eve afternoon. As I needed this for a party that night I just went forward and rolled it out, filled it with the marzipan and then let it try for the second proofing. It barely budged after another hour....I could smell the active yeast so I knew it had to be OK but it had hardly raised by 50%! Into the oven it went where it actually proofed a bit more to a barely satisfactory level. As baking is a measured science it is hard to say if you should add more yeast to this, but if I were to use this recipe again I think I would! Thirdly Stollen classically has spices in the dough and this recipe does not, as I hate bland food I added some ground cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice and ginger to this and it was yummy!

Gluten intolerant?? You don't have to miss out on this fabulous recipe even if you need gluten free foods - I have just tried this wonderful recipe for the first time and because my mom is gluten intolerant we thought we would try the recipe with gluten free bread flour - it worked wonderfully!! So enjoy...

WOW, this was awesome. I have had Stollen for all my life and never made it. I used this recipe and because I am a chef was able to assertain the process from experience of making yeast leavened breads. It turned out excellent my girlfriend could not stop eating it and I got laid big time. I think this should be part of anyone's holiday treat.

Try it in your bread machine. Really! Just put in all the liquid ingredients, then the flour (I reduced the amount to 2 1/4 cups) and then the yeast on top...after it has started to mix together, add the candied fruit a little at a time. Most of it will mix in, some may be left at the bottom of the pan. After the first rise, remove it from the machine. Turn your oven on to 200 degrees for 5 minutes - then turn it off. Knead the dough a little to get all the fruit in - the dough should be soft and a little sticky - don't add to much flour it will make the final product stiff and dry! Then roll it out and put in the marzipan just like the recipe says. Put it in the warmed oven to rise - I guarantee it will rise up beautifully - as long as you haven't added too much flour! It is a wonderful recipe!

My hubby's family is German and it isn't Christmas without a stollen. Usually we order one from Dresden but last year I decided to make one. I'm giving it four stars because it passed the in law test and was delicious but MAN is it a lot of work. If you're willing to put in the time to find the ingredients and make it, this IS the recipe you want to try. We're buying a stollen this year, simply because I'm being lazy. This recipe is authentic and wonderful. Oma and Opa would approve!

excellent recipe. mine came out incredibly well considering it was my first time dealing with yeast. the only hard part was finding "candied citron". i eventually located them in an imported food store. my husbands family is german and they loved this bread. i'll be making it again next christmas.