Storing Christmas stollen and festive bread: fresh until Boxing Day
Keep Christmas stollen well wrapped at room temperature, not next to the radiator or the hob. Once cut, cover the cut side so the bread and the almond paste do not dry out. If you buy your stollen, check the packaging for how long it keeps. Anything left after the holidays? Freeze it in slices.
At Christmas there is often more bread in the house than usual. A stollen for breakfast, a baguette with dinner and currant buns for Boxing Day. A few simple habits keep it all tasting good.
Storing Christmas stollen
- Keep it wrapped. Leave a shop-bought stollen in its packaging until you cut it.
- Cover the cut side. Place the stollen with the cut side against a plate or board, or put it in a closed bag.
- Keep it at room temperature. Not in the fridge: bread goes stale faster there, explains the Dutch consumer programme Kassa.
- Keep it away from heat. Not next to the radiator, the oven or in the sun.
Baked it yourself?
Let a homemade stollen cool down completely before you wrap it, just like other bread. Only dust it with icing sugar just before serving, so the sugar stays nice and white. A stollen is often just as good the day after baking, so you can easily make it a day ahead.
Freezing
A piece left over after the holidays? Cut it into slices and freeze them airtight. Then take out a few at a time for breakfast. Do not refreeze slices that have thawed. The Dutch baking site bakken.nl also advises limiting how often you freeze.
The other bread at Christmas
| Bread | How to store it |
|---|---|
| Baguette and bakery bread | In a bag that breathes, at room temperature. Crust gone soft? A few minutes in a hot oven. |
| Currant buns and rolls | In a closed bag at room temperature, or frozen until you need them. |
| Sourdough | In a bag that breathes. Read Storing sourdough bread. |
On the table at Christmas
Slice the stollen on a wooden cutting board and put it straight on the table. A glass carafe of water next to it and Christmas breakfast is ready. Whatever is left goes back into a bag after breakfast. A whole stollen fits in the 43 x 32 cm beeswax bread bag, and with two bags you have room for the currant buns too. Also a lovely gift for anyone who likes to bake at Christmas.
