Baking quark stollen moist, without yeast

I bake this quark stollen every year. My recipe is written on a squared scrap of paper, and it is gloriously uncomplicated: no yeast, no proving, no weeks of waiting. All the ingredients are kneaded together by hand, baked for an hour, brushed with butter and dusted with icing sugar. That's all there is to it.

Here you'll find the recipe step by step, made with fresh lemon and orange zest – or, when time is short, ready-grated zest from a sachet – along with tips on shaping and storing it, and ideas for adapting the stollen to your own taste.

What makes a quark stollen baking powder instead of yeast

The classic Christmas stollen is a yeasted bake. The dough has to rise several times, the fruit is soaked well in advance, and after baking the stollen needs a few weeks' rest before its flavour has fully developed. That's wonderful, but it's also a small project you have to plan for early in November.

A quark stollen takes a different path. Instead of yeast, baking powder makes the dough rise. The quark – a soft, fresh German curd cheese – keeps it moist and gives it a gently fresh note that goes beautifully with raisins, nuts and citrus. Because nothing has to prove, the dough is ready in no time and goes straight into the oven. And because a quark stollen doesn't need weeks to mature, it tastes just as it should only a few days after baking.

That makes it the ideal stollen for anyone with no experience of yeast dough, for spontaneous Advent weekends – and for everyone who would rather take on a little less in December.

Tips for a stollen that turns out well little tricks

Let the butter get properly soft. Unlike shortcrust pastry, here the butter should be soft so that it combines well with the quark. Best to take it out of the fridge an hour beforehand.

Drain very wet quark. If there's a lot of liquid sitting on top of the quark, pour it off first. Otherwise the dough needs more flour and becomes firmer.

Check with a skewer. Every oven bakes a little differently. Towards the end of the baking time, push a wooden skewer into the thickest part: if no damp dough clings to it, the stollen is done.

Soak the raisins beforehand. If you like, soak the raisins in a little orange juice the evening before and drain them well before using. They become especially plump and juicy.

Keep topping up the icing sugar. Over time, the icing sugar soaks into the stollen. My tip: every now and then, simply sift a little fresh icing sugar over it – then the stollen looks lovely right down to the last slice.

Grate only the thin outer zest. With the lemon and orange, grate only the coloured layer; the white pith beneath tastes bitter. Use unwaxed fruit, since the zest is eaten too, and wash it in hot water first.

How to tell the dough is right soft, but easy to shape

A quark dough behaves differently from a yeast dough, and that can be unsettling the first time. These signs will help:

• At first it's very sticky. While only the first 500 g of flour is in the dough, it sticks to your hands and the worktop. That's normal and no reason to use more flour than the recipe says.
• Once the rest of the flour is in, it's soft but easy to shape. When all 750 g has been worked in, the dough feels like a soft shortcrust: it hardly sticks any more, can be shaped into a loaf and holds its shape if you leave it for a moment.
• The surface may be a little uneven. Raisins and walnuts push their way to the outside, and small cracks from folding can simply stay.
• It's done when the skewer comes out dry. Push a wooden skewer into the thickest part – if no damp dough clings to it, the stollen is baked through.

When something goes wrong quick help

The dough is still sticky even with all the flour in. Usually the quark was very wet or the butter almost liquid. Put the dough in the fridge for half an hour – cold, it's much easier to shape. Only if it's still sticky after that, knead in an extra 1 to 2 tbsp of flour.

The stollen spreads as it bakes. The dough was too warm or too soft. It helps to chill the shaped stollen for 20 to 30 minutes before baking. If you like, you can also set a stollen frame or a doubled strip of foil loosely around the loaf so that it keeps its shape.

Dark outside, not yet done inside. The top is getting too much heat. Cover the stollen loosely with baking paper or foil as soon as it's a lovely golden brown, and finish baking it. Next time, it helps to bake it properly in the lower third of the oven.

The stollen has turned out dry. Usually it was in the oven too long or wasn't wrapped well enough. Brush it generously with the melted butter straight after baking and wrap it airtight once it has cooled – that way it stays moist.

The underside is too dark. Slide a second baking tray under the first. The double layer protects the base from too much heat.

Fresh zest or from a sachet? both work

Citrus belongs in a stollen – in this recipe, though, not as candied citron and orange peel but as zest. It tastes loveliest of all with the freshly grated zest of an unwaxed lemon and an unwaxed orange: it brings a bright, fresh flavour to the dough, and you won't notice any little pieces as you eat.

When time is short, or there's no unwaxed fruit in the house, ready-grated lemon and orange zest from a sachet works too – the kind you'll find on the baking shelf.

Storing and slicing so it stays moist

A quark stollen tastes best in the first two weeks after baking. To keep it moist:

• Wrap it well. Wrap the completely cooled stollen in baking paper or greaseproof paper and then in foil, or lay it in an airtight tin.
• Keep it cool and dry. A cool room, a larder or an unheated spare room is ideal.
• Refresh the icing sugar. Because the icing sugar soaks in, simply dust it again before serving.
• Cut it from the middle. Rather than starting at one end, cut the stollen through the middle, slice off as much as you need and push the two halves firmly back together. That way the cut faces don't dry out.
• Freeze it. Quark stollen freezes well, ideally well wrapped and without icing sugar. Let it thaw in good time and only dust it afterwards.

If you'd like a fresh stollen for the holidays, it's best baked in mid-December. If you want a nibble during Advent too, simply plan a second baking day – or freeze one half.

Variations for your stollen just as you like it

The basic recipe is a good starting point for your own ideas:

• Almonds instead of walnuts. Chopped or flaked almonds make the stollen milder and more traditional.
• Other dried fruit. Instead of raisins, dried cranberries, chopped apricots or figs work well.
• With a marzipan centre. Lay a roll of marzipan (about 200 g) in the groove before you fold the dough over.
• Spices. A pinch of cinnamon, cardamom or nutmeg gives the dough more of a Christmas flavour.
• Two smaller stollen. The dough weighs about 2.3 kg in total. Halved, that makes two stollen of about 1.15 kg each and roughly 20 to 25 cm long – ideal for giving away. Both fit side by side on one tray if you leave a good hand's width between them. The baking time is shorter; check with a skewer from about 40 minutes to see whether they're done.

Giving stollen as a gift wrapped in paper

A home-baked stollen is one of the loveliest gifts of Advent. Wrapped in baking paper, tied with a length of linen ribbon or twine and given a little label, it needs no further packaging. If you like, tuck the recipe in too – handwritten on a small card.

For anyone with a nut allergy, a note about the walnuts belongs with it, and if you're expecting guests with intolerances, you can bake a small portion with no nuts at all.

Goes well with for the Advent plate

On the Advent plate, the stollen happily keeps company with the classics from the biscuit tin: Christmas biscuits – four classics with a baking plan (in German), and with soft Elisenlebkuchen, the German nut gingerbread made without flour. If you'd like to sew something for the tree while the stollen rests, you'll find eight quiet shapes in Sewing linen Christmas ornaments. How to lay the table for the holidays in a calm, atmospheric way is in my post on setting a country-style Christmas table (in German).

Frequently asked questions answered short & clear

A cosy Advent to you – Jona