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Stroll into my kitchen this holiday season, and you’ll smell the rich aromas of cinnamon, cardamom, melting chocolate and toasting nuts.

Busy making dozens of festive cookies, most would presume. Nope. Instead, I’m carrying on my family’s tradition of baking holiday breads. From dried fruit- and nut-studded German stollen to my mom’s own quirky walnut loaf, there is no better way to celebrate the season, culinarily speaking, than with fresh, homemade bread.

My take on holiday foods is rooted in a long history. Bakers in Dresden, Germany, offered stollen as early as the 15th century, and their counterparts in Milan, Italy, and in all parts of Greece created their respective Christmas treats – panettone and christopsomo – from the 10th century onward.

With such long and lasting traditions come rituals as well. Making the anise-flavored christopsomo, or “Christ’s bread,” is considered a sacred custom, and the baker begins by crossing herself. Because christopsomo is believed to influence the future welfare of the household, the baker adorns the round loaf with a cross fashioned out of ribbons of dough and sometimes studded with unshelled walnuts. Only the highest quality ingredients, including currants and figs, go into christopsomo. Baked with care on Christmas Eve, it is consumed on Christmas Day. At one time it even acted as the centerpiece of the holiday dinner table.

Stollen likewise possesses religious connotations. With its oblong shape, center fold, tapered ends and liberal dusting of confectioners’ sugar, the bread is said to symbolize the Christ child dressed in swaddling clothing.

Today, in its hometown of Dresden, this Christmas classic has achieved a cultlike status. Each December, the city holds the Dresden Stollen Festival, where a horse-drawn wagon carries a 3- to 4-ton stollen through the Old Town. A procession of bakers and chefs, up to 80 of whom have participated in the bread’s creation, accompanies the wagon to the Striezelmarkt, or Christmas fair. There, the Royal Master Baker and Stollen Maiden cut and serve the giant loaf to hordes of spectators.

At Haegele’s Bakery in Philadelphia, owner/baker Glen Haegele follows the recipes of his German ancestors to create a much smaller but no less delectable stollen. Haegele crafts and sells this specialty from Thanksgiving through New Year. It has been a bakery tradition for 78 years.

Unlike the simple stollen that I make, the stollen that Haegele makes uses a starter or sponge that he adds to the final dough. The sponge is a pre-ferment mixture of yeast, water and flour that stimulates final fermentation and enhances flavor.

“I’m using Old World recipes passed down through the family,” he says. “Years ago, there weren’t strong enough flours to support the addition of fruits and nuts. If you didn’t start with a sponge, the dough would collapse.”

Unlike the aforementioned breads, Italian panettone is not restricted to holiday tables. Rather, it shows up year-round, sometimes as a dessert or coffee cake, at festive events. Nor does this raisin- and citrus-flecked bread claim a spiritual tie-in.

In fact, its origins remain shrouded in mystery. The romantic account is that a nobleman fell in love with an impoverished baker’s daughter and invented this bread for her. Depending upon the source, the nobleman dubbed it panettone, “Toni’s bread,” in honor of himself, or of the poor baker or the object of his affections.

No matter what the origins, the high-rising panettone and stollen do share a love of a starter or biga, as it is called in Italian artisan breads. This proofing process boosts the distinct fluffy texture and oversized mushroom shape of the golden bread.

For those attempting to make this Milanese masterpiece at home, pastry chef Biagio Settepani, owner of Pasticceria Bruno on Staten Island, N.Y., offers this sound advice: “Use fresh yeast and make the biga a day in advance so that you don’t have a yeasty flavor in your panettone.”

While Settepani produces such fancy breads as panettoneimbottito, which is filled with chocolate mousse and covered with a white or milk chocolate glaze, I tend to stick close to the original recipe. Raisins, candied citron and zest are the classic components for panettone purists.

Similarly, I rarely tinker with the ingredients of julebrod, or Norwegian yule bread. The exotic headiness of cardamom and piquancy of citron and raisins make this round bread the perfect antidote to the surplus of sugary holiday treats.

Eva Mangschou Anderson, who grew up in Bergen, Norway, recalls Christmas skiing trips where julebrod was served at breakfast with butter and slices of Norwegian goat cheese.

“As the bread tends to get dry rather quickly, it was always kept on the wooden counter covered with a dampened towel. Today we wrap it in plastic or foil, which keeps it from drying out,” she says.

Dry or moist, sweet or spicy, there seems to be a seasonal bread for every European country. In Switzerland, holiday revelers nosh on birnbrot, a kirsch-laced pear-and-nut bread.

Made from yeasted dough, it appears in the form of a loaf, ring or small buns. Joululimppu, a rich, rye bread that contains molasses, fennel, anise and a hint of orange zest, graces Finnish Christmas tables.

In the Provence region of France, families break out the pompe à huile on Dec. 25. Flavored with orange flower water and confectioners’ sugar, Provencal Christmas bread is said to represent Jesus.

Back in my own kitchen, I bake elongated walnut loaves. As with panettone, the origins of this filled bread are uncertain. I do recall from my childhood, though, how on frigid December days, after trudging home from the school bus stop, I warmed to the scents of cinnamon and brown sugar wafting through our home, which invariably put me in a festive frame of mind. That’s the beauty of all these breads. They instill a sense of the season, a Christmas spirit, and remind me of all the customs and symbolism that holiday foods bear.

APRICOT-ALMOND STOLLEN
Makes 2 loaves

½ cup golden raisins
¼ cup dark raisins
½ cup dried apricots, chopped
½ cup toasted almonds, chopped
¼ cup vanilla rum
1 cup milk, warmed
2 packages dry active yeast
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons almond extract
2 large eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ to 1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted, for optional dusting
1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted, for optional icing
1 tablespoon vanilla non-dairy creamer or milk, for optional icing

Place the raisins, apricots, almonds and rum in a small bowl, stir together and allow the mixture to steep for an hour or so.

In a small bowl pour the warmed milk over the contents of two packets of dried active yeast. Allow to rest for several minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and almond extract in another small bowl.

In a larger bowl sift together the flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, slowly mix the pieces of butter into the flour mix. Note that this also can be done using a food processor. Simply put the flour and salt the bowl of the food processor and, adding the chunks of butter in several installments, pulsing until well combined.

Pour the liquids together and stir. Slowly add the liquids to the flour, stirring well with each addition. Once the solids and liquids have been incorporated, shape the dough into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

Drain the fruit-nut mix.

Tumble the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Evenly spread a portion of the fruit-nut mix over the top of the dough and knead together. Repeat until all the fruit-nut mix has been added to the dough.

Place the dough in a large, greased bowl and cover it with cling wrap. Put the bowl in a warm spot in your kitchen and allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size.

Grease two baking sheets and set aside.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down and divide it in half. Place each half on a lightly floured work surface and shape each piece into an elongated oval. Fold each almost in half so that the bottom edge extends slightly and place each loaf on a greased baking sheet. Cover and allow to rise again for 45 minutes. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake the loaves for 45 minutes or until browned on top. Remove and allow to cool slightly before either liberally dusting with confectioner’s sugar or brushing icing on the tops. To make the icing, add the milk or vanilla non-dairy creamer to the sifted sugar and stir together until blended.

NORWEGIAN CHRISTMAS BREAD
Courtesy of Eva Mangschou Anderson
Makes 2 rounds or 3 loaves

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 ounces fresh yeast
10 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups milk
5 ½ cups all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting, sifted
2 teaspoons cardamom
7 ounces raisins
1 egg yolk, for brushing on top of bread
1 tablespoon milk, for brushing on top of bread

Put the yeast and sugar in a medium-sized bowl.

In a small sauce pan combine the butter and milk, heating until the butter has melted. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm before adding the liquids to the yeast/sugar mixture and stirring to combine. Allow the yeast to “melt” for a few minutes before stirring again.

Place the flour and cardamom in a large bowl. Making a small well in the center, pour the liquids into the flour and stir together until well combined. Add the raisins. The dough will be very sticky at this point

Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and leave it in warm spot to rise to double its size. Depending on how warm your kitchen is, this could take as little as 30 minutes as long as several hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two baking sheets and set aside.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Add enough flour to the dough to make it smooth and workable. Shape into 3 loaves or 2 rounds and place onto the greased baking sheets.

Whisk together the egg yolk and milk and brush over the top of each loaf.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Cool on wire racks. Serve with butter and preserves or a dab of goat cheese.

WHITE CHOCOLATE-CRANBERRY PANETTONE
Makes 1 loaf

½ cup cranberries
¼ cup orange or cranberry juice
1 package dry active yeast
½ cup milk, warmed
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg
5 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour plus a little extra for dusting the work surface
3 tablespoons butter, softened
¾ cup white chocolate chips

In a small bowl mix together the dried cranberries and orange or cranberry juice.

In another small bowl add the milk to the yeast. Once the yeast has dissolved, add the flour and sugar. Stir together until well combined. Cover the starter or biga with a sheet of plastic wrap and, placing in a warm spot, allow to rise until double in size, about 2 hours.

Grease a large mixing bowl as well as a panettone mold or 24-ounce coffee can. (If you do not have either a mold or empty coffee can, line a small, round, buttered baker with buttered parchment paper – the paper should be roughly 6” high.)

Whisk together the egg, yolks, vanilla, sugar and salt.

Add the starter and flour to the liquids and mix together. Once the ingredients are incorporated, place the dough on a floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes. Add chunks of the butter to the dough and knead it to incorporate. Continue to need the dough until the butter is well-combined. Form the dough into a ball.

Drain and pat the cranberries dry.

Flatten the dough then add a third of the cranberries and chocolate chips. Fold the dough over and knead the ingredients into the dough. Repeat the process until all the cranberries and chips have been added.

Form the dough into a ball. Place it in the greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise for 1 ½ hours.

Punch down the dough, place it in the buttered panettone mold or buttered coffee can and cover it with plastic wrap. Allow one final rise, about 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the plastic wrap and insert the panettone into the pre-heated oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

WALNUT ROLL
Makes 2 loaves

Dough:
1 cup milk, warmed
2 ounces fresh yeast
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
4 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

Walnut Filling:
2 cups walnut, ground
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium-sized bowl, pour the warmed milk over the yeast and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks.

In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, add the butter to the flour until completely incorporated.

Add the eggs to the milk and yeast and stir together. Slowly add the liquids to the flour, stirring well with each addition. Once the solids and liquids have been incorporated, shape the dough into a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and, placing the bowl in a warm spot, allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour.

While waiting for the dough to rise, mix together the walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, eggs and vanilla. Grease two baking sheets.

Once the dough has risen, divide it half and form two round balls. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out until you have a rectangle roughly ¼-inch thick and approximately 11 inches in length. Spread equal amounts of walnut filling on each piece, leaving about ½-inch of plain dough around the edges.

Grasping the long edge of the dough, roll it inward until you have something resembling a Swiss roll. Place the seam side face up on the baking sheet. Repeat with other loaf. Cover each loaf with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 45 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake the loaves for 45 to 50 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes on baking sheets before moving to and cooling on wire racks.

© 2008, Kathy Hunt. Distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc.