Stollen Bakery, Striezelmarkt - Dresden

Stollen, originally known as striezel (from which the market takes its name), is a traditional Dresden Christmas sweet bread. It is full of raisins and other candied or dried fruit and topped with powdered sugar. Many bakeries and stalls sell the cake already packaged, but the bakers in this stall put in a full day baking it fresh - gathering the ingredients, carefully shaping and weighing the dough and baking the loaves a wood-fired oven. Its sweet smell wafts through the market, drawing crowds all day long.

Read more about European Christmas Markets and Reflections on Dresden's Christmas Market.