Choose a festive stollen for a sweet treat at Christmas brunch, with coffee or for dessert. Rolls, baguette or ciabatta are better choices to serve with savoury courses. If you want to serve warm bread, factor in the oven space you’ll need for bake-at-home bread. For any festive bread, check the ingredients, allergens and availability at your chosen shop.
A festive stollen or mini stollen can be the sweet option to serve with coffee and other accompaniments. Check the allergen information for each stollen: the festive stollen described by PLUS contains, among other things, gluten-containing cereals, eggs, milk and nuts.
If you want to serve bread with soup, starters, cheese or other accompaniments, consider rolls, baguette or ciabatta instead of a filled, sweet stollen. Jumbo and Dirk list several of these types of bread in their ranges.
If you want to stick to your usual bread choices for a festive meal, compare wholemeal, brown and white bread. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre advises replacing white bread with wholemeal or brown bread wherever possible. Check the type of bread and allergens for each product.
First decide whether the bread will be a sweet part of the meal or served with savoury dishes. Then check the packaging and, if you’re planning to serve bake-at-home bread, think about how it fits into your oven schedule.
| What to consider | What to check before buying | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet festive bread | Check the filling, size and allergens of the specific stollen. | If I’m serving bread with coffee or as a sweet part of Christmas brunch, I want it to suit the occasion on its own. Around 42% of consumers prioritise sweet festive bread. |
| Bread to serve with savoury courses | Compare rolls, baguette and ciabatta by size and preparation method. | With soup, cheese or other savoury dishes, I’m looking for bread I can serve alongside them without a sweet filling. This combination matters most to around 33% of consumers. |
| Type of bread and ingredients | Read the ingredients, allergen and nutritional information, and check whether the bread is actually wholemeal or brown. | If the type of bread or an allergen determines my choice, I want to be able to check the information on the packaging. This is the most important consideration for around 25% of consumers. |
Filled stollen is sweet, so it won’t necessarily go with savoury starters or the main course.
Decide which course needs bread. For a mixed spread, you could serve stollen for the sweet moment and a separate bread for the savoury courses.
The PLUS festive stollen with almond paste and nuts lists, among other things, gluten-containing cereals, eggs, milk and nuts. A festive product name doesn’t tell you whether it’s suitable for someone with a particular allergy.
Before buying, read the latest ingredients and allergen information for the product you plan to serve.
Albert Heijn says its special Christmas range for 2026 will be available from 28 November. A festive bread shown on the page won’t necessarily be available at the shop where you do your shopping.
Check the product you want and your chosen shop shortly before buying, and have another suitable type of bread in mind.
Baking bread just before serving takes up oven space that you may also need for other dishes.
Plan when you’ll bake it, and follow the packaging instructions for storage and preparation.
Albert Heijn’s Christmas page features AH Excellent stollen varieties and mini stollen for a sweet festive treat.
Jumbo lists rolls in a range of varieties, including white, seeded, spelt and sourdough.
Lidl’s seasonal Deluxe range includes Christmas inspiration centred around stollen.
ALDI describes both ready-to-eat bread and bread to bake at home, as well as its seasonal Gourmet Luxe Stollen.
PLUS’s Christmas bread page features rolls and croissants, among other things, and also describes a festive stollen.
Dirk lists bake-at-home bread such as baguettes, ciabatta and rolls, alongside inspiration for Christmas breakfast.
No, those names don’t in themselves confirm that a roll is wholemeal. If the type of bread matters to you, check the product name and ingredients.
Read the allergen information for the specific stollen before buying. The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority explains that allergens must be listed on labels. The festive stollen described by PLUS contains, among other things, gluten-containing cereals, eggs, milk and nuts.
For an unopened pack, follow the use-by date and storage instructions on the label. For opened bake-at-home bread, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre’s Storage Guide recommends 2 to 4 days in the fridge or 1 to 3 months in the freezer. Freezing may affect the quality.
Don’t assume this is the case for every loaf. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre describes bread as an important source of iodine in the Netherlands. For packaged bread, check the ingredients list for baker’s salt; for unwrapped bread, ask for the product information.
