Braided Bread Wreath Food

BRAIDED WREATH BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, sugar, butter, 1 egg, orange zest, salt, extract and 1 cup flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down; divide into thirds. Roll each portion into a 20-in. rope. Braid the ropes; shape into a wreath and pinch ends to seal. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes., For glaze, beat egg; lightly brush over dough. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool.

HOLIDAY BREAD WREATH

Steps:

• Mix 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, the bread flour, salt, yeast and 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water (105 degrees F to 110 degrees F) in a large bowl with a wooden spoon to make a wet and sticky dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until almost tripled in size, 2 to 3 hours (the top will flatten and begin to sink in the center). Divide the dough in half and transfer one piece to another bowl. Cover both bowls with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.
• Put a pizza stone or inverted rimmed baking sheet on the highest oven rack and put a broiler pan on the lowest rack; preheat the oven to 475 degrees F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator, sprinkle each piece with 1/4 cup flour, then shape each into a smooth, taut ball. Cover the bowls loosely with plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Put a large piece of parchment paper on a pizza peel or another inverted baking sheet and dust with flour. Using floured hands, pick up a ball of dough and poke your thumbs through the center to make a hole. Place on the parchment, then gently stretch the dough from the center to make a 9-inch-diameter ring with a 5-inch hole in the center. Sprinkle generously with flour. Lay out another sheet of parchment, dust with flour and repeat to shape the other ball of dough into a ring. Let rest, uncovered, 15 minutes.
• Holding kitchen shears at a 45 degrees F angle, make deep cuts at 1-to-1 1/2-inch intervals all the way around both dough rings, pulling the cut sections away from the center as you go to make "leaves." Let rest, uncovered, until plump, about 15 more minutes.
• Slide one dough wreath (on the parchment) directly onto the hot stone. Carefully pour 1 cup water into the broiler pan underneath to create steam; quickly shut the oven door. Bake until the bread is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat with the second dough wreath, adding another cup of water to the broiler pan.

SWEDISH TEA RING (COFFEE BREAD)

Steps:

• Heat the milk, add the butter and sugar, then the yeast and egg: Pour milk into a small saucepan and heat on medium heat until steamy (but not boiling). Remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and sugar until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Pour into a mixing bowl. Mix in yeast mixture and the egg.
• Add the spices, then gradually add the flour: Mix in the salt and cardamom. Slowly add in 2 cups of the flour. After the first two cups, gradually add more flour until a soft dough starts to form into a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
• Knead the dough: Turn out onto a floured surface and knead dough for 7 to 10 minutes until smooth, OR use a dough hook in a stand-up mixer and knead the dough for 7 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep the dough from being too sticky. Note: the dough should remain soft, so take care not to add too much flour.
• Let the dough rise and double in size: Place the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean tea-towel or with plastic wrap. Let rise for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
• Make 2 simple braids, or form 1 filled wreath: At this point you can make a simple braided bread if you want (2 loaves), by punching the dough down, dividing the dough in half, and then dividing each half into three equal parts, rolling the dough pieces into ropes, braiding them, and tucking the ends under. Or you can get more fancy, which is what we've done here, with a filling, and forming the dough into a wreath shape. The following directions are for the wreath form.
• Divide and flatten the dough into 2 rectangles: Press the dough down to deflate it a bit. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Take one part (saving the other for wreath number 2) and use your fingers to spread it into a 8-inch by 16-inch rectangle on a lightly floured, clean, flat surface. If you are having difficulty getting the dough to keep its shape, just do what you can and let it sit for 5 minutes before trying again. Like pizza dough, the dough needs time to relax while you are forming it. Brush the dough with melted butter, leaving at least a half-inch border on the edges so the dough will stick together when rolled.
• Make the filling and fill the dough: Mix together the brown and white sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle the dough with half of mixture (saving the other half for the second batch of dough). Sprinkle on more fillings, as you like, such as raisins, slivered almonds, or almond paste. You could even sprinkle on some cream cheese for a creamier filling.
• Carefully roll the dough and form a ring: Carefully roll the dough up lengthwise, with the seam on the bottom. Carefully transfer to a greased baking sheet. Form a circle with the dough on the baking sheet, connecting the ends together to make a ring.
• Cut the dough and shape the wreath: Using scissors, cut most of the way through the dough, cutting on a slant. Work your way around the dough circle. After each cut, pull out the dough segment either to the right or to the left, alternating as you go around the circle. The dough circle will look like a wreath when you are done. Repeat the steps with the rest of the dough, to form a second wreath.
• Let the shaped dough rise: Cover the wreaths lightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm area for a second rise. Let rise for about 40 minutes to an hour; the dough should again puff up in size.
• Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Brush the dough with egg wash and bake: Whisk together the egg yolks and cream. Use a pastry brush to brush over the dough. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. After the first 15 minutes of baking, if the top is getting well browned, tent with some aluminum foil.
• Cool, then drizzle with optional glaze: Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Meanwhile, whisk together the powdered sugar and water to create a final glaze (optional). Add more water if the glaze is too thick to drizzle, add more powdered sugar if the glaze is too runny. Drizzle the glaze in a back and forth motion over the pastry.

BRAIDED BREAD WREATH

Steps:

• Unroll bread dough. Cut into three equal pieces. Roll each piece into an 18 to 20 inch long strip. Braid strips. Join ends to form wreath and place on ungreased baking sheet.
• Combine 1 Tbsp. milk and egg (reserve 1 Tbsp. milk for glaze). Whisk thoroughly. Brush on top of wreath. Sprinkle tinted sugar and cinnamon on top. Set aside in a warm, draft-free place. Let proof until approximately doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake wreath 45 minutes (should sound hollow and be golden brown).
• Mix reserved milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Fill decorating bag or sandwich bag approximately 1/3 full. Snip off end of bag. Starting at inside edge, pipe a continuous line from inside to outside all around wreath. Repeat if necessary until glaze is gone or desired coverage is achieved.
• Divide ready to spread frosting into two bowls. Tint one green and one red. With green: fill bag. Cut bag tip into a point (or use a leaf decorating tip). Pipe clusters of three leaves (base of leaves joined in center, points of leaves facing out) randomly around top of wreath. With red: fill bag. Snip off end. Pipe three small red berries in centers of leaf clusters. Snip off more of bag to make enlarge hole. Pipe a bow where the ends of the bread dough was joined.

BRAIDED FRUIT WREATH

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Add milk, butter, sugar, lemon rind, eggs, salt, mace, and 2 cups flour. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.
• Gradually add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.
• Turn dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead, adding flour a little at a time, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.
• Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a tightly woven towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface and divide in half. Using a rolling pin, roll half of the dough into a 22 by 9-inch rectangle. Cover and let rest 5 minutes on the work surface.
• Cut the dough into three 22-inch long strips.
• Mix the nuts and candied fruit. Fill the center of each strip with 1/2 cup of the nut and fruit mixture. Bring edges together and pinch to seal forming three 22-inch-long strands.
• Lay the strands side-by-side on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Turn the baking sheet so the strands are facing lengthwise away from you. Starting in the center of the strands, place the right strand over the middle strand (the right strand has now become the middle strand), then the left strand over the middle, the right over the middle, left over the middle, etc. Continue this process until the strands are too short to braid. Do not pinch the end together.
• To braid the other end of the loaf, turn the baking sheet around so that the unbraided portion is facing you. Place the middle strand over the right strand, then middle strand over the left, middle over the right, middle over the left, etc., until the ends are too short to braid. Join the ends of the braid to form a wreath, and pinch to seal. Repeat with the other half of the dough. Cover with a tightly woven towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.
• About 10 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the loaf reaches 190 degrees.
• Immediately remove bread from baking sheet and cool on a rack for 20 minutes.
• Combine powdered sugar and cream. Mixture should be the consistency of honey (if it isn't, adjust by adding more cream to thin it or powdered sugar to thicken it). Drizzle over the top of each wreath.

WHOLE WHEAT BRAIDS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, eggs, oil, salt and whole wheat flour; beat until smooth. Add enough all-purpose flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl; turn once to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down. Divide into nine pieces; shape each piece into a 14-in. rope and braid three ropes together. Place in three greased 8x4-in. loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes. Remove from pans to cool on wire racks.