[recipes] Christmas Bread

Christmas is around the corner and this year I managed to bake 2 batches of Christmas themed bread. These sweet Christmas buns make a great alternative to serve on festive table and you can choose to make it plain without the fillings in order to have it with soup or cheese.

圣诞节的气氛越来越逼近，今天就和你们一起分享我和小伙伴一起做的圣诞主题面包

CHRISTMAS TREE & WREATH BREAD
(圣诞主题面包)

I used Tomiz spinach powder to colour the dough green so that it will look more like the real Christmas tree and wreath. For tree I filled the buns with strawberry jam bits because it gives a nice colour contrast and flavour while the Laughing Cow cheese dipper act as the stem. Besides that you can also use the biscuit stick to dip the bread in the cheese spread.

(Yield: 2 | Preparation: 30 minutes | Baking: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
260g bread flour
25g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon dry instant yeast
30g unsalted butter, soften
180ml cold fresh milk
1/2 tablespoon Tomiz spinach powder

2 tablespoons strawberry jam bits
4 tablespoons dry mixed fruits
1 pack Laughing Cow cheese dipper

Method:
1. In bread maker baking tin or heavy duty mixer bowl add in cold milk, bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast (at a side) accordingly.

2. Select "dough function" and knead for about 1-2 minutes until the mixture forms a dough before adding in soft butter then continue to knead until elastic dough.

3. Proof dough for an hour or until double in size, deflate it then roughly divide it into 10 rounds weighing 30g each (about 300g) and a 200g dough. Rest for 10 minutes.

4. Evenly wrapped strawberry jam bits into the 30g doughs then arrange them on a baking tray to form a Christmas tree shape shown above.

5. Next wrapped mixed fruit with the remaining 200g dough to form a wreath then place on baking tray.

6. Set prepared doughs aside in the oven to proof for another 45 minutes or till double in size. Dust proofed dough with some bread flour before baking.

7. Preheat oven to 180°C (356°F), place bread tray on middle rack then lower the temperature to 160°C (320°F) and bake for about 25-27 minutes.

8. Remove and cool bread completely on cooling rack before storing.

This is the spinach powder which I used for making bread.

The Christmas Wreath is filled with dry mixed fruit which had being soaked in RUM for a few weeks so the flavour is pretty intense and taste sort of like fruit cake.

ASSORTED CHRISTMAS BREAD
(圣诞主题面包)

Made these cute Assorted Christmas Bread with the boy because he wanted to have some "reindeer" design buns for breakfast. We wrapped the buns (except the tree) with auzki bean paste and the "red nose" with some dough made with beetroot powder.

I didn't prepared video on making these buns because we did last minute but you can always google "reindeer bread" on YouTube to see the detail steps on making it.

(Yield: 6 | Preparation: 30 minutes | Baking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients:
260g bread flour
25g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon dry instant yeast
30g unsalted butter, soften
180ml cold fresh milk
1 tablespoon beetroot powder
100g Auzuki bean paste
10 mini chocolate chips

Method:
1. In bread maker baking tin or heavy duty mixer bowl add in cold milk, bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast (at a side) accordingly.

2. Select "dough function" and knead for about 1-2 minutes until the mixture forms a dough before adding in soft butter then continue to knead until elastic dough.

3. Set aside 400g of the plain dough and knead the remaining with beetroot powder (mix with 1 tsp of water) to form a red coloured dough.

4. Proof both the dough for an hour or until double in size, deflate them then divide "plain dough" into FIVE 80g balls and "red dough" into FIVE 4g balls and EIGHT 10g balls. Rest for 10 minutes.

5. Roll the 80g balls into oblong shape, flatten slightly then filled the bottom area with 20g of azuki bean paste. Sealed the dough then shaped it into reindeer before fixing the 4g red dough for the nose and 2 chocolate chips as eyes.

6. Next use the 10g red dough to form Christmas tree as shown above. You can continue making reindeer or you can use the coloured dough to shape santa claus and etc.

7. Set prepared dough aside in the oven to proof for another 45 minutes or till double in size. Dust proofed dough with some bread flour before baking.

8. Preheat oven to 180°C (356°F), place bread tray on middle rack then lower the temperature to 160°C (320°F) and bake for about 20 minutes.

9. Remove and cool bread completely on cooling rack before storing.

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