Fresh From The Oven: Festive Wreath

This month’s Fresh from the Oven challenge was set by Michelle who blogs over at Utterly Scrummy Food For Families. I decided to make the festive wreath using my kitchen aid stand mixer, but decided not to even attempt Michelle’s directions for the actual making of the wreath, but rather to repeat my cinnamon buns layout and make a wreath using my pizza pan. To make the wreath more festive I lit a sparkler shaped in a star for the photograph. The taste is like a Chelsea bun and Dave and I each had one for after lunch dessert. I took the wreath to my cousin to add to their table for evening snacks and we were left with two to come home with. They do not keep very well, so make that your excuse for eating the whole lot in one day.

FESTIVE WREATH

ingredients:

for the dough:

1 tablespoon instant yeast

420g flour

1 tablespoon sugar – I used fructose

1½ teaspoon salt

50g softened butter

1½ teaspoon ground mixed spice

315mls lukewarm milk

for the filling:

50g softened butter

2 tablespoons sugar – I used fructose

1 teaspoon almond extract

45g flour

½ cup blanched almonds – I chopped half of them

½ cup dried apricots, chopped

milk for glazing

for the icing:

30g chocolate

5g butter

method:

for the dough:

place the milk into a pot on a low heat while you measure out the balance of the ingredients for the dough

using a mixer with a dough hook, add all the ingredients into the bowl

knead for 10 minutes until the dough forms a soft ball that springs back when lightly pressed

turn the dough out of the bowl and lightly grease the bowl

roll the dough into a ball and place back into the bowl

cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for 45 minutes in a warm place

near the end of the proving time make the filling so that it’s ready to use as soon as the dough has proved

for the filling:

beat together the butter, sugar, extract and flour to make a paste

fold in the nuts and the fruit

knead the dough for a minute and then roll out in a large rectangle shape on a well floured surface

position the dough with the longest edge facing you

spread the filling over the bottom edge, then roll it up

use a sharp knife and cut the roll into 1 inch (2.5cm) slices

place the slices into a pizza pan around the edges, joining each slice together and pushing each one flat

leave to prove for 45 minutes before preheating the oven to 200° Celsius

glaze the exposed surfaces with milk

bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through*

for the icing:

once you have taken the wreath out of the oven melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave

drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the wreath

FESTIVE WREATH PRINTABLE VERSION

* I checked at 22 minutes and one side was slightly darker than the other!

I then decided to make the wreath again in my bread maker. I have a Breville Ikon that allows me to select a dough setting and so I used that. I also decided to make the wreath itself differently by cutting the rolled out dough into two and making a filling for each half. I used the same filling as above for the one half and a dried cherry and pistachio nut filling for the second half. I rolled each one up lengthwise and then twisted them over each other to make a rope and laid it out around my pizza pan. It was not as easy to do as the bun layout so you need to be careful not to split the dough – I was not that careful as I tried to untwist the dough and redo it! This however made no difference to the outcome. For the recipe I used for the bread maker, click here: FESTIVE WREATH FOR THE BREAD MAKER PRINTABLE VERSION. This had a lovely taste with the pistachio’s really coming through. It had less of a Chelsea bun taste than the first recipe even though the base ingredients were the same.

Tandy

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31 thoughts on “Fresh From The Oven: Festive Wreath”

It looks wonderful and even better to have bread maker instructions too. I never thought of having different fillings in each half, great idea.
Thanks for popping by to see my blog too
Ellen

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31 thoughts on “Fresh From The Oven: Festive Wreath”

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