Welcome to our 12 Days of Christmas! Over the next 12 days, each day we are going to feature a special daily post, along with a giveaway here on our blog and a Deal of the Day on a specific product on our website, Joyous Home. We will post each day's post on or before noon each day, and announce the winner from previous day. See more of the giveaway rules and details below the post!
Today, we are baking bread!
Twisted Almond Wreath
Sweet breads made into braids and wreaths, filled with jams and almond marzipan are some of our family's favorite Christmas season treats! This wreath is very easy to make. If you can make cinnamon rolls, then you will have no trouble with this! If you are a beginning bread maker, read here.
You can use any bread dough for this recipe, but for a real treat we recommend using a sweet bread dough recipe. This is our Christmas dough recipe:
In a saucepan, melt together until very warm:
1/2 cup melted butter
2 1/2 cups warm milk
1 cup maple syrup or honey
In the Bosch mixer with the dough hook:
melted butter/milk mixture
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/2 Tbsp. SAF Yeast
1 Tbsp. almond extract
2 Tbsp. LorAnn Buttery Sweet Dough flavor (optional, but very yummy!)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
2 1/2 Tbsp. dough enhancer (again, this is helpful but not always necessary)
4 1/2 cups freshly ground hard white wheat flour
Mix until smooth. Sponge the mix for 35-45 minutes. 45 minutes gives excellent results! As the dough mix rises to the top of the bowl, just jog the mixer to punch the dough back down.
Sponging your dough allows the yeast to develop and also gives some of the flour you've added a chance to soften and absorb some of the liquid. Allowing some of the liquid to be absorbed this way gives you realistic idea of how much flour needs to be added. Adding too much flour makes a very dry bread. After sponging the dough, add:
2 1/2 Tbsp. sea salt.
freshly ground hard wheat flour
Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing gently after each addition. Add flour until the dough is soft and sticky (but not too wet) and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead for 4 minutes on medium-high speed. If you are a beginning bread maker, read here.
To make the Almond Wreath:
You need an 8oz. can of almond paste filling. The brand we use is called Solo and is available in most grocery stores in the baking aisle.
In the blender place 1 cup pecans or walnuts and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Spoon the almond paste on top of the nuts. Pulse the blender until the nuts and the paste are ground together.
On a greased surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 10" x 25". Brush with 1/2 cup softened butter. Sprinkle 2-3 tsp. ground cinnamon over the butter and use the brush to blend it with the butter. Sprinkle the almond paste/nut mixture evenly over the top of all.
Roll up cinnamon roll style...
On a baking sheet lined with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, slide the roll on the pan and shape into a circle. Pinch the dough together to connect the ends.
With a pair of kitchen scissors, cut into the outer part of the ring, 1" away from the inner circle. Twist each cut to the side.
Brush the entire wreath with an egg wash (1 large egg whisked together with 1 Tbsp. water) and sprinkle with pearled sugar (available at specialty baking stores, such as Baker's Catalog).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let the wreath rise for 10 minutes. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the wreath is a light golden brown. Cool on the pan completely.
Use large spatulas to carefully move the wreath to the plate you are going to serve it on. Drizzle with Butter Almond Icing!
Butter Almond Icing
In a bowl, mix together:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 Tbsp. half & half
Whisk together until smooth. Use a pastry bag or a plastic zip bag with a corner snipped off to drizzle the icing over the bread.
Finished!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twisted Almond Wreath
Sweet breads made into braids and wreaths, filled with jams and almond marzipan are some of our family's favorite Christmas season treats! This wreath is very easy to make. If you can make cinnamon rolls, then you will have no trouble with this! If you are a beginning bread maker, read here.
You can use any bread dough for this recipe, but for a real treat we recommend using a sweet bread dough recipe. This is our Christmas dough recipe:
In a saucepan, melt together until very warm:
1/2 cup melted butter
2 1/2 cups warm milk
1 cup maple syrup or honey
In the Bosch mixer with the dough hook:
melted butter/milk mixture
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/2 Tbsp. SAF Yeast
1 Tbsp. almond extract
2 Tbsp. LorAnn Buttery Sweet Dough flavor (optional, but very yummy!)
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
2 1/2 Tbsp. dough enhancer (again, this is helpful but not always necessary)
4 1/2 cups freshly ground hard white wheat flour
Mix until smooth. Sponge the mix for 35-45 minutes. 45 minutes gives excellent results! As the dough mix rises to the top of the bowl, just jog the mixer to punch the dough back down.
Sponging your dough allows the yeast to develop and also gives some of the flour you've added a chance to soften and absorb some of the liquid. Allowing some of the liquid to be absorbed this way gives you realistic idea of how much flour needs to be added. Adding too much flour makes a very dry bread. After sponging the dough, add:
2 1/2 Tbsp. sea salt.
freshly ground hard wheat flour
Add the flour 1 cup at a time, mixing gently after each addition. Add flour until the dough is soft and sticky (but not too wet) and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead for 4 minutes on medium-high speed. If you are a beginning bread maker, read here.
To make the Almond Wreath:
You need an 8oz. can of almond paste filling. The brand we use is called Solo and is available in most grocery stores in the baking aisle.
In the blender place 1 cup pecans or walnuts and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Spoon the almond paste on top of the nuts. Pulse the blender until the nuts and the paste are ground together.
On a greased surface, roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 10" x 25". Brush with 1/2 cup softened butter. Sprinkle 2-3 tsp. ground cinnamon over the butter and use the brush to blend it with the butter. Sprinkle the almond paste/nut mixture evenly over the top of all.
Roll up cinnamon roll style...
On a baking sheet lined with either a silicone baking mat or parchment paper, slide the roll on the pan and shape into a circle. Pinch the dough together to connect the ends.
With a pair of kitchen scissors, cut into the outer part of the ring, 1" away from the inner circle. Twist each cut to the side.
Brush the entire wreath with an egg wash (1 large egg whisked together with 1 Tbsp. water) and sprinkle with pearled sugar (available at specialty baking stores, such as Baker's Catalog).Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Let the wreath rise for 10 minutes. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the wreath is a light golden brown. Cool on the pan completely.
Use large spatulas to carefully move the wreath to the plate you are going to serve it on. Drizzle with Butter Almond Icing!
Butter Almond Icing
In a bowl, mix together:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 Tbsp. half & half
Whisk together until smooth. Use a pastry bag or a plastic zip bag with a corner snipped off to drizzle the icing over the bread.
Finished!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Giveaway Details!
We are keeping the daily giveaway as simple as possible. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment to that day's blog post and say that you want to be entered in the giveaway- one comment equals one entry. You can earn one additional entry by posting about the daily 12 Days of Christmas blog post on your blog, Facebook (add us, Theresa Powers or Jessica Munday, as friends on Facebook for verification) or twitter. Each day we will draw a winner and announce the winner the following day before the next daily post!
Today's giveaway is the Seasons At Home Holiday '09 magazine!
and the Daily Deal on Joyous Home is...
The Girl's Embroidery Scissors
On sale for $3.50 - Regular price $6.50
I love these scissors, they are our favorite for embroidery!
We are keeping the daily giveaway as simple as possible. To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment to that day's blog post and say that you want to be entered in the giveaway- one comment equals one entry. You can earn one additional entry by posting about the daily 12 Days of Christmas blog post on your blog, Facebook (add us, Theresa Powers or Jessica Munday, as friends on Facebook for verification) or twitter. Each day we will draw a winner and announce the winner the following day before the next daily post!
Today's giveaway is the Seasons At Home Holiday '09 magazine!
and the Daily Deal on Joyous Home is...The Girl's Embroidery Scissors
On sale for $3.50 - Regular price $6.50
I love these scissors, they are our favorite for embroidery!
