Gingerbread Spice Christmas Tree Bread #BreadBakers

I am extremely excited about how this bread turned out. I pictured it in my head and went over how I would shape it way too many times. How many layers should I use? How much dough do I need? How would I shape each layer into the same size triangle? Decisions. Decisions. I calculated the area of the circles of star breads I have made in the past then figured out rectangles with the same area. I drew a sketch of what I would do. Who says you don't use maths after you leave school?

Try to work as quickly as possible. You don't want this bread rising too long or it will start to lose its shape. However, even if it does, it will still look great coming out of the oven. Your hard work will not be for naught. 

Thanks so much, Felice for hosting this month's Tear & Share Holiday Breads. I was so happy to flex some creative muscles. Scroll down to see some other gorgeous loaves for your holiday table. 

Gingerbread Spice Christmas Tree Bread 

Ingredients

Dough

330 grams flour 

3 tablespoons sugar 

2 teaspoons yeast 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 egg

1/2 cup milk 

1/4 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla 

Filling 

1 egg, beaten 

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

2 teaspoons ginger 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 

1/4 teaspoon allspice

Directions 

Mix all the dough ingredients together and knead for about 7 minutes. You want a very soft dough. It should not be too sticky to handle though. If so, sprinkle in some flour, if it is dry, add a tablespoon or so of milk. 

Place the dough in a greased bowl and allow to rise until doubled. I prefer to let it rest in the fridge overnight. 

When the dough is doubled, mix together all the filling ingredients. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. 

Divide the dough into 2 pieces. Working with one piece at a time,  roll each into an 11" x 14" rectangle. Using the diagram below as a guide, cut out a triangle that has a base of 11 inches and a height of 14 inches. 

Place the unshaded (isosceles) triangle on the parchment paper.  Brush with the beaten egg then top with a third of the filling - roughly 3 tablespoons. 

Form the two remaining pieces of dough (the shaded areas or right-angled triangles) into a triangle on top of the filling. The 14-inch sides should meet in the middle. 

Brush with more egg and sprinkle with another third of filling. 

Top this layer of filling with the shaded (right-angle) triangles from the second piece of dough.

 

Brush with egg again and top with the rest of the filling. 

Cover with the second unshaded (isosceles) triangle. You may need to stretch the top piece a bit. But fret not, it will work out in the end. 

Gently mark out a center "trunk" for the tree. I started with a one-inch trunk at the bottom and then narrowed that towards the top. 

Cut one-inch strips on either side of your trunk. Be sure not to cut your trunk! I placed my ruler in the middle for the one-inch areas and used wooden spoon handles as I narrowed. That ensured I didn't cut too far in.

Twist each strip in the same direction. 

Allow the tree to rest for about 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350 F. 

Brush the dough with the remaining beaten egg. 

Bake 25-30 minutes. 

Celebrate! You made it!

 #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month the Bread Bakers are making Tear & Share Holiday Breads, a theme chosen by Felice from All That's Left Are The Crumbs.

And don’t forget to check out all the amazing breads baked by our talented bakers ~

• Baklava Danish Tear and Share Treat Bread by A Messy Kitchen
• Buttery Soft Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cheesy Chicken Chutney Pull Apart Skillet Rolls by Sneha's Recipe
• Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Cranberry Cinnamon Star Bread by Making Miracles
• Fruit Mince Braided Star Bread by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Gingerbread Spice Christmas Tree Bread by Passion Kneaded
• Herb and Cheese Star Bread by Ambrosia
• Koledna Pitka - Bulgarian Christmas Eve Bread by Magical Ingredients
• Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Loaf by Palatable Pastime
• Spiced Chrysanthemum Bread by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Turkey, Cranberry and Cheese Pull Apart Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Mini Peanut Butter Bundts - #BundtBakers

I have been thinking about this month's Bundt Bakers for months! I haven't been able to participate in Bundt Bakers consistently so when I see a theme that I can do, I get a bit excited. Thanks for hosting and choosing this theme, Wendy!

This recipe is slightly adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction and is actually a cupcake recipe. Sally uses creamy peanut butter plus crushed peanuts because she finds chunky peanut butter to be drier. However, I already had a huge jar of chunky that I was saving just for this recipe and decided to risk it. The mini bundts were extremely moist! Definitely not dry. I could see how some extra peanuts could add some extra flavour but I loved them as is with some crunchy from the chunky peanut butter. Loved, loved, loved them! 

I happily had this as my post-class snack yesterday and am looking forward to eating another one later today. I showed my students one of them and they were not happy that they were stuck online and couldn't taste my cake in person. I must admit, I was teasing them. Side note: The class has nothing to do with food but somehow we always end up talking food. The first day of class, we all got to talking about how hungry we were. Last week we were talking about cakes and it came out that one of the students and I share a birthday. That is probably the 8th person I know born on my birthday.

Mini Peanut Butter Bundt Cakes 

Yield: Four 1-cup mini Bundts.

Ingredients

150g  all purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup canola oil 

1/2 cup of peanut butter 

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1/3 cup of yogurt, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

3/4 cup milk, room temperature

Directions 

Grease and flour four mini Bundt pans. My pans hold a cup of liquid each. You might have a little left over, so you can bake a little cupcake too. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt. Use a mixer to mix oil, peanut butter, egg, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and milk and mix until completely combined.

Fill each mini Bundt about 2/3rds full. Bake 20-25 minutes. 

Cool and enjoy.  

• Banana Bundt with Cocoa Peanut Butter Glaze from Sweet Sensations
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake from Patyco Candybar
• Easy Frosted Peanut Butter Bundt Cake from Making Miracles
• Mini Peanut Butter Bundts from Passion Kneaded
• PB & J Mini Bundt Cake from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Peanut Butter Cake With Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting from Sneha's Recipe
• Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Pound Cake from Palatable Pastime
• Peanut Butter, Nutella and Banana Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Walnut Butter Bundt Cake from Food Lust People Love

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page

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Callaloo Loaf - #BreadBakers

One of the original staples at a Jamaican patty shop is the meat loaf. The meat loaf is ground beef stuffed in folded yeast dough. Always sold in a brown paper bag. Eventually, as the patty evolved from only ground beef fillings, the meat loaf evolved as well. Now you can get vegetarian options such as the callaloo loaf. Let me be very very honest - I think I have only tasted a callaloo loaf once. It's delicious but I prefer meat. I don't even order meat loaves that much - give me a patty any time, any day. Oh, I should mention that callaloo is a green leafy vegetable - similar to spinach or collard greens. The word "callaloo" means different things and different plants on different islands. In Jamaica, it is a plant from the amaranth family.

I have made meat loaves already for this blog so for this month's stuffed bread, it was time to try something new. I have made these a couple times already and everyone seems to love them. My brother said they were pretty similar to the patty shop's version. And my nephews gobbled them down. It is pretty versatile because you can throw whatever vegetables and seasonings that you love in there and know that it will be delicious. I hid the last batch that I made - I am not sharing this time! Shh!

Thank you, Renu for hosting this month. If you want to see how the other Bread Bakers stuffed their bread, scroll down!

Callaloo Loaves

Ingredients

360 g flour 

1 tablespoon sugar 

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt 

130 ml water 

90 ml milk 

14 ml oil

2 cups cooked callaloo

Directions 

Combine all the ingredients and knead until it forms a smooth, soft, and slightly tacky dough. If the dough seems dry, add a tablespoon or so of water. Place the dough in an oiled bowl and allow to rest until doubled. You can also put it in the refrigerator overnight. This is my preferred method for doughs. 

When the dough is ready, divide into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a roughly 6 to 7 inch circle. Add 2 heaped tablespoons of callaloo to the center of the circle ensuring that the edges do not have any filling. Moisten the edges all around with water then fold over and seal the dough well. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 

Allow the stuffed doughs to rest about 20 minutes while you preheat the oven. When the oven is ready, bake 20 minutes until golden. 

Notes

Callaloo is cooked just like spinach sauteed with whatever you like - onions, garlic, pepper, salt. You can also add additional vegetables - carrots, tomatoes. It is really good with saltfish. It wilts a ton too.

 Welcome to Bread Bakers! This month, our theme is Stuffed Baked Breads and our host is Renu of Cook with Renu. Final List for Stuffed Baked Breads Welcome to Bread Bakers! This month, our theme is Stuffed Baked Breads and our host is Renu of Cook with Renu.

• Coconut Buns by Magical Ingredients
• Callaloo Loaf by Passion Kneaded
• Double Cheese Fatayers by Ambrosia
• Meatball Stromboli by Palatable Pastime
• Pepperoni Rolls by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Ricotta Calzones with Spinach and Sausage by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Rolled Pepperoni Pizza Loaf by Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Custard buns by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Stuffed Potato Kulcha by Sneha's Recipe
• Sweet Potato and Apple Braid by What Smells So Good?
• Taco Tuesday Calzone by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Whole Wheat Vegetarian Calzones by Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.