Pull Apart Christmas Tree

Equipment:

• Stand mixer (but you can do this by hand)

  
  

Ingredients:

A. Tangzhong:

• 30g bread flour

• 90g milk

B. Bread dough:

• 250g bread flour

• 60g milk

• 1 egg

• Tangzhong

• 5g yeast

• 15g sugar

• 10g salt

• 60g butter, cubed and room temp

• 150 mozzarella (cubed into 15 portions of 10g)

• Egg wash (1 egg and dash of milk)

• Pesto

• Grated parmesan

Method:

1. To make the Tangzhong, in a small pot add your flour and milk and whisk on a medium heat until the flour is cooked. The mixture will look like mash potatoes.

2. Place your Tangzhong in a bowl covered with plastic wrap in the fridge to cool.

3. In a bowl with a dough hook attachment, add all your bread dough ingredients, except for the butter, mozzarella and pesto.

5. On a low speed, knead these ingredients until the dough comes together to form a ball around the hook.

6. Add your room temp butter one cube at a time while the mixer is still on a low speed.

7. After all the butter is incorporated, knead for another 10 minutes until the dough passes the window pane test. *to do a window pane test, take a small piece of dough and gently stretch it until it is so thin (and does not break) and light passes through.

8. Form your dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof until double in size. This should take around 2 hours.

9. Punch your dough down, and divide into 15 equal dough balls. They should weigh around 40g each.

10. Flatten each dough ball, place 10g of mozzarella in the centre and enclose this into the dough ball.

11. Once you have shaped all 15 dough balls, it's time to create your Christmas tree on a lined baking sheet. Start by placing 5 dough balls at the bottom to form the base of the tree. Then, stack 4 dough balls directly above that, followed by 3, then 2, and finally, place 1 dough ball at the very top. This will give your bread a Christmas Tree shape.

12. As you arrange the dough balls, make sure to leave a little space between each one. This space is important because it allows the dough to rise and expand both while it proofs and during baking.

13. Place your Christmas Tree in a closed oven to proof until doubled in size. Again, this should take around 1 to 2 hours.

14. Once proofed, pre-heat your oven to 200C.

15. Make your egg wash, and brush an even layer of egg wash over your Tree.

16. Bake for about 20 mins, or until the Tree becomes a deep golden colour.

17. Once out of the oven, decorate with pesto and parmesan to taste.