Foods shaped in festive ways is tacky to some but I just love it. Not only is it so fun, no-one can help but smile when they see a Christmas tree-shaped pull apart bread. Now stuff that bread with cheese, sprinkle it with dried herbs and bake until golden and you have an adorable AND delicious festive appetizer. The perfect addition to your cheese board and simply delicious served with soup as a side dish.
Ingredients
Full pull apart bread recipe with instructions can be found in the recipe card.
- Warm water. You want the water to be warm, not hot. If the water is too warm it will kill the yeast.
- Sugar.
- Instant yeast.
- Flour. All purpose flour or bread flour.
- Salt.
- Egg.
- Butter.
- Mozzarella.
- Dried herbs.
How to make a festive pull apart bread
- The dough. My recipe is simple (even easier if you make it in a stand mixer) but you can use any shop bought bread dough for this recipe. Allow chilled dough to come up to room temperature before stuffing and forming. Break dough into balls the size of golf balls, flatten in the palm of your hand, stuff with cheese and bring the corners in. Pinch together and form into balls.
- Cheese. I used mozzarella but you can use cubes of cheddar, Fontina, Raclette or Havarti.
- Baking – Form the cheese-stuffed dough into a Christmas tree on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Allow a little space in between the dough balls as they will rise while the oven preheats. Brush with egg wash then sprinkle with dried herbs of your choice. I like adding a sprinkle of sea salt flakes too. Bake until golden brown and cooked through. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Can I make this in advance?
The dough can be made the day before and kept in the fridge. The assemble bread can covered and refrigerated for a day as well. The baked bread can be kept loosely covered for up to 6 hours and served at room temperature.
