What's more fun than table guests who respond enthusiastically to your baked goods? That will certainly work this Christmas with this colorful eye-catcher. Whether for breakfast, brunch or a snack during the Christmas holidays. This baked pick-your-own bread fits perfectly with the time of year; a green Christmas tree bread with pesto and spinach.
A whopper of a Christmas tree loaf; what a feast on the table and the bread is green with natural colorings from pesto and spinach
My mission when baking this bread was to keep the Christmas tree green. A green bread in the shape of a Christmas tree, with natural colorings, that has a good taste. And it worked!
Natural dyes lose their color if you heat it too hot and that is such a shame. Then I think of the breads I baked earlier; beautiful pink bread with beets, orange with carrots or yellow with turmeric. After baking, some of those enchanting shades have disappeared. That's why I decided to bake this bread at a significantly lower temperature than is actually usual. The dough is protected with aluminum foil for part of the baking time. A Christmas tree has to be green, right? Just like the real tree in the house.
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I can almost hear Robèrt van Beckhoven saying: “Bread should be baked, not dried!” And he's right, but this tree is baked flat, so it's ready sooner than a bus loaf. I also thought the result of the green color was too important at Christmas.
Green Christmas tree bread with pesto and spinach
Supplies:
500 grams of flour
100 grams of pesto spread (with the spreads at AH, or opt for (homemade) pesto)
1 medium egg
10 grams of yeast
250 grams of thawed spinach from the freezer
110-120 ml lukewarm whole milk
10 grams of salt
Pinch of pepper/chili pepper
For the Christmas baubles and “lights” in the tree:
Olives, dark green or black
Small tomatoes
Pieces of white cheese from a slice of white cheese or from a jar of oil
Chili flakes
Also tasty; pieces of grilled peppers, salmon or small cubes of salami, for example
Also necessary:
Aluminium foil
Butter to rub the tree with after baking
Green Christmas tree bread with pesto and spinach
Add all ingredients except the milk to a bowl. If you have a food processor or a bread machine, you don't have to knead yourself, otherwise your arm muscles will have to do the work. Finally, add the milk, leaving about 30 ml, and see how your dough turns out. If it needs more milk, add it. If you knead the dough by hand, you will probably need less milk. The dough was quite moist, but this makes the bread extra tasty. However, this is more difficult to knead in a controlled manner by hand, so I would use slightly less moisture.
Knead the dough for about 12-15 minutes and let it rise covered for 45 minutes. Clean the Christmas decorations and pat them dry. Start rolling the dough. I always do this on a large plastic desk pad that I have especially for baking. Moisten the surface with some oil. If you use flour, I'm afraid the outside of the dough will be too dry and too white. Moreover, rolling out a long string of flour is not pleasant, you have less control over the dough.
Start rolling. Roll the strand a little longer. If necessary, let the dough rest for a few minutes in between and then continue. The bread needs time to stretch. In the middle, I occasionally lifted the dough and rolled it between my palms. Roll out the dough as long as possible until you think it is a nice, not too thick rope.
From a long green snake to a Christmas tree
Shape the tree on a sheet of baking paper. Start at the top of the tree and zigzag your way down. In this way you form the Christmas tree. Use the end to create a tree stump at the bottom. Decorate the tree with treats and place a piece of plastic over it. I like to use a pedal bin bag; I cut this open and spray or spread some oil over it. This way I can be sure that the bread will not be stuck to the plastic. Let the Christmas tree rise for about 45-60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees (175 degrees in a hot air oven and 195 degrees in an oven with top and bottom heat). Normally I would use 200 or sometimes even 250 degrees. But not today, because I want a green tree. Place 2 strips of aluminum foil next to each other. Bake the bread in the middle of the oven and after 10 minutes place aluminum foil over the bread. Then bake for another 15 minutes and then remove the foil. Make sure that the bread does not become too dark, but is still cooked. After about 30 minutes the bread was done. You can feel and hear this. Lift the bread slightly and tap it. Remove the bread from the oven and spread it with butter. It will shine beautifully.
Let the green Christmas tree bread with pesto and spinach cool. Enjoy your delicious bread and that you can share it with the company at the table.
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