Tis the season for all things festive! Here is a very simple loaf that is gorgeous and will be the perfect addition to your holiday meal.  Despite its impressive appearance we promise it is easy to make.

You can watch Zoë make the Holiday Wreath loaf and a Panettone on KARE11 Showcase Minnesota. ^[1]

We will also be doing a book signing at Cooks of Crocus Hill ^[2] in Edina, MN this Thursday from 6-8:00pm. We’d love to see you all there!

Then on Friday December 12,  Jeff appeared on Fox 9 News at 8:30 am, to mix up more Holiday favorites in five minutes, and he also appeared on WMAR Channel 2 in Baltimore (the ABC affiliate) to show the same breads (click here to view). ^[3]

Now for the Holiday Wreath Bread, and some Holiday gift suggestions:

Start by sprinkling the surface of your dough as it sits in the bucket  ^[4]with flour so it won’t stick to your hands. Master dough with or without herbs (page 25-31), European Peasant dough (page 46), really any dough will work.

Pull up the amount you want and

cut with a pair of kitchen scissors ^[5]or a serrated knife a 1-pound piece of dough.

Sprinkle with more flour so the cut edges won’t be too sticky,

quickly form into a loose ball. This should take about 30 seconds.

Preheat oven to 450° with a baking stone ^[6]in the center of the oven. Stretch the dough into a ring and allow to rest on a sheet of parchment paper ^[7] for about 30 minutes.

Right before baking sprinkle the dough with flour. Using kitchen scissors snip at a sharp angle and almost to the bottom of the ring to form points. This is just like the Epi loaf ^[8].

Lay the points out away from the ring. Slide the ring and the parchment paper right onto the baking stone and bake for 25-30 minutes or until deep caramel brown.

Happy Holidays!  Did someone say “Holiday Gift Ideas?”  Since so many of you have asked about the essentials for baking bread with our method, we decided to list them here as Amazon links (they’re also available in the Amazon “widget” to the left):

A Baking Stone ^[6], we like the ones that are a half-inch thick

A Pizza Peel ^[9], to slide free-form loves into the oven

An Oven Thermometer ^[10], to check if temperature is correct in your oven

A Dough Storage Bucket ^[4]

…and of course, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day ^[11](if they don’t already have it)!

Those are the essentials.  If you think of any others, please ask and we’ll find them!