Sweet & Savory Stuffed Holiday Wreaths

These pretty wreaths of bread were haunting me last night … I just had to make bread wreaths for our lunch today.

Sweet and Savory Stuffed Holiday Wreaths

Dough recipe from Simply Gourmet Photography who found it on allrecipes.com (submitted by Linda Wilson)

Wreath-shaping instructions from Discovering Sourdough

Dough Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

Put all dough ingredients in a bread machine and set on the dough cycle. (If you don’t have a bread machine, Simply Gourmet Photography has instructions for making them by hand.) When the dough is done, cut it in half. Roll each half into a large circle.

Slide the dough circle onto a large baking sheet or pizza pan sprayed with cooking spray. Mark a circle in the center of the circle with a small bowl, but do not cut through the dough.

Cut the star-shape in the center of the dough circle like this:

Now, put your stuffing in a ring around the dough. For this one, I used a bunch of chopped cooked ham and shredded sharp cheddar and mozzarella cheese. I was trying to make a simple filling that my kids would eat … I would have liked to add onion and chopped bell pepper and perhaps even a nice spicy mustard sauce under the ham, but I kept it simple for the kids.

Now, fold in the outer edge over the filling:

and then take the points of the “star” and pull them to the edge. Tuck the ends underneath the edge to hold them in place.

My daughter helped with this part:

The other one we stuffed with apple cranberry stuffing and toasted walnuts. I think it would be better with a little caramel sauce under the apple cranberry stuffing.

Let the loaves rise in a warm place for about an hour or until they are good and puffy, then bake at 400F for 20 minutes covered with a piece of aluminum foil. Take the foil off after 20 minutes and then bake another 5 – 10 minutes.

Sweet Apple Cranberry Stuffing

• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• About 2 cups of peeled chopped apples
• 1 Tablespoon mixed berry  jam
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup cranberries, halved
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and cook for 5 – 10 minutes over medium high heat until the apples are crisp-tender.

We had the ham-and-cheese stuffed wreath for lunch, with the apple-cranberry one for dessert.

This recipe was shared at Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Wonka Wednesdays and Full Plate Thursdays.