Holiday Sculpture Bread

Embracing the Holiday Season

Happy December, everyone! We are in full holiday swing around here, although we have heavy hearts with the fires in Southern CA. And this time we’ve got family in the immediate area of the fires. We have great hope and prayer that the fires are extinguished—that the firefighters have continued strength as they fight exhausted hour after hour to get these fires contained.

The Joy of Holiday Preparations

On a positive note, I really love this season of preparing—not just in the kitchen, but the house, gifts, gatherings, our hearts, you name it. It’s the Christmas season, and the excitement of our three kids truly makes it more fun as each year passes. Even as the skepticism about Santa and strange elves (warranted!) seems to be taking hold, the magic of Christmas is strong, and it makes me smile ear to ear.

Cherishing Family Traditions

Years into dating Eric, I wanted to continue a Christmas tradition that he remembered fondly from his childhood. There were two particular desserts—Tassies and Chocolate Mint Stripes—that I would hear about, and I wanted to continue the tradition. There was one problem: those recipes were closely guarded, and it wasn’t until I had a ring on my finger that I was given the recipes. Those recipes are dear to us and are a beautiful addition to the holiday recipes that I grew up with.

Creating and Sharing Holiday Traditions

Much of what makes me smile each year are the traditions that our family has developed over the years. We all have them, right? My kids have come to expect certain activities in December, decorations around the house, and gatherings with family (because cousins are awesome!!) and friends (where brunch turns into dinner because you all don’t want to say goodbye). Nearly all of those traditions involve food—food to enjoy yourselves, food to share, or serve to others.

Sculpture Bread – A Family Favorite

I’d love to share a special baking project that is a family tradition in December… Eric grew up with this fun tradition of sculpting sweet bread into Christmas shapes and he was excited to establish this with our own family.  We’ve been doing it since the kids were little but old enough to help with this project.

 I gotta say, it has become one of our favorite family traditions.  We’ve done everything from a wreath, elf, candy cane, and Santa, to an angel, reindeer, and Christmas owl!!

We used to use Eric’s mom’s recipe for years until last year.  We took a Day of the Dead cooking class and learned about a very similar sweet dough that is traditional in Mexican cuisine, but it had this wonderful orange zest studded throughout the dough and we decided to try that for our sculpture bread tradition.  It was a huge hit! The key is to start the dough early- we usually start ours the morning of Christmas Eve and sculpt it just before we leave for our church service in the late afternoon. We let it rise while we are gone and bake it while we get ready for the reindeer- let it cool and wrap it up really well. We love to eat this bread with salted butter and apricot jam- perfect to enjoy while opening presents on Christmas morning.

Happy Holidays to you and yours,

Christina

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Holiday Sculpture Bread

A family tradition! The holiday shapes may vary year to year but the tradition holds strong – Christmas trees, wreathes, snowmen, angels, and even a Christmas owl! Our Christmas mornings always include a slice of warm sculpture bread spread with salted butter and jam.

Servings: 2 large loaves

Author: Christina Shoup

Ingredients

Dough:

• 3 ½ – 4 cups flour plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 ¼ tsp salt
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 ½ tbsp dry yeast follow yeast package instructions
• ½ cup warm water
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter to grease the bowl

Additional Ingredients for Dough (Second Kneading):

• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 7 oz unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter to grease the bowl again
• 3 ½ cups unbleached flour (plus extra for sprinkling)
• 8 egg yolks lightly beaten (with 2 tablespoons cold water)
• 1 ½ tbsp grated orange zest

Wash

• ¼ cup hot milk
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp melted butter

Instructions

Make the Dough:

• Prepare the yeast as per instructions on the package.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 ½ cups of flour, salt, sugar, and yeast mixture.
• Gradually mix in the lightly beaten eggs.
• Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
• Grease a bowl with 1 tbsp of butter and place the dough inside. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

Second Kneading:

• In a large bowl, knead the risen dough with sugar and softened butter.
• Gradually add 3 1/2 cups of flour and the egg yolk mixture, alternating between the two, until well combined.
• Mix in the orange zest.
• Knead for 5 minutes, cover the dough again, and let it rise for 1 ½ hours more.

Shape the Loaves:

• Preheat your oven to 375°F. Grease 1 large or 2 small baking sheets with butter.
• Divide the remaining dough into two equal parts and shape them into desired sculptures, about 1-inch thick. You can use kitchen scissors, making deep depressions, to help form your shape as well as decorate with dough you cut off and reattached.
• Place the sculpture bread on the prepared baking sheets and cover.

Final Rise and Bake:

• Let the decorated loaves rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
• Make the wash by mixing hot milk, butter, 1 egg yolk, 2 tbsp melted butter and 2 tbsp sugar in a small bowl. Brush this over the loaves.
• Bake the loaves for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool, then slice and serve.