Christmas Tree Bread

I look forward to baking with the ladies from #Twelve Loaves every Month.  Though I've missed the last few I was determined to join them this month since December and Christmas time are a favorite at my house and the theme was Holiday Breads!!! This recipe was given to me by my Mother-in-Law which I modified slightly and my boys devour this rapidly.  This would be a great base for a Danish or other sweet bread too, it's amazing!  I hope you enjoy it :)

Here are what the other #Twelve Loaves ladies are making!

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Coffee Cake by Liz at That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Cranberry Apple Cinnamon Rolls by Dionne at Try Anything Once Culinary

Cranberry Orange Scones by Renee at Kudos Kitchen by Renee

Crunchy Almond Holiday Bread by Paula at Vintage Kitchen Notes

Holiday Breakfast Wreath by Lora at Cake Duchess

Mini Toffee Banana Bread with Caramel Sauce by Holly at A Baker's House

Nut Brittle Topped Holiday Bread by Deepti at Baking Yummies

Pandoro by Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories

Stollen by Renee at Magnolia Days

Print Recipe

Christmas Tree Bread

4 cups flour
1 Tbsp yeast
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups powdered sugar
2-4 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a Kitchen Aid mixing bowl combine 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the yeast.

In a saucepan heat the milk, shortening, sugar, and salt just until the shortening is almost completely melted, stirring constantly.

Add to the flour and yeast and mix well.

Add the eggs slowly while the mixer runs at a slow speed.

Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and then mix for 3 minutes at medium high speed.

Stir in as much of the remaining flour on low as needed to make a moderately stiff dough.

Place in a greased bowl turning once to coat.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour.  Punch down, recover and let rest for 10 minutes.

On a floured surface roll out the dough to approximately a 15x10" rectangle.

Cut the dough into 1" strips with a pizza cutter.  To shape lay a 10" strip of dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for the tree trunk.  Take another strip fold in half and twist for the bottom branch.  Repeat using a 8, 6, 5, and 3" strips.

To make a different shape cut a long strip in half and simply cut long strips to desired length to form the branches.

Let the dough rise until double.  About an hour and 25 minutes.

Meanwhile heat oven to 400 F.  Bake for 12-15 minutes and cool completely.

Mix the powdered sugar, milk, an vanilla to make a good drizzling consistency.  Add food coloring if desired.  Transfer the glaze into thick (freezer) zip top bags or piping bags.  Snip the corner with a pair of scissors.

Drizzle the glaze over the trees.

With a spatula transfer the trees to a serving plate! Rip it apart and enjoy :)

For the #TwelveLoaves group this month we are baking Holiday Breads perfect for the season! In November we made amazing spice breads. Here you can share your  December Holiday Bread (yeast or quick bread). 

Let's get baking!

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool this month, here’s what you need to do!

1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!

2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this December, 2013, and posted on your blog byDecember  31, 2013.

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess. #TwelveLoaves runs so smoothly thanks to the help of the lovely Paula from Vintage Kitchen Notes and Renee from Magnolia Days.