Christmas Tree Bread is a traditional British recipe for a yeasted rolled cake flavoured with citrus and currants that's sliced into rounds and arranged in a Christmas tree shape before baking. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Christmas Tree Bread.
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This is a classic twist on the traditional Chelsea bun, where it's filled with a Christmas stuffing, sliced into rounds which are then arranged together in the shape of a Christmas tree before baking.
Everything here needs to be warm to keep the yeast active. Sift the flour and the salt into a warm bowl. Meanwhile, in a cup blend the yeast with 30g of sugar and some of the warm milk. Once the yeast mixture begins to froth (ie it shows itself to be active), make a well in the flour and pour in the yeast mixture. Meanwhile, melt the butter and mix 2/3 with the egg. Add this and the remaining milk to the flour and yeast mixture and mix with your hands to form a soft dough. Cover and leave in a warm place to raise for about 45 minutes (or until doubled in size).
Roll the dough out onto a floured surface and roll into a 25cm square. Brush with remaining melted butter and sprinkle with 30g sugar combined with the mixed spice, all the fruit and the candied peel. Roll the dough up into a 'sausage roll' and then cut into slices about 4cm thick (you will need 11 slices in all). Take 10 of the slice and arrange in a triangle pattern, where the slices in each layer are touching the layer below (start with 1 and end with 4 in the final layer) on a greased baking tray. Take the final round and place this in the centre of the bottom row as the stem of the tree. Now cover with a warm cloth and set aside to rise for 30 minutes in a warm place.
Once risen bake for 15–20 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 220&00B0;C. Sprinkle with icing sugar, allow to cool then allow your guests to tear off an individual round from the tree and serve with coffee.
