Cheesy Christmas Tree Bread with Garlic Butter. Christmastime is the perfect time to bust out your baking skills to make something spectacular! Impress the whole party with this gorgeous, garlicky holiday snack!

What is Cheesy Christmas Tree Bread with Garlic Butter

This is a savory holiday treat that has probably plagued your social media. Everyone has gone crazy for this festive garlic bread over the last couple of years, and it’s pretty easy to see why. This is a show-stopping appetizer that is vegetarian-friendly and positively delicious! It fuses warm, delightful garlic bread with the holiday spirit by forming it into a Christmas tree. This happy holiday snack makes a lovely centerpiece to any Christmas buffet!

What You’ll Love About This Bread!

This bread is so popular on Instagram and Pinterest because it is super photogenic! Everyone, you will want to stop and look at this beautiful bread, but the flavor will impress! This lovely bread is not all good looks and has no substance. Every bite is full of deliciousness and rich buttery garlic flavor! Christmas is about celebrating, and this bread celebrates every taste! This bread is excellent for sharing with the people you love. It pulls apart so everyone can get a bite of buttery, garlicky goodness.

Ingredients for Cheesy Christmas Tree Bread with Garlic Butter

Yeast Mixture:

Active Dry Yeast & Warm Water. Great bread starts with yeast. Active dry yeast is asleep and needs to be woken up. This happens when it is introduced to warm water. The water should be about 105°F to 110°F, warm to the touch. It is also a must that the yeast you use is not expired.

Tangzhong Mixture:

Milk, Water, and A.P. Flour-Tangzhong is a classic Japanese technique used in bread making. A roux is made of water, flour, and milk and cooked down. This helps add stability and rich flavor to the garlic bread.

Dough Base:

Tangzhong and Yeast Mixtures- mentioned above.
A.P. Flour- This ingredient has a good protein content for making nice bread.
White Granulated Sugar-Sugar helps feed the yeast in this recipe and adds flavor.
Salt-Everything needs salt! Finely ground sea salt is perfect for this.
Milk- Any fat-content milk will work very well in this recipe. Milk adds sweetness and flavor to this rich
garlic bread.
Egg- This addition brings richness and airiness to the bread.
Unsalted Butter- to make this butter easy to work into the dough, set it on the counter overnight to soften.

Garlic Butter Rub:

Butter-Butter makes a decadent spread for the bread.
Garlic Powder-Powdered spices work well because they will be mixed into liquid butter to make a flavorful rub.
Onion Powder- A little powdered spice goes a long way, making this ingredient economical for holidays.
Sugar-sweetness helps balance the savory notes of garlic and onion in this spread.
Shredded Mozzarella-Adding mozzarella makes this bread cheesy, salty, and rich.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prepare the Yeast Mixture:

Warm the water in the microwave for six seconds. The idea is not to overheat the water so that it will not kill the yeast. Mix and set aside until the yeast blooms. This takes about five to ten minutes.

Prepare the Tangzhong Mixture:

Turn on the heat to low. Place the Tangzhong ingredients into the small saucepan and mix them. Continually mix on low heat until the mixture becomes pasty but not burnt. This process takes five to eight minutes.

Prepare the Dough Base:

Generously spray the tube pan with nonstick oil and set aside. This is a must so the dough will not stick once you release it.
Attach the hook attachment to the electric mixer. Place the flour, white granulated sugar, and salt in the electric mixing bowl. Add the egg, yeast mixture, and Tangzhong mixture.
Mix the ingredients slowly until the mixture resembles wet sand.
Now, you can add the softened butter. Mix to medium speed. The mixture will look really wet, but eventually, it will form into a dough. Mix until the flour is smooth, about seven minutes of mixing.
Remove the dough and form it into a ball. Brush the bowl you used with oil and return the dough to it. Turn the dough so that it will be coated with oil.
Cover and place the dough in a warm place for one hour. Pro tip: I turn my oven to its lowest setting for fifteen minutes and turn it off. This will be the warm place I use for proofing.
After an hour, sprinkle your working area with flour and put your dough there. Cut the dough into thirty-five small pieces, and form the dough into balls. The size should be a little bigger than that of a ping-pong ball.
Arrange the dough pieces on a large baking sheet, forming a Christmas tree.

Cover the dough with a cloth and let the dough proof for forty-five minutes. When done, brush the dough with the prepared butter mixture.

Make the Butter Rub

Melt the butter in the microwave. Make sure that the butter is melted but not hot.
Mix in other ingredients.

Bake in the Oven

Place the oven rack in the middle layer. Do the steps mentioned and preheat the oven to 350°F. When the oven is ready, place the bread pan in the middle of the rack and bake for fifteen minutes. Brush the bread with an egg wash, then return to the oven and cook for another five minutes.

Expert Tips and Tricks

● Only cook the Tangzhong mixture blonde and pasty; do not overcook or burn.
● To turn your oven into a proofing box, set it to the lowest setting, then turn it off.
This will make it just warm enough to speed up the proof process.
● Near the end of the proof time, set up an area to work with the dough. Use a clean
counter or extra-large cutting board, and be sure to have plenty of flour nearby for
dusting.

What to Serve with Christmas Tree Garlic Bread?

This delicious holiday bread is rich and buttery enough to eat independently, but more is more on the holidays! Pair this gorgeous treat with freshly made pizza sauce, herbs, and olive oil. No matter what you pair it with, your guests will stop to gawk at this gorgeous bread!

How to Store Christmas Tree Garlic Bread

This bread is so famous you probably won’t have leftovers! If you do, you can store the bread for up to one day at room temperature. Wrap extra garlic in parchment paper and then again in foil. Keep the bread somewhere cool on the countertop.

More Recipes You’ll Love

Getting ready for the holidays can feel stressful, but relax with this simple yet festive Instant
Pot dishes!

● Ground Turkey Lumpiang Shanghai Recipe
● Quick Air Fryer Pigs in a Blanket
● How to Cook Ribs in Instant Pot Duo
● Instant Pot Monkey Bread from Scratch
● Instant Pot Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese

Cheesy Christmas Tree Bread with Garlic Butter

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Author: Shobee

Equipment

Conventional Oven
baking sheet
stand up electric mixer
bowls

Ingredients

Tangzhong Mixture

1/4 Cup All Purpose flour
1/2 Cup water

Yeast Mixture

2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water

Dough Base

Yeast Mixture
Tangzhong Mixture
2 1/3 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 large egg
3 tbsp softened butter, at room temperature-not melted
1 large egg for egg wash
8 oz mozzarella cheese bar cubed

Garlic Butter Rub

2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp dried parsley flakes or dried italian flakes
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tbsp white granulated sugar
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Decoration

cranberries

Instructions

Yeast Mixture

Warm the water in the microwave for twenty-five seconds. The idea is not to overheat the water so that it will not kill the yeast. Mix and set aside until the yeast blooms. This takes about five to ten minutes.

Tangzhong Mixture

Turn on the heat to low. Place the Tangzhong ingredients into the small saucepan and mix them together. Continually mix on low heat until the mixture becomes pasty, but not burnt.

Dough Base

Spray nonstick oil onto the baking sheet and set aside until ready to use.
Cut the mozzarella cheese bar into cubes and set aside until ready to use.
Attach your hook attachment to the electric mixer. Place the flour, white granulated sugar, salt, yeast mixture, egg and Tangzhong mixture in the electric mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients to low speed until the mixture will look like wet sand.
Now you can add the softened butter. Mix to medium speed. The mixture will look really wet, but eventually, it will form into a dough. Mix until the flour is smooth, about seven minutes of mixing.
If the dough is too sticky, coat your hand with flour. Remove the dough and form it into a ball. Brush the bowl you used with oil and return the dough to it. Turn the dough so that it will be coated with oil. Cover and place the dough in a warm place for one hour
Pro tip: What I do is turn my oven to its lowest setting for fifteen minutes and turn it off. This will be the warm place I use for proofing.
After an hour, sprinkle your working area with flour, and put your dough there. First form the dough into a ball and divide it into two. Cut the dough into small pieces, to make thirty-five small balls. You can also weigh the dough to achieve same size. The size should be a little bigger than that of a pingpong ball.
Flatten the dough and fill it with cubed mozzarella cheese. Seal the dough and put it into the prepared baking sheet forming them to look like a Christmas tree.
Cover the dough with a cloth and let the dough sit in a warm place for another thirty-five minutes.

Garlic Butter Rub

Place all of the garlic butter rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix. Brush the butter into the dough before baking. Freeze any leftovers.

Bake the Garlic Bread Christmas Tree

Preheat the oven to 350 F and put the baking rack in the middle of the oven. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top and bake.
Brush the bread with egg wash fifteen minutes into baking. Bake the bread for another five minutes.

Video

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Welcome!

Hi, my name is Shobee. Welcome to The Skinny Pot, where we cook Easy Recipes from the available ingredients from our pantry and fridge! We’re your go-to source for simple and delicious recipes that make the most of what you already have at home. Talk about the pantry challenge. Read more...