Every holiday has a dessert that the holiday is known for, like pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or Candy Apple at Halloween. At Christmas time it is the Christmas Bread. This Christmas bread recipe will fill your Christmas tradition gap and your belly.
One of the best parts of this recipe is the glaze so don’t be afraid to double that part for an extra sweet bread!
Total Time
2 hours prep time + 40 minutes cooking time
Ingredients for Bread
- Butter – 1\2 cup (120 gr\4 oz)
- Dry yeast – 15 gr ( 1\2 oz)
- Warm water – 3\4 cup ( 180 ml\ 6 fl oz)
- Milk – 3\4 cup ( 180 ml\ 6 fl oz)
- Sugar – 1\2 cup ( 100 gr \ 3 oz)
- Butter or shortening – 1\3 cup ( 80 gr \ 2,5 oz)
- Eggs – 2 pieces
- Pinch of salt
- Flour – 4 cup ( 480 gr \ 15 oz)
- Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
- Orange zest – 2 tbsp
- Chopped mixed candied fruit – 1 cup ( 150 gr \ 5 oz)
Ingredients for Glaze
- White chocolate – 1 cup (200 gr\ 6,5 oz)
- Milk – 50 ml
Directions – Christmas Bread Recipe
- 1. Mix the water and milk together in a pot and simmer until the temperature is 95-98F (35-37C). Note: water and milk should not be too hot, in such an element, yeast will not work.
- 2. Place the milk with water in a bowl, add the yeast, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 cup of flour. Mix until smooth. Leave this mixture in a warm place for 20 minutes, until the dough rises.
- 3. Take the dough, add the eggs, the remaining sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest. Mix thoroughly.
- 4. Next add the rest of the flour to the dough and mix again until the dough becomes dense.
- 5. Add a very soft butter and stir it into the dough. Don’t worry, you are now half way done with your Christmas Bread Recipe.
- 6. Put the dough in a warm place for 30 minutes (you can preheat your oven to 125F (50C) then turn off and leave the dough in a warm oven to rise.
- 7. After 30 minutes, remove the dough, add the candied fruits and mix again. Again, put in the oven for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, remove and stir the dough again and leave for the last 30 minutes.
- 8. Prepare the form by greasing with oil and sprinkle with flour. Put the dough in the form and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350F/180C.
- 9. For glaze heat the milk in a pot on simmer and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely dissolved then drizzle it on top of your finished Christmas bread.