Living in hope and getting ready for Christmas!

Who knows if we'll all be together this Christmas?

As the November days get shorter and darker, I think it's better to try and look on the bright side, even if we have to light candles at breakfast to do it.

With such positivity in mind, you might like to practise baking my very simple Holly Wreath. You can eat this delicious white bread still warm for your Christmas breakfast, or you can deck it with ribbons and hang it up to admire. Or do both and make several. It has the admirable benefits of being both very cheap to make, about £1.25 for ingredients, and , unusually for a Christmas item , completely sugar free.

The recipe is from our latest online course, Celebration Breads, due out in January. It is made from two kinds of dough: basic, yeasted white and what is somewhat alarmingly known as 'dead dough' i.e. dough made without yeast. The dead dough is used for the decorations, because it won't rise and deform in the oven. I've used a simple holly leaf cutter here, but of course you can be as creative as you like. Ivy, pine cones, Christmas roses, angels and bells would all look lovely.

Ingredients

Main dough

• 600g white bread flour (Shipton Mill's No.4 Organic)
• 390g water
• 6g Doves Farm instant yeast
• 12g fine sea salt
• 1 small egg

Decorative dough

• 150g white bread flour (or pastry flour)
• 25g double cream
• 55g water
• pinch salt

Materials

• Enough baking parchment to line your full-width oven tray.
• A round, non-stick dish or similar, to hold the shape in the middle of the wreath. I used a 12 cm mini quiche dish. Set this in the middle of the tray.
• Holly leaf cutter.
• Grignette or sharp knife.
• 1.5m ribbon (optional)

Method

1. Make the main dough by measuring flour, salt and yeast into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Add water and combine to form a dough.
3. Knead (do 20 Rock & Rolls, if you're familiar with our method) until smooth.
4. Cover and set aside in a warm place for one hour.
5. Make the decorative dough by combining all ingredients and kneading lightly. Cover and set aside.
6. Once main dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and de-gas it, forming it into a neat boule.
7. Take the cap off a bottle of wine (or similar) and plunge it into the centre of the boule to cut out a small hole. Put your fingers through the hole and rotate to enlarge the hole evenly all around. This will give you a wreath shape. Gently settle the wreath over the quiche dish on the baking tray.
8. While the wreath is proving, roll the decorative dough out on a floured surface. Cut out holly leaves (I made 10), and score the leaf veins using a grignette. Take 15 pea-sized scraps of dough to roll into holly berries. Dust the leaves and berries with flour. Brush the wreath with egg. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
9. Arrange the leaves and berries on the wreath. Bake for 25 minutes, turning in the oven half way to ensure even colour, and reducing the heat to 190C after the first 15 minutes.

Use a smaller centrepiece if you want a fatter wreath with room for more decs.

Cool slightly before serving. If you are going to hang it up with ribbon, let it cool properly first.

Egg wash versus flour = great colour definition

Red velvet ribbon wrapped around creates instant Christmas appeal.

Lockdown November 2020: taking comfort in candlelit breakfast.