Christmas Tree Pull-Apart Bread is easy to make, beautiful, and a delicious recipe that will be a total crowd-pleaser at your holiday dinner table.
Christmas and Holiday Season
WOW! Christmas is around the corner, and soon we will begin a new year. This year was the fastest one for me and a memorable one. There were several ups and downs, like a roller-coaster ride, but I have learned many things in my personal and professional life. Therefore, I am thankful for the year 2021.
With my boys interested in knowing what mama is always cooking in the kitchen, presenting food in festive and creative ways has become the newest trend in my house, be it Diwali, Halloween, birthdays, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. They are always so excited about what I prepare, and I am bombarded with hundreds of questions and ideas from their side.
Maybe from Thanksgiving, we have daily conversations about bringing home a Christmas tree this year, decorating them, Santa stories, and the gifts they are expecting for being good kids, inviting their cousins and friends over for the Holiday season, and so on.
While planning, I decided to make an edible Christmas tree for my boys. Simple basic pizza dough shaped in the form of a Christmas tree and brushed with herbed garlic butter, and topped with some cheese. This dish will make your dinner table look more attractive and bring a smile to everyone's face.
The pull-apart bread is excellent as a holiday appetizer or side with a bowl of soup, salad, or entree for your Christmas dinner party.
I have kept the recipe as simple as possible. Be creative; if you find time, you can also plan on stuffing each bun with cheese, mashed or flavored potatoes, and so on. Check out interesting variations below.
Ingredients for Cheesy Garlic Pull Apart Christmas Tree
For the dough
1 cup Water, lukewarm
1 tablespoon Sugar
2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast (1 packet or 10g)
3 ½ cups All-purpose flour or Maida (in increments, as needed)
1 teaspoon Salt
2 tablespoon Butter, softened
1 Egg (for egg wash) use whole milk or cream or dairy-free milk for a vegetarian version
¼ cup Mozzarella cheese
For Herbed garlic butter
4 tablespoon Butter
¼ to ½ teaspoon Salt, adjust to taste
2 tablespoon Fresh Cilantro or Parsley or Rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon Garlic powder
How to make the Best Pull Apart Garlic Bread Recipe
Making of basic bread dough or pizza dough
In a large bowl, add water, sugar, and mix. To this, sprinkle yeast. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until the yeast is activated.
Once the yeast activates, add 3 cups of flour, salt, butter and mix. Now add the remaining flour little by little and knead to form a soft and smooth dough.
Cover and let it sit for 90 minutes or until doubled in size.
Making of Christmas tear and share bread
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Dust the top with some more flour if needed.
Using a rolling pin, roll it into a ½ inch thick rectangle. Cut them into 18 equal portions and roll each portion into a smooth ball with seam side down. Check out the video here on making of pull apart bread
Arrange them to form a Christmas tree (5 balls in one line followed by 4, 3, 2, 1). Cover and let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes.
After the second rise, apply egg wash to the dough balls.
Bake in a 350 degrees F preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden in color. Halfway through the baking process, add some cheese if desired.
Prepare the herbed garlic butter
In a pan on medium flame, add butter. Once melted, add herbs of your choice, salt, garlic powder, and mix. Switch off the flame.
Once the bread is out of the oven, immediately brush it with the herbed garlic butter. Serve warm and enjoy. Merry Christmas.
Pro Tips
- If you are lazy to knead the dough or have a couple of items to make for your Christmas dinner, you can even use store-bought pizza dough and make this pull-apart bread.
- Use herbs of your choice.
- Instead of just butter, you can mix olive oil if needed for extra depth of flavor.
- I have added less cheese to the recipe. Vary it as per your liking.
- Time to bake may vary depending on how your oven functions, plus the size of the baking tray and the thickness of the bread.
- You can skip the butter and substitute it with olive oil. The taste and flavor will vary accordingly.
- For a vegan version, substitute butter with olive oil, egg wash with dairy-free milk, and cheese with vegan cheese.
- Also with the remaining dough, you can make stars and braided Christmas wreath.
Variations
- Christmas tree pull-apart bread recipe with cream cheese: Add cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, and basil pesto and mix well in a bowl. Now add a tablespoon of the mixture to each dough ball (18 pieces), and pinch the seam side down. Arrange them as instructed above to form a Christmas tree.
- If you have cheesy spinach dip, stuff each dough ball with a tablespoon of this dip to make spinach dip-stuffed Christmas pull-apart bread.
- Add finely chopped rosemary to the butter mixture to make rosemary garlic pull-apart bread.
- Love parmesan? Then add parmesan cheese to the herbed garlic butter to make it garlic parmesan Christmas bread.
- To make it like Pizza Hut or Domino's-style pull-apart bread, add pizza seasoning after brushing the garlic butter over baked bread rolls.
- You can use store-bought biscuits, crescent rolls, or pizza dough to make instant holiday-themed cheesy garlic pull-apart bread.
- Are you a sweet lover? Then instead of herbed garlic butter, brush the baked bread rolls with plain softened butter, mix cinnamon powder and sugar in a bowl, and sprinkle the sugar mixture to make the best cinnamon-flavored pull-apart bread for Christmas.
Air Fryer Pull-Apart Bread
Preheat to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C for 5 minutes. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the outside is golden. Make sure you add cheese halfway through the air-frying time. The pull-apart bread will brown faster in an air fryer, so keep a closer look at 8 minutes.
Convection Mode Pull Apart Bread
If you have a convection oven, bake this bread in a preheated 180 degrees C oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown on the top. Cooking time may vary slightly depending on your oven.
Some popular Christmas Recipes
- Best Hot Chocolate
- No Bake Peanut Butter Fudge
- Raspberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Christmas Fruit Cake or Plum Cake
- Holiday White Chocolate Fudge
- Christmas Tree Vegetable Platter
- Classic Cinnamon Flavored Pull-Apart Bread
Video
Check out the detailed video on making holiday-themed Christmas tree pull-apart bread.
FAQ
You can make the dough and keep it in the fridge, OR you can even shape it in the form of a tree, cover with plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, thaw it at room temperature for 15 to 30 mins, remove the plastic wrap and shape them into balls and then as a Christmas tree if not already done so. Brush it with egg wash and follow the baking instructions as mentioned earlier.
Yes, you can freeze leftover pull-apart bread for use later. Just warm it up in the oven or microwave, or toaster until heated through. You can also slice the bun, apply some butter, and heat it on the stovetop in a pan.
Recipe card
Christmas Tree Pull Apart Bread Recipe | Holiday Christmas Bread
Equipment
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Baking pan
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 cup Water, lukewarm
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast ( 1 packet)
- 3 ½ cups All purpose flour or Maida (in incerements, as needed)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Butter, Softened
- 1 Egg ( for egg wash) use whole milk or cream or dairy-free milk for a vegetarian version
- ¼ cup Mozzarella cheese
For Herbed garlic butter
- 4 tablespoon Butter
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon Salt, adjust to taste
- 2 tablespoon Fresh Cilantro or Parsley or Rosemary chopped
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
Instructions
Making of Basic Bread Dough or Pizza Dough
- In a large bowl, add water, sugar, and mix. To this sprinkle yeast. Let it sit for 10 minutes or until the yeast is activated.1 cup Water, lukewarm, 1 tablespoon Sugar, 2 ¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast ( 1 packet)
- Once the yeast activates, add 3 cups of flour, salt, butter and mix. Now add the remaining flour little by little and knead to form a soft and smooth dough.3 ½ cups All purpose flour or Maida (in incerements, as needed), 1 teaspoon Salt, 2 tablespoon Butter, Softened
- Cover and let it sit for 90 minutes or until doubled in size.
Making of Pull Apart Christmas Tree
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Dust the top with some more flour if needed.
- Using a rolling pin, roll it into a ½ inch thick rectangle. Cut them into 18 equal portions and roll each portion into a smooth ball with seam side down. Check out the video here on making of pull apart bread
- Arrange them to form a Christmas tree (5 balls in one line followed by 4, 3, 2, 1). Cover and let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes.
- After the second rise, apply egg wash to the dough balls1 Egg ( for egg wash) use whole milk or cream or dairy-free milk for a vegetarian version
- Bake in a 350 degrees F preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden in color. Halfway through the baking process, add some cheese if desired.¼ cup Mozzarella cheese
Prepare the Herbed Garlic Butter
- In a pan on medium flame, add butter. Once melted, add herbs of your choice, salt, garlic powder, and mix. Switch off the flame.4 tablespoon Butter, ¼ to ½ teaspoon Salt, adjust to taste, 2 tablespoon Fresh Cilantro or Parsley or Rosemary chopped, 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- Once the bread is out of the oven, immediately brush it with the herbed garlic butter. Serve warm and enjoy. Merry Christmas.
Video
Notes
- If you are lazy to knead the dough or have a couple of items to make for your Christmas dinner, you can even use store-bought pizza dough and make this pull-apart bread.
- Use herbs of your choice.
- Instead of just butter, you can mix olive oil if needed for extra depth of flavor.
- I have added less cheese to the recipe. Vary it as per your liking.
- Time to bake may vary depending on how your oven functions, plus the size of the baking tray and the thickness of the bread.
- You can skip the butter and substitute it with olive oil. The taste and flavor will vary accordingly.
- For a vegan version, substitute butter with olive oil, egg wash with dairy-free milk, and cheese with vegan cheese.
- Also, with the remaining dough, you can make stars and braided Christmas wreaths.
Nutrition
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Tayler
We made this for Christmas last year and can’t wait to make it again this year! Everyone loved it!
Luci Petlack
This was so good! I can't wait to make it again for the holidays!
Alina
What is the red garnish ??
Kushi
pomegranate