This Cheesy Pull Apart Christmas Tree Bread is truly the fabulous holiday showstopper that deserves a place at your festive table. Perfect bite-size soft and fluffy pull-apart bread STUFFED with gooey cheese, brushed with savory fresh herbed butter, a sprinkle of Parmesan, and a hint of red pepper flakes for just the right kick all shaped into a grand Christmas tree! This cheesy delicious masterpiece will impress any guests and bring that holiday cheer.
I have started making it a tradition to make an elaborate festive bread platter every holiday. If you're preparing dinner rolls this year, be sure to check out my Festive Holiday Dinner Rolls recipe where you can make ANY pre-baked dinner rolls decorative! If you love this idea, check out my Cheese-Stuffed Garlic Wreath Bread slathered with an amazing Cranberry Garlic Herb Butter!
Dunk it in some warm marinara and you'll definitely be taking second and third helpings!
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Notes About A Few Key Ingredients
- Bread flour: You can use all-purpose flour in a pinch, but especially with pull-apart bread you want flour that contains more protein and gluten. It's what gives baked goods a chewier texture and structure.
- Instant yeast: If you use active dry yeast, double the amount in the recipe (8g) and activate it but mixing it with the liquid (milk or water) and a small amount of sugar in the recipe. Let it sit for 10 minutes. If you see bubbles or foam, it's ready to use. If you don't, start over with new yeast. If you are using instant dry yeast, you can skip this step and just add it directly to the recipe with the dry ingredients.
- Milk or water: I prefer milk, since it creates a softer dough and helps bake a golden crust.
- Unsalted butter for dough: If you prefer to use salted butter, adjust the salt amount in recipe if you wish.
- Mozzarella cheese: Cut cubes or use string cheese.
- Fresh herbs: If you prefer to use dried herbs, reduce each tablespoon to 1 tsp.
- Grated parmesan: Always prefer to use fresh grated!
- Red pepper flakes: Optional.
- Marinara for dipping: Optional. Warm slightly and top with remaining herbs.
How To Make Cheesy Pull-Apart Christmas Tree Bread
Combine and mix all the dough ingredients (except the butter) into a large mixing bowl.
Add butter once all the dry flour has been incorporated.
Once dough has double, punch out to de-gas the dough - my FAVORITE part!!
Divide dough balls. Cover and allow dough to relax. It'll make it easier to stuff with mozzarella.
This recipe creates 33 dough balls for this Christmas tree layout. Notice the small space in between each one to allow for rising.
Once dough balls are proofed, brush with egg wash and transfer to the oven.
Bake until golden.
Combine and mix chopped herbs with melted butter.
Brush bread generously with the herb butter.
Sprinkle grated parmesan, red pepper flakes, and more herbs.
Suzy's Tips For Success
Make the dough ahead: Knead and cover your dough. Instead of doing the first rise, store in fridge until you're ready the next day. Bring dough to room temperature and allow it to double in volume before punching. Dough should be puffy and airy. Proceed then to divide into dough balls.
Measure your flour and ingredients accurately: For best results, use a kitchen scale. If you asked 10 people to measure one cup of flour using a measuring cup, you will mostly get 10 different weights. Take out the guesswork and just use a scale - they are so affordable now and available everywhere! I'm not saying you cannot achieve successful bakes measuring by volume. With any bread recipe, it's just a shame if inaccurate amounts from the get-go become the cause for a bake to not go as expected.
Properly knead your dough: Use a stand mixer with hook attachment or knead by hand. Properly kneaded dough will pass the windowpane test, indicating it has enough gluten development. Stretch a small piece of the dough thin enough to see light pass through. If dough doesn't break easily, that means it has been kneaded properly. Great job!
Allow enough time for dough to rise and proof: Once you've kneaded your dough, allow it to rise. In a nutshell, this is when fermentation is happening. Your dough rises from trapped carbon dioxide gas from the gluten. That's when you see us bakers always punching our dough! You also give it time to proof after you've shaped them. It may not double in size as the initial rise, but it should increase in volume. This will all result in a light fluffy bread crumb.
Do a dough poke test: After your Christmas tree is laid out and it's ready to proof, how do you know when your dough has proofed long enough and is ready to bake? Poke your finger ½ inch into the dough. Observe how the dough responds.
- Under-proofed: your dough will spring back very quickly not leaving any indent. Dough will also feel tight and dense. Allow it to proof longer.
- Over-proofed: the dough will not spring back at all and indent will remain. It may also feel slightly deflated. Bake it anyway - it will still be delicious! Take notes for your next bake.
- Properly proofed dough: your poke will spring back slowly and indent will fill in after a few seconds. It's ready!
How To Store/Reheat Cheesy Pull-Apart Christmas Tree Bread
This cheesy Christmas tree bread is best enjoyed the same day. Store any leftovers in the fridge wrapped in aluminum foil and ziplock bag. To reheat, bake in oven at 350ºF (175ºC) for about 10 minutes. You can also use the air fryer!
FAQ
You can definitely knead this dough by hand - I sometime prefer it! For beginner bread bakers, kneading by hand familiarizes you with the different textures the dough goes through that you can't get from kneading in a mixer. It may take a little longer, but hey - you'll get in a good arm workout!
Yes! Instead of doing the first rise, store dough in fridge until you're ready the next day. Bring dough to room temperature and allow it to double in volume before punching. Dough should be puffy and airy. Proceed then to divide into dough balls.
It could be a few things. Your kitchen may be cold, and yeast will always work faster in warmer temperatures. I usually keep my kitchen at around 74ºF (23ªC). Another issue could be your yeast. If you heated your milk or water too hot and added it to your dough, it could kill the yeast. And finally, your yeast could be bad or it expired. Buy new yeast.
ANY dense bread crumb is usually a sign the dough was under-fermented. Be sure to let your dough rise and proof properly. Once you allow the yeast to fully do its job, it will result in lighter fluffier crumb. See Suzy's Tips For Success section above for more details.
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Equipment
- stand mixer optional
- large baking sheet
- parchment paper
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup milk or water
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
Cheese
- 8½ oz mozzarella cheese, cubed or approx 8 string cheese sticks
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Herb Butter
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
Toppings
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- red pepper flakes optional
- marinara for dipping
Instructions
- Combine all the dough ingredients except for the butter. Mix until no more dry flour is visible. Cover and let dough rest for 10 mins. in the softened butter. Knead with stand mixer or by hand for 10-15 minutes until dough is smooth and passes the windowpane test. Cover and let rise for 1-1½ hrs until dough doubles in size.3 cups bread flour, 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 cup milk or water, 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Meanwhile, cut the cheese 30-33 pieces, weighing approx 7 grams each.8½ oz mozzarella cheese, cubed
- Punch out dough. Divide into balls weighing approx 19-20 g each. Cover and allow dough to relax for 10 mins. Insert cheese into each dough ball and lay out onto parchment paper and baking sheet in Christmas tree design. Be sure to leave space in between to allow dough to expand. Cover and let proof for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 425º (218ºC).
- To see if dough is ready to bake, perform a finger poke test. Poke the dough to leave an indent. If the indent doesn't stay and springs back quickly, let it proof a little longer. If indent stays and slowly retracts back, it's ready to bake.
- Mix egg and water in a small ramekin. Apply egg wash to each dough ball. Bake for 20 mins or until golden.1 egg, 1 tablespoon water
- Combine chopped herbs with melted butter and mix. Brush butter on dough, then sprinkle with grated cheese and red pepper flakes.Warm marinara in a small serving bowl for dipping.¼ cup unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon fresh basil, 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, ½ cup grated parmesan, red pepper flakes, marinara
Notes
Nutrition
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Zoila Carroll says
I loved this recipe. so delicious and beautiful to look at.
Suzy says
Thank you so much, Zoila. It makes me so happy that you loved it. Happy holidays!
Linda says
I'm going to try this recipe for Christmas. I'm confused on the butter part. So, I mix the ingredients together, except the butter. Then let the dough rest 10 minutes. Then, mix in the butter?
Suzy says
Hi, Linda. Yes! Butter (all fats) inhibits the gluten from developing, so many bakers will mix the rest of the ingredients first. Then the 10-minute rest allows the gluten in the dough to relax a little. The softened butter will then incorporate with the more relaxed dough better. Many recipes do skip this step and just incorporate the butter immediately. This is just a preference many bakers do.