Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Wreath
Christmas morning will seem even more magical if you serve a gorgeous chocolate cinnamon bread wreath! These wreaths make marvelous holiday gifts and are something your family will ask for year after year.
We have certain traditions we honor each year to make the holidays special. Advent calendars, Elf on the Shelf, Visiting a local Light Show, Cookie Exchanges, Christmas Eve Service…
One of those traditions is to serve piping hot fresh-made bread on Christmas morning.
Last year after all the presents had been open, we sat around in our fuzzy jammies and ate hot sticky Drunken Monkey Bread with a cream cheese scramble and grapefruit mimosas.
This year I have something else in mind.
Something with chocolate-cinnamon layers and yeasty dough twisted into delicate folds.
Something that looks lovely sitting out on the table…
A Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Wreath.
This cinnamon bread variation, not only looks lovely, its tastes divine. Similar to Pain au Chocolat with a softer texture and zesty spices layered throughout, it is a wonderful celebration bread!
Because bread needs times to rise, you could make this a day ahead and rewarm on Christmas morning. Or, you could make it several days (even weeks) ahead and freeze before the second rise. Then place it in the fridge to thaw the night before serving, and give it a few more minutes to rise on the counter before baking, for fresh-out-of-the-oven bread.
This recipe calls for all purpose flour, not bread flour, so the layers stay nice and tender. Yet anytime I’m making bread I use Gold Medal Flour, because I’ve found the consistency is always right on the money. Gold Medal’s super-fine milled flour helps the bread rise into fluffy loaves.
To Make a Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Wreath
Prepare the bread dough and let it rise until double in size.
Roll in out, spread with Nutella, and sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Then roll into a giant log.
Cut the log down the middle and “braid” the two pieces into one log twist.
Shape into a circle and tuck the ends under.
This is where you would freeze, if you were making this chocolate cinnamon bread wreaths ahead.
Freeze it uncovered for 2 -3 hours, then wrap well and refreeze until ready to thaw.
The ooohs and ahhhs on Christmas morning are well worth planning ahead for this one.
You could even make several to send to friends and neighbors for their Christmas breakfast!
More Christmas Breakfast Ideas
White Chocolate Glazed Gingerbread Muffins
Breakfast Stuffed Poblano Peppers
Corned Beef Hash with Creamy Horseradish Sauce
Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Wreath
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole milk scalded
- 1 packet dry active yeast 2 1/4 teaspoons
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups All Purpose Gold Medal Flour
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 3/4 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
Instructions
- Scald the milk on the stove or in the microwave. Bring it to a boil, then remove from the heat and cool completely before using. You can place it in the fridge to bring the temperature down faster. (Don't skip this step, or you're bread may not rise properly.)
- Using an electric mixer with a bread hook, place the warm water (just barely over luke-warm, too hot will kill the yeast) and sugar in the mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let it foam for 10 minutes.
- Then turn on the mixer and add the cooled milk, egg and salt. Slowly add the flour. Once all the flour is in the bowl, add 4 tablespoons of melted butter. "Knead" the dough with the bread hook for 5-8 minutes.
- The dough will be smooth, but tacky. Oil the mixer bowl, then cover with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in the bowl for 2 hours. Mix the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and sea salt in a separate bowl and set aside.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, dump it out on a floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, 18x13 inches in size. Gently spread a thin layer of Nutella over the dough, leaving the dough bare around the edges. Then sprinkle the cinnamon mixture over the dough. Now starting on one of the long edges, roll the dough into a long cylinder.
- Use a large knife to cut the dough down the middle, length wise, and open it up to expose the layers inside. Then alternate crossing the pieces over each other to create a braid. Move the braid to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and shape into a ring. Fold the ends under each other, so they resemble the braid.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and allow the bread wreath to rise for at least 45 minutes. Then bake for 22-30 minutes, until brown and crispy on top. Cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Gold Medal Flour. All opinions are my own.
I made this wreath for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Absolutely Delicious!!!! The Thanksgiving Wreath I made the same day. For Christmas I had to make 4 for other family members so I made ahead a few days and froze. While they were good, they were not as soft as the one I made and cooked on the same day. If i wanted to make into loaves instead of a wreath, would it make 2 loaves?
Pingback: Bakery Style Cinnamon Rolls - The Wooden Spoon Effect
I am new to baking. I hope I can make this beautiful dessert successfully. Fingers crossed !
Any luck making this gluten free?
I’m still making this, its looking good so far, but you need to revise the total cooking time. This takes 2 hrs and 45 minutes to rise plus all the time to rise plus the 30 minute baking time. It needs to be revised to reflect a total time of about 3.5-4 hours to make.
Hello! I love this recipe! I have two bread wreaths in the freezer now. Do I let them completely thaw to room temperature over several hours, then bake at 350 for 22-30 minutes? Thank you!
This chocolate cinnamon bread is stunning. I’m not a talented baker, but I would love to give these a try! Thanks, Sommer!
This is a totally lovely recipe, thank you! I had a hard time keeping the lines looking clean when slicing through, and was wondering if this could be helped by refrigerating a bit after rolling but before slicing? In case this is helpful to other bakers, my oven runs on the low side and I didn’t quite get enough browning on my wreath before the filling started burning; so on my second one (because why make just one?) I baked it at 375 and turned up the heat to 400 for the last few minutes, and it came out much more evenly golden all around. I found adding salt made it a bit too salty, probably because of the brand of hazelnut spread I used, so would recommend tasting before mixing, but everyone loved it. Thanks for a beautiful and clear recipe!
The colors are so vibrant – your photography is fantastic! I am obsessed with desserts! This chocolate cinnamon bread wreath recipe so extravagant:) I’m afraid I will not find the ingredients for this recipe! Thx for sharing Sommer!
I’m in love with this cinnamon bread. I’ve included your photo in my last post, a round-up of different versions of this delicious bread. Hope you like it!
Patricia.
Pingback: Noon Rogani Recipe Makes Cinnamon Bread with a Twist | Restless Chipotle
This is absolutely magnificent, scrumptious, delicious, super yummy bread. I love to bake, and I have lots of good recipes, but this bread is truly out of this world for us, chocolate lovers especially. I made it before Christmas to test and in three hours it was totally gone between four of us, and I made it for this Christmas too. I will make it again and again and again. Thank you soooo much Sommer for this recipe.
Merry Christmas and Happy New 2015 Year!
Pingback: Matcha Bread Wreath - forktobelly
Pingback: 18 Christmas Wreath-Themed Treats for Seasonal Sweetness
This looks incredible! I’d love to make this for my family Christmas morning. Do you think it would be possible to make this the 23rd, let it cool and then seal up and then reheat Christmas morning?
Thanks!
Hi Caitlin. Sure! Or you could freeze it unbaked, then put it out to thaw the night before.
‘just wondering if this could be done to the dough stage in the bread machine – I would add the cooled scalded milk, water, salt, sugar, egg, flour, yeast in that order and then run the dough cycle. . .your thoughts?
Probably so. I might not let it run as long as normal, because to want the dough to stay light and not get too dense.
Pingback: 25 Cinnamon Sweets - your homebased mom
Pingback: Just What Are we Talking About Here? | Eat. Write. Learn.
Pingback: first | Eat. Write. Learn.
Pingback: What is a Food Blog After All? | Eat. Write. Learn.
How should I freeze the dough?
Hi Patty, Freeze it flat on a baking sheet, uncovered, for about an hour. Once it’s solid, wrap it well in plastic and place back in the freezer until ready to use.
Pingback: Why Research Food Blogs? | Eat. Write. Learn.
This is absolutely gorgeous! I would love to start making this every Christmas :)
Very pretty and creative. I love the use of nutella and cinnamon. I bet it smells wonderful. I will have to give this one a try. Thanks!
Any advice for someone without a stand mixer? How long should I knead on the countertop for?
Hi Stacy, I’d say 6-10 minutes of kneading. At least your arms will look really nice!! :)
Thanks! I kneaded for 8 min and that seemed to do the trick. I just took it out of the oven and it looks gorgeous! It is tomorrow’s breakfast for our early Christmas before we travel. Can’t wait to try a slice!
Ha! You’ll never guess what I got for Christmas. Haha!
I made this for breakfast this morning. It was delicious. My children loved it!
Thanks for commenting, Tina. I’m so glad your family liked it! :)
Wow, this looks gorgeous. I love the idea of splitting the rolled dough before braiding. It adds a lot of structure and color to the traditional Hefezopf. I’ll certainly try…
I saw this on Pinterest and KNEW it had to be you! It’s so beautiful – can’t wait to try it!
I think I just swooned out loud…pretty sure people in my office heard me. :)
Lol! Girl, I just love you. ;)
Beautiful! Reminds me of chocolate babka, which I find irresistible!
This looks amazing! But I have the first of 3 batches of dough that I made ready, and it is really loose. Did you need to incorporate a lot of flour as you rolled it out? I ended up needing almost an extra cup just to get it to hold together enough to roll out. I’ve checked the measurements several times, and followed the directions to the letter…am I missing something? I’m hoping to give these to neighbors, so any help is appreciated! :)
Ellen, my deepest apologies! I think this is the first time this has ever happened, but somehow I managed to post this recipe with an inaccurate measurement. It should be 4 cups of flour. I’M SO SORRY!! I’m making adjustments to the official recipe right now, but you should be able to work extra flour in as you go. Please report back!
No worries! I could tell from your gorgeous pictures what it should look like, so I worked it up until it held. The first loaf seems to have turned out just fine, second is in the oven, and third one is rising as a wreath right now. :) I stopped after those, but I’ll do my next ones with the 4 cups. Thanks so much for replying and solving it for me!
Whew!!! I was so worried! I’m glad they are turning out and thanks for being so gracious. Merry Christmas!
This bread looks very beautiful! This is the kind of thing to make when you want to impress your guests!! Thanks for sharing :)
It’s so beautiful and sounds delicious too!
This is so lovely.
Chocolate pairs well with cinnamon and the
presentation is primo!
This looks dreamy and with nutella–yes please!
Oh my goodness, cinnamon and Nutella?? This is so gorgeous Sommer!!
I absolutely need this bread for Christmas morning!
So gorgeous, not to mention delicious!!
Can this be made with refrigerated bread dough?
Hi Penni. Most definitely! It just won’t have the same tender texture as this bread dough. But I bet it would still taste great!
This bread is perfect to start a Christmas morning – I love traditional and memorable holiday treats like this one! It’s braided beautifully, and with the layers of Nutella spread over the dough, this bread would definitely be favorite with adults and children alike!
This looks amazing Sommer!
You have mad baking skills, Sommer! This would be the perfect treat to have on Thanksgiving!
Such a brilliant wreath, and I love the cutaway, too. I added grapefruit mimosas to my Christmas morning list. Divine!
That looks amazing!
It’s gorgeous! …and added to my must-make list for Christmas. :)
That looks SO delicious!! WOW
What a lovely dish to serve on Christmas morning. How can you go wrong with nutella?
So pretty!!
This turned out beautifully. Can’t wait to try it!
This is absolutely stunning, Sommer! I love the twist of the brown and white dough!
WHOA. This looks amazing!!!
this serioiusly beautiful Sommer, I feel like this would become a family tradition.
This is GORGEOUS!!! Love that you can make it ahead too. I want to dive into every one of those layers.
Gorgeous!
so pretty and scrumptious looking
Love this, Sommer. So fun and festive. Love anything with Nutella :)
What a fun holiday treat! Love all the swirls!
It looks delicious and would be perfect for Christmas morning. Thank you.
This is GORGEOUS!! You twist is perfect and these flavors are the ultimate Christmas flavors! LOVE it, Sommer!
What a gorgeous treat! And made with nutella – can’t get better than that!
Lovely Sommer! Perfectly festive too!
Not only does it look delicious, but your photos are stunning!
This looks simply incredible and the detailed tutorial takes all doubts away from this yeast fearing baker. :-) I am definitely going to give it a try!