Transform your holiday appetizer game with this show-stopping cranberry brie pull-apart bread wreath. It is as delicious as it is beautiful. Soft, pillowy dinner rolls arranged in a wreath shape cradle a center of creamy melted brie topped with tart cranberry sauce. Fresh rosemary sprigs and pomegranate seeds add festive color and flavor, making this the perfect centerpiece for your Christmas or New Year’s gathering.
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Ingredients – Here’s What You’ll Need
- The Rolls: I used one of my favorite recipes for soft rolls. The recipe included filtered water, olive oil, granulated sugar, Kosher salt, bread flour, and instant yeast.
- Cranberry Brie Wreath: Besides the rolls, I used brie, jellied cranberry sauce, fresh rosemary, and pomegranate seeds.
Making the Dough and Forming the Rolls
I used my bread machine to make the dough for the rolls.
- I added the water, olive oil, sugar, salt, bread flour, and instant yeast to the pan of my bread machine in that order. I selected the dough cycle on the bread machine and walked away. How easy is that?
- When the dough cycle finished, I transferred the dough to a floured surface. The dough weighed 34.5 ounces (978 grams), and I needed 25 balls. Therefore, I cut the dough into 1.38-ounce (39 grams) pieces and rolled each piece into a tight, round ball.
That’s it for the dough!
Making the Cranberry Brie Wreath – Step-by-Step
I built the cranberry brie wreath on my 15-inch round Le Creuset Pizza stone, which I had sprayed with nonstick spray.
- First, I placed the 8-ounce piece of brie in the center of the dish. Then, I placed ten of the dough balls around the brie, ensuring that each ball touched the brie and each other.
- Next, I added the second ring of dough balls, ensuring they touched the balls in the first ring and each other.
- I placed the pizza stone in my electric oven, which was on the proofing function. After about 30 minutes, the rolls had doubled in size. I brushed the rolls with milk to produce a golden, tender crust with a matte finish.
- After that, I added the cranberry sauce to the brie. To keep the cranberry sauce neat, I spooned it into a round ring about ½ inch in diameter smaller than the brie round. Then, I removed the ring.
- I baked the cranberry brie wreath in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the rolls were a perfectly cooked golden brown. I removed the wreath from the oven and brushed the rolls with melted butter.
- To add a festive touch to the rolls, I added some sprigs of fresh rosemary.
- Finally, I added some vibrant red pomegranate seeds to complete the festive appearance.
This pull-apart bread wreath isn’t just an appetizer – it’s a conversation starter that brings elegance and comfort to your holiday table.
The combination of warm, buttery bread, creamy, melty brie, and tangy cranberry creates an irresistible flavor profile that will have your guests reaching for seconds.
However, don’t let its impressive appearance fool you. Festive Cranberry Brie Pull-Apart Wreath is simple to prepare, making it your new go-to holiday recipe. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
These rolls can be made with a stand mixer or a food processor with a steel blade. Using a food processor, start by pulsing the bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast five to six times. Then, with the food processor running, slowly add cool water and olive oil through a feed tube. Process for about 20 seconds until the dough forms a satiny, tacky ball that clears the sides of the bowl. Allow the dough to sit for 10 minutes and then process for another 20 to 30 seconds. Transfer to an oiled bowl; cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm location until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Feel free to use fresh cranberries in place of the pomegranate seeds.
Raspberry jelly can be used in place of the cranberry sauce. For a more savory appetizer, use pesto.
The dough for the rolls can be made ahead of time. Remove the dough from the bread machine as soon as the kneading stops, coat it in olive oil, and store it in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator for up to two days. Allow the dough to come to room temperature before forming it into balls.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Weigh the ingredients. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, get one – they are inexpensive. I use mine daily.
- Before cutting the dough into pieces, weigh it and then divide the weight by 25 (you need 25 dough balls for this recipe). As you cut the dough, weigh each piece to ensure the consistency of the roll size.
- If you don’t have a round pizza stone like the one I used, form the wreath on a pizza pan at least 15 inches in diameter. As the rolls rise, they will take up that much space!
- You may think it odd that I used milk instead of an egg wash on the rolls. The natural sugars and proteins in the milk promote browning through the Maillard reaction, resulting in a golden crust. It also enhances the overall appearance and flavor of the rolls and produces a tender crust
Other Christmas-Themed Appetizers
If you’re looking for other Christmas-themed appetizers, look no further.
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Festive Cranberry Brie Pull-Apart Wreath
Equipment
- Bread Machine
- 15-inch pizza pan
Ingredients
Rolls
- 1 ½ cups (12 ounces, 240 grams) filtered water (See Tip 1)
- 2 ½ Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 4 cups (20 ounces, 567 grams) bread flour (See Tip 2)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons Instant yeast (See Tip 3)
Cranberry Brie Wreath
- Dough for rolls from above
- 8 ounce Brie round (See Tip 4)
- 1 tablespoon milk for brushing the rolls
- ¼ cup Jellied cranberry sauce (See Tip 5)
- 1 Tablespoon melted unsalted butter for brushing the cooked rolls
- Fresh rosemary (See Tip 6)
- Pomegranate seeds (See Tip 6)
Instructions
Rolls
- Add the water, olive oil, sugar, salt, bread flour, and yeast to the bread machine pan in the order listed. Program the bread machine on the dough cycle.
- When the dough cycle finishes, transfer the dough to a floured surface. Cut the dough into 25 pieces and roll each into a tight ball. (See Tip 7)
Cranberry Brie Wreath
- Spray the pizza pan with nonstick spray, or cover it with parchment paper.
- Unwrap the Brie, and place it in the center of the pizza pan. Form ten rolls around the Brie. Form the remaining 15 rolls around the first first ring of rolls.
- Place in a warm location until the rolls have doubled in size, around 30 to 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Brush the rolls with milk and spoon the cranberry sauce on the brie.
- Bake in the preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown.
- Remove the rolls from the oven and brush them with melted butter. Arrange rosemary sprigs and pomegranate seeds around the rolls.
- Yield: 12 servings.
Video
Tips/Notes
- It’s important to use filtered water. The reason is that tap water contains chlorine which can act to retard the growth of the yeast or even kill the yeast.
- Weigh your ingredients, especially flour. The quantity of flour can vary significantly depending on how it is measured. I consistently use the rule that one cup of flour weighs five ounces.
- I consistently use instant or bread machine yeast when making bread, including these rolls. Instant and active dry yeast are not the same. Active dry yeast must be “proofed” or dissolved in warm water with a pinch of sugar before adding it to a recipe, while instant yeast can be added directly to the recipe.
- You do not need to remove the rind from the brie before using it in this recipe.
- You can substitute raspberry jam for the cranberry sauce. For a more savory appetizer, use pesto instead of cranberry sauce.
- I used ten rosemary tips for the sprigs and 20 pomegranate seeds for the garnish.
- The total weight of the dough was 34.5 ounces. I divided that by 25 to arrive at 1.38 ounces for each of the 25 pieces of dough.
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