Christmas Series: Pesto and Walnut Wreath

A beautiful addition to any Christmas dinner table

You will need:-

500g of strong white flour

340ml of luke warm water

A sachet of fast action yeast (7g)

Olive oil

60g of chopped Walnuts

50g of basil leaves

1tsp of pine nuts

1 clove of garlic

25g of vegetarian hard Italian style cheese

Place 500g of strong white flour and yeast in a bowl and mix, add a splash of olive oil, then slowly add the luke warm water until a soft dough is formed. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (for approximately 10mins). Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to prove for an hour (until it has doubled in size).

While the dough is proving, put 50g of basil leaves, 1tsp of pine nuts, clove of garlic and 6 tbsp of olive olive into a blender. Blend this until smooth. Then, gently mix in 25g of grated cheese.

Knock back the dough and take a small section of the dough, a bit larger than a golf ball, and set this aside. Take the large section of the dough and divide this into three equal portions, using a rolling action, make long thin sausage shapes about 50cm long. Then, flatten these out using your fingers and stretch the dough until as flat as possible. Then use a blunt knife or the back of a spoon to spread the pesto along the entire length of the flattened dough strips, then sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the top. Gently fold the strips width ways to cover as much of the toppings as possible.

Take the small piece of dough you saved earlier and roll this out into a long thin sausage shape (about 40cm in length). Fold the ends round and pressing in the centre to form a bow shaped. Then, place this in a pan of boiling water for 10 secs, this allows the dough to form a skin and prevents it from expanding too much. Place this to the side until you have formed the wreath.

To do this, pinch the top of the three pesto strips of dough together. Twist the dough strips around each other, exposing some of the filling. Then shape this into a ring and press the ends together (you may wish to do this on the baking tray you will put in the oven, just to make moving it easier). Place the bow on the join in the dough and allow this to prove in a warm place for 30mins. Preheat the oven at 200C.

When proved, bake for 20-25mins or until it sounds hollow and has a nice golden colour.

Tip: if you would like to make this a vegan recipe, you could omit the cheese from the pesto recipe.

Enjoy! x