Savory Christmas Tree Danubio, the show-stopping appetizer to prepare for Christmas to make your holiday table beautiful. Every year, I prepare leavened breads for Christmas, and often I don’t find the time to photograph them, but this time I wanted to get ahead, for a family lunch, to bring to the blog one of the many leavened breads you can make for the holidays, the brioche dough Danubio, stuffed with ham and provola, or if you prefer, with salami, or cream cheese and smoked salmon. The base is a good soft brioche bread, and then for the filling, you can use anything, even a bit of tomato sauce and provola. Last year, I made a soft focaccia potato bread star, filled with smoked salmon, another time I made Christmas focaccia with walnuts and raisins. Find this recipe in the Christmas recipes collection and Christmas appetizers.
Here are more ideas for homemade Christmas appetizers
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 6 Hours
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Savory Christmas Tree Danubio
- 2 cups Manitoba flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 tbsp butter
- 2 eggs
- 7 oz milk
- 0.18 oz fresh yeast
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 oz provola cheese
- 5 oz cooked ham
- 1 egg
- to taste sesame seeds
- to taste rosemary
- berries cherry tomatoes
Tools for preparing the Savory Christmas Tree Danubio
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Baking sheet
- 1 Parchment paper
Steps to prepare Savory Christmas Tree Danubio
In a bowl, put the warm milk with 5 g of fresh yeast and 2 teaspoons of sugar, mix and add the 2 eggs, mix again and add the first 250 g of flour, mix with a spoon until you obtain a nice soft dough, which we work a bit like this to make it nice and elastic.
At this point, we also add the salt, I used 1 and a half teaspoons, which I think is perfect, otherwise the brioche would be too sweet. We mix again, and between each phase, we make small pauses.
Now add the butter, better if melted but not hot, and incorporate it by mixing again with the spoon.
The last 250 g of flour remain to be added, we add them little by little so we can continue mixing with the spoon until the dough is soft, then continue by hand, better on a work surface, to work the dough well and bind it well.
Then close the dough ball and let it rise in a bowl, in a warm place for at least 4-5 hours. If it’s cool at home, put it in the oven with a cup of hot water and the light on, so it stays moist and doesn’t dry out, but it’s always better to cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
When the dough is well risen, we take it back, place it on a floured surface, stretch it out, and do 2 sets of folds. Then reform a dough ball and divide it into 12 parts, about 70 g each. Make smooth balls, let them rest for at least 10 minutes.
Prepare the provola by cutting it into cubes, and cut the ham into small slices,
Stretch each ball at the base and fill it with 4-5 cubes of provola and the ham, and close it well. Gradually place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, to form a tree as in the photo, or as you can see better in the video.
Danubio in the pan just prepared
Danubio already risen and brushed with egg or egg white
Let rise for a couple of hours in the oven, always with the cup of hot water so it doesn’t dry out.
When the danubio is risen, so puffy, and the spaces between the balls are closed, brush it with beaten egg, or egg white with a brush, gently so as not to deflate the brioche, and then sprinkle with a bit of sesame seeds.
Bake in a hot oven at 350°F (180°C) for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, decorate with rosemary sprigs and some cherry tomatoes, and bring to the table. Excellent to enjoy hot with the melted provola, but also delicious cold.
It keeps wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for a couple of days, it is recommended to heat it at 320°F (160°C) for a few minutes in the oven when serving.
It can also be filled in other ways and not only savory, but also sweet danubio is delicious. If you prefer, you can use a little more sugar and less salt, but it’s still great this way, maybe filled with Nutella, or jam, but also delicious with salmon and ricotta, or spreadable cheese like Philadelphia.
