Easy Chocolate Hazelnut Bread Wreath (Vegan)
This gooey and sweet chocolate hazelnut bread wreath is full of chocolate ripples within the softest and fluffiest sweet bread, all braided in the form of a wreath! Made entirely vegan, this braided bread wreath is a wonderful holiday centerpiece and breakfast!
This post is sponsored by Flora Plant Butter. I’m so excited to have worked with them to bring you this recipe, and I know you’ll just love it! All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep The Banana Diaries running!
What is a bread wreath?
Making a bread wreath is actually quite simple, and very similar to cinnamon rolls in its process.
A bread wreath is essentially sliced, twisted, and braided dough in the form of a wreath.
Now that sounds complicated at first, but it’s really quite simple.
We’ll go over how to make the bread wreath in the following section (and the full recipe is found down below in the recipe card!), but essentially once the dough is rolled, you slice it in half, twist, and braid.
Once baked, you can slice into the braided sweet bread to reveal all of these ripples of “buttery” chocolate hazelnut spread between soft and sweet ripples of vanilla sweet bread.
Oh, and the kicker for this recipe? It’s actually entirely vegan. But don’t let that scare you. The ingredients are so simple, and it’s actually easier to make a vegan enriched dough than a non vegan one!
What is enriched dough?
Have you ever wondered what’s the difference between a sourdough loaf and a cinnamon roll bread?
Aside from the look and taste, the actual dough is quite different. It’s the difference between a lean dough and an enriched dough.
For this chocolate bread wreath, we’re actually using an enriched dough, which is what you often use for making cinnamon rolls, Babka, monkey bread, and the like.
An enriched dough has a certain amount of fat in it, whereas a lean dough (that’s used to make, say, sandwich bread) usually just uses water.
But how can an enriched dough be vegan then if it needs butter? For this braided sweet bread, we’re actually using a vegan butter: specifically Flora Plant Butter.
Flora Plant Butter has become one of my latest product obsessions to use in vegan baking. It’s entirely nut free and dairy free, and literally tastes like butter. This means that no one will know that your chocolate bread wreath is vegan!
How to make a chocolate hazelnut bread wreath
As I mentioned above, the full written recipe and ingredient measurements to this bread wreath are found down below in the recipe card.
However, let’s go over the basics and any tips and tricks to making this sweet bread wreath easy, simple and fun!
For ingredients, you’ll need the following:
- All purpose flour or bread flour: I have not tested this bread wreath with GF 1:1 baking flour, but stay tuned!
- Dairy free milk
- Unsweetened applesauce: this replaces the eggs in standard enriched dough
- Coconut sugar
- Active dry yeast: you can also use rapid rise yeast here, but just make sure that you’re accounting for the difference in rise time! The rapid rise time will make this dough go very fast!
- Flora Plant Butter: we’ll be using this vegan butter for not only the dough, but also the filling and the glaze on top!
- Vanilla extract or paste
- Chocolate hazelnut spread
Once you’ve gathered your ingredients, we’ll make this chocolate bread wreath!
First, start by activating the yeast. You’ll do this by heating the dairy free milk to 110F. Please make sure that the dairy free milk is truly 110F- any hotter, and you risk killing the yeast, and any cooler, the yeast won’t activate. You’ll mix the yeast into the milk along with a tablespoon of coconut sugar.
After a few minutes, it should start to foam and smell yeast-like. This means your yeast has fully activated and is ready to go! If after 15 minutes, nothing has happened, you definitely should start again- this means that the yeast didn’t properly activate.
Next, add in the remaining wet ingredients: applesauce, softened Flora Plant Butter, and vanilla extract. You can use a stand mixer with the dough paddle attachment here, or you can do this by hand, as I did. You’ll use a spoon to mix the wet ingredients together.
Then, you’ll add in the flour and mix until it forms a slightly tacky, but smooth dough ball. You can knead it a bit with your hands to make sure the flour is fully incorporated. Start with the smallest amount of flour required then add more in increments until you achieve the look of the image below. You’ll knead the dough for a few minutes, then place it into a greased clean bowl covered to rise!
Once risen, you’ll punch down the dough and roll it out to be about 12″ by 18″. The trick to easily getting your bread wreath onto a baking sheet without ruining the form is to work on a piece of parchment paper. Then you’ll just slide the baking sheet underneath the parchment paper when you’re ready to bake.
You’ll heat the chocolate hazelnut spread together with more Flora Plant Butter to make it super easy to spread onto the dough. Spread the mixture to reach all of the edges of the dough, then roll the dough to form an 18″ log (much like cinnamon rolls!).
Slice the dough in half with a large kitchen knife, and begin to twist and braid the dough together, like below.
Next, bring the two ends of the dough braid to meet and form a wreath. Slide a baking sheet underneath the parchment paper and cover the dough to rise again while the oven preheats.
Once preheated, you’ll bake the dough, then lightly brush it with some melted Flora Plant Butter. Dust with a little powdered sugar, and serve warm!
Can I make this bread wreath ahead of time?
Absolutely! You can easily prepare the dough and have it braided one day, and then bake it the next.
To do so, simply follow the recipe instructions up until Step 9. Then slip a baking sheet underneath the parchment paper (like in step 9), cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel, and place the baking sheet into the fridge to set overnight.
When ready to bake, simply remove the bread wreath from the fridge about 1 hour before baking.
Preheat the oven to 350F and place the bread wreath sheet near or on top of the oven to warm and rise again.
Bake the bread wreath for 30-33 minutes, and serve!
I hope you love this super easy bread wreath as much as I do! It’s a wonderful sweet surprise of a centerpiece for the holidays or any special occasion!
If you make this chocolate bread wreath, let me know down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a rating so that others may find it!
As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there!
Happy bread braiding!
More vegan sweet breads to try:
Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Star Bread
Super Gooey Vegan Monkey Bread
Gooey Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
Easy Chocolate Hazelnut Bread Wreath (Vegan)
Description
This gooey and sweet chocolate hazelnut bread wreath is full of chocolate ripples within the softest and fluffiest sweet bread, all braided in the form of a wreath! Made entirely vegan, this braided bread wreath is a wonderful holiday centerpiece and breakfast!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups dairy free milk, heated to 110F
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar, divided
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 1/3 cup Flora Plant Butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 4 3/4–5 cups all purpose or bread flour
- 1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread
- 3 tbsp Flora Plant Butter, melted
Instructions
- Grease a medium sized bowl with Flora Plant Butter and set aside.
- Make sure that the dairy free milk is exactly 110F. Any hotter and the yeast will die, any cooler and the yeast won’t activate.
- Pour the dairy free milk into a large bowl, and add in 1 tbsp of coconut sugar and the dry yeast. Whisk together, cover, and let activate for 10 minutes in a warm area.
- When activated, add in the applesauce, softened Flora Plant Butter, and vanilla extract, and mix. Sift in the flour, and knead the dough together for 3-4 minutes until it forms a small and soft dough ball.
- Place the dough into the medium greased bowl, cover with a cloth or wrap, and place into a warm area to let rise for 1 hour. It should be double in size. If it’s at least 80F outside, you can place the bowl outside, otherwise you can place it in the oven (which is turned off) and turn on the oven light or start preheating the oven to 350F and place the bowl near or on top of the oven.
- After an hour, lightly punch down the dough. Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper, and place the dough in the middle. Sprinkle a little extra flour on top of the dough and flour the rolling pin. Roll the dough out to be a large rectangle (12 in x 18 in).
- Heat the chocolate hazelnut spread and 2 tbsp of Flora Plant Butter together for 30 seconds to soften. Make sure the Flora Plant Butter is mixed into the hazelnut spread. Gently spread the mixture to reach the edges of the rectangular dough.
- Tightly roll the dough to form an 18″ log. Then slice the log in half. Begin to twist the ends of sliced dough away from each other and then wrapped together to form a twist similar to Babka. Once the log is completely twisted, bring both ends of the log to meet and form a wreath.
- Carefully slip a large baking sheet underneath the parchment paper so that you don’t have to move the wreath. Cover the wreath and place near a warm area to rest for 20 minutes while the oven preheats to 350F.
- Once preheated, place the wreath inside the oven and bake for 27-33 minutes, or until the dough is lightly golden.
- Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes.
- Lightly brush the bread with the remaining tablespoon of Flora Plant Butter. Dust with powdered sugar if desired, and enjoy!
