This post is about 90% DIY and 10% garden. Again, this year for Thanksgiving I made a cornucopia bread centerpiece. This is a fun DIY project that makes an amazing yet affordable display. This costs only a few cups of flour and other ingredients if you make the dough yourself. The cornucopia itself takes about three hours from start to finish. I usually set aside some time the night before to create this. While three hours may seem like a lot of time, remember that bread spends a lot of time in a bowl rising and requiring no direct attention. So, there are parts of the process where we have an hour or half an hour to do almost anything else. I would suggest setting a timer and using that time to relax, watch TV, or do anything else.
Step 1. Create the bread dough. I simply looked up an ornamental bread dough recipe and backed off on the salt so it tastes a bit better. Homemade dough is more frugal than store-bought ready-made dough. Also, I can control the ingredients and amount of dough with a homemade option. Let the dough rise in a covered bowl.
Step 2. Create a form out of aluminum foil. I made a cone out of foil, curled one end, and filled it with balls of wadded up foil. If the dough is ready, now is a good time to spray all the outside of this form with non-stick cooking spray. Set this on a cookie sheet that you will bake it on later.
Step 3 Get the dough after it has risen once and is ready to be worked. Begin to roll pieces of it out on a floured surface. A rolling pin is a great tool for this step. Cut one big flat piece into the shape of the bottom of the cornucopia. Cut the other flattened pieces into strips.
Step 4. Set the form on the large flat dough piece. Starting at the tail end and wrap the other dough strips around the form overlapping a little with the previous strip. You may need water to “glue” the ends of the strips together. Work from the tail toward the wide end. Once the strips are at the part of the form that touches the cookie sheet, start placing the strips between the form and the large dough piece under the form. Again, water can be used to stick them together. Work the strips all the way to the large end.
Step 5. Make three long round ropes of dough and braid them together into a long braid. This will go around the opening on the large end.
Step 6. Let this all sit for another hour to rest. I would suggest covering this with a flour sack towel to keep dust off the raw dough.
Step 7. Baste the whole cornucopia with a beaten egg. This will create the golden color as the bread bakes.
Step 8. This can now be baked per the dough instructions. Mine was to bake at 350F for 30 minutes. I usually check the temperature with a meat thermometer to see if the bread is at 200F.
Step 9. Once the cornucopia is baked it can be removed from the form. While the bread is still warm, carefully remove the foil from the inside by pulling it out from the large end.
This can be cooled and then stored covered till the next day when it can be arranged with other food for the centerpiece.
The small portion of this post that is garden related is inside the pumpernickel bread. The recipe uses a little dried fennel seed and those were from the garden. The garden is still present here even when it is not visible.
Step 1. Create the bread dough. I simply looked up an ornamental bread dough recipe and backed off on the salt so it tastes a bit better. Homemade dough is more frugal than store-bought ready-made dough. Also, I can control the ingredients and amount of dough with a homemade option. Let the dough rise in a covered bowl.
Step 2. Create a form out of aluminum foil. I made a cone out of foil, curled one end, and filled it with balls of wadded up foil. If the dough is ready, now is a good time to spray all the outside of this form with non-stick cooking spray. Set this on a cookie sheet that you will bake it on later.
Step 3 Get the dough after it has risen once and is ready to be worked. Begin to roll pieces of it out on a floured surface. A rolling pin is a great tool for this step. Cut one big flat piece into the shape of the bottom of the cornucopia. Cut the other flattened pieces into strips.
Step 4. Set the form on the large flat dough piece. Starting at the tail end and wrap the other dough strips around the form overlapping a little with the previous strip. You may need water to “glue” the ends of the strips together. Work from the tail toward the wide end. Once the strips are at the part of the form that touches the cookie sheet, start placing the strips between the form and the large dough piece under the form. Again, water can be used to stick them together. Work the strips all the way to the large end.
Step 5. Make three long round ropes of dough and braid them together into a long braid. This will go around the opening on the large end.
Step 6. Let this all sit for another hour to rest. I would suggest covering this with a flour sack towel to keep dust off the raw dough.
Step 7. Baste the whole cornucopia with a beaten egg. This will create the golden color as the bread bakes.
Step 8. This can now be baked per the dough instructions. Mine was to bake at 350F for 30 minutes. I usually check the temperature with a meat thermometer to see if the bread is at 200F.
Step 9. Once the cornucopia is baked it can be removed from the form. While the bread is still warm, carefully remove the foil from the inside by pulling it out from the large end.
This can be cooled and then stored covered till the next day when it can be arranged with other food for the centerpiece.
The small portion of this post that is garden related is inside the pumpernickel bread. The recipe uses a little dried fennel seed and those were from the garden. The garden is still present here even when it is not visible.
RSS Feed
