Christmas Tree Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Rice flour, optional

Directions

1. Put the water, yeast, sugar, and roughly half of the flour into the bowl for your stand mixer; no measuring gymnastics required here, a visual estimate is fine. Mix everything together, then leave it alone for 20 minutes.
2. Add the remaining bread flour and the salt. Using the dough hook, knead until the dough turns smooth and stretchy.
3. Add the rosemary, thyme, and olive oil, then keep kneading until the oil disappears into the dough and the herbs are evenly mixed in.
4. Shape the dough into a ball, drizzle it with olive oil, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let it rise until it has doubled, about 40 minutes.
5. Set the oven to 350 degrees, and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. After the rise, dust your work surface with flour and move the dough onto it. Give it a quick knead to knock out the air.
6. Cut the dough into quarters, cut each quarter into 4 pieces, giving you 16 pieces, and then halve each piece so you end up with 32 pieces.
7. Shape every piece into a ball. On the prepared baking sheet, set the balls in a tree pattern with a little room between them; as they rise, the spaces should close and the pieces should touch. Build the bottom layer with about 2/3 of the balls.
8. Stack a second layer over the first, keeping the middle higher while the outside stays as a single layer. For any spots that look too open, cut some of the unused balls in half and tuck them in. The tree does not need to come out perfectly symmetrical.
9. For a snow-dusted look, scatter rice flour over the tree, or use regular flour instead. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and leave it until it has doubled, about 30 minutes.
10. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, until the bread is a nice golden color. If the bread is not being pulled apart warm, move it to a rack to cool.