Pull-Apart Milk Bread Wreath

I’ve made this recipe twice now and am currently making a third time. I don’t think it’s too dry at all. If anything I think it starts off wet and kneads the full 10 minutes of kneading (in my kitchenaid) before it becomes the right consistency. I measure my flour on a scale. I wonder if you all are Using too much flour. The two times I made it it turned out perfectly. And I’m looking forward to my third. Its become my go-to bread recipe for special occasions. I also use it to make babka.

We made these first Thanksgiving & We did have to put in more milk & a little butter, however it came out really good. Making it today ( Christmas Eve) and WHAT A PAIN! I had to dispose of first batch..too dry & when I added more liquid it turned lumpy. 2and try I put wet ingredients in mixing bowl first ( combined) then added dry ingredients. Still a littleDry! So I read comments( should've did that first!) And hand kneaded dough. Barely rising! I will let sit overnight! Sigh!

I was thinking about putting this in my bread machine on the dough cycle as to not stress my Kitchen Aid. Has anyone else tried it? I want to make it for Christmas but the reviews are scaring me.

OK. I have made it 3 times now, of which the last two attempts were successful (first attempt ended up like those written here-nearly killed my Kitchen Aid, nothing rose, extremely disappointed). My tips: Make sure your wet ingredients are at room temperature, 70 degrees ideal, but I also used them at 67 degrees. Gradually add the wet ingredients, not all at once, into the flour mixture. I also used tangzhong, which made it even lighter and fluffier. F&W missed quite a few steps in their instructions...disappointed because I tried their parker house rolls they published for Thanksgiving a few years earlier and they were very explicit in their instructions. Happy Thanksgiving and I hope your Kitchen Aids are repairable!

Disaster! The dough never rose completely after almost 4 hours. My kitchen aid couldn’t handle it, had to knead it by hand. Thankfully I tried making this the day before thanksgiving so I could make a tried and true Parker house roll recipe. I’m going to have to question food and wine recipes in the future!!!

Sooo disappointed, and I wish I had read the reviews first. I've been showing family members pictures of this for weeks, saying I was going to make it for Thanksgiving. Now it's Thanksgiving morning, and this dough is so dense that it literally destroyed my kitchen aid mixer. The bowl came free from the stand, and the ridges that keep it connected got bent, and now it won't stay attached to the mixer. Great way to start Thanksgiving. Thanks a lot F&W! Test your recipes as written BEFORE sending it to print.

I thought this was headed for disaster. My KitchenAid couldn’t handle the dough at all so I dumped it on the counter and started kneading by hand. Took at least 25 min of hard work but it made a nice stretchy dough. It took much longer than stated to rise, and then was not easy to roll out because the dough kept springing back. It was nowhere near 12x20 but I cut it anyway. I put it in a barely warm oven for second rise and it puffed up beautifully all the way to the top of my angel food cake pan. End result is fantastic, just wish recipe was closer to reality.

I made the dough this afternoon and it also almost burned up my 40 year old kitchen aid. I used all half and half and eliminated the milk powder. I also added more half and half. I ended up splitting the dough in half in order to kneed the dough in the machine. It has been 1.5 hours and it has not doubled in bulk. I plan to roll out and shape and let rise overnight in the fridge. I will bake tomorrow (thanksgiving day) and I will allow for the additional baking time. Fingers crossed that it is good.

Made this last week as a test run. Everything worked perfectly. My 40 year old kitchen aid had no problem with the dough. Maybe the new mixers aren’t as well made. Make sure you separate your rectangles in the cake pan. I rushed and so my pieces didn’t pull apart as perfectly as they should have. It lasted for a week. Made delicious pb&j sandwiches. Making it again today for Thanksgiving instead of my usual Parker house rolls.

Same issue with dough being very stiff. Thought my KitchenAid was going to jump off the counter. Also experienced slow rise time. I realized after I was reading the other baker's notes, that I used all purpose flour, not bread flour! Took longer to bake than the recipe said, but finished product looks and tastes good. Have already measured my dry ingredients for when I bake on thanks giving - will add more liquid.

I am happy to know I was not the only one who seemed to get a very stiff dough that had little moisture! I too thought it would be the end of the KitchenAid! The final product was still good, however, I am going to try to make it again with 3/4 cup less of the flour and possibly try it with AP flour as opposed to bread flour. I'll post again with the results.

I made this recipe and changed nothing. The dough was super stiff, iit took a lot longer than 10 minutes to knead & almost burned out my big kitchenaid! The dough took a lot longer than an hour or 90 min to rise. 3-4 hours for the first rise, then overnight sitting on a warm place (oven at 250) for the second rise. When I baked it up, it was beautiful and delicious. I wonder if the yeast softened in warm milk would make this recipe better. I'm not sure where the quick rise yeast comes in as there was nothing quick about this dough. One hour rise is not accurate. I am also concerned with the dough texture and if it's possible to add more moisture to save the kitchenaid, or if it would affect the final product. Because the final product was hella good!

My bread wreath was delicious and looked pretty impressive. I had to give the dough a little more moisture with the heavy cream so I could mix it without putting stress on my mixer. Also had to wait twice as long for dough to rise.

Anyone figure out what the missing ingredient was?

I too had trouble with the recipe. I tried it twice thinking I measured something wrong the 1st time. I was afraid I would break my Kitchen Aid so kneaded the 2nd batch half-way through by hand -- no improvement. Wondering if the dry milk should be teaspoons instead of TBLS? Either way, very disappointed as I was hoping to make for Thanksgiving.

I made this and had no problem with the recipe ingredients as written. I made the dough and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, I continued per the instructions. Once in the pan, it took close to 3 hours to rise to the top edge at 80 degrees, not the one hour suggested in the recipe. Otherwise, no complaints. Mine looks exactly like the pictures in the magazine. Waiting for it to cool . I hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Please, what size tube pan to use? Thank you.

Made this yesterday - the dough is so thick I was worried I was going to burn out my Kitchen aid mixer - I almost just tossed it but MADE it and it came out amazing! Husband couldn't stop eating it!

Trying to make this now. Agree with Ginny, there is something wrong with the published recipe. The dough is so stiff that my Kitchenaide mixer can't move it. Would like to know what ingredient is off.

The magazine came in the mail yesterday and I made the bread today. Something is not right about the published recipe. There is not enough moisture or use less flour, or split the bread flour with some all purpose flour.

I absolutely cannot wait to make this for the holidays! Can you tell me the dimensions of the tube pan, and whether or not it's necessary to use a version with a removable bottom? In other words: can I use the bundt pan that I already own, or is more specific bakeware essential? I have a terrible tendency to underbake cakes/rolls and I don't want to make that mistake here! Thanks! Sarah