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Matcha & Red Bean Christmas Tree

Create a gorgeous edible centerpiece for your Christmas parties with our buttery and soft brioche Christmas tree. Our Japanese inspired filling of matcha custard and red bean paste will delight and wow your guests as we fuse Asian flavours with a Western brioche bun recipe.

Brioche Dough	Quantity
Bread flour	250g
Salt	4.5g
Saf-instant^® Gold instant dry yeast	5g
Magimix® Green bread improver	0.5g
Magimix® Softness bread improver	2.5g
LIVENDO® BD100	7.5g
Sugar	50g
Eggs	138g
Unsalted butter	125g

Matcha Brioche Dough	Quantity
Brioche dough	238g
Matcha powder	5g

Matcha Custard Filling	Quantity
Full cream milk	50g
Unsalted butter	5g
Sugar	13g
Egg yolks	10g
Cornstarch	4.5g
Matcha powder	0.5g

Red Bean Filling	Quantity
Red bean paste	100g

FEATURED PRODUCT

PREPARE THE MATCHA CUSTARD FILLING

Warm 7g of sugar with the milk and butter in a medium pot.
Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and matcha powder together until a paste forms.
Add the warm milk and butter mixture slowly to the egg yolk mixture while constantly whisking.
Prepare an ice bath.
Transfer the combine mixture back to the medium pot and heat gently until boiling, whisking constantly.
As soon as the custard begins to boil, strain immediately into a clean bowl and place into ice bath to stop the cooking.
Once cool, cover tightly with an additional piece of cling wrap touching the surface of the custard.
Reserve in the fridge until needed.
Whisk to get a smooth, workable consistency before using.

PREPARE THE BRIOCHE DOUGH

Combine the bread flour, salt, Saf-instant^® Gold yeast, Magimix® Green, Magimix® Softness, LIVENDO® BD100, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine.
Add in the eggs and mix with a dough hook at low speed for 4 minutes.
Increase to high speed and continue mixing for around 5 minutes.
Reduce the speed to low, and add it the softened butter and continue mixing for 5 minutes.
Raise the speed back to high for another 3 minutes until the dough is smooth.
Remove 345g of the dough and transfer to a bowl.
Cover with a lightly greased piece of cling wrap and rest for 5 minutes at room temperature.

PREPARE THE MATCHA DOUGH

Add the matcha powder to the remaining dough in the stand mixer.
Mix on low speed until the matcha is well combined.
Transfer to a bowl and cover with a lightly greased piece of cling wrap.
Let rest for 5 minutes at room temperature.

FILLING

Starting with the matcha dough, divide it out into 7 balls (~34g per piece).
Taking 1 piece of dough at a time, flatten slightly into a disk and make an indent in the center. Fill with approximately 10g of the cooled matcha custard filling.
Pinch the corners of the dough together to form a tight seal, ensuring the filling does not leak out. Place the dough seam side down and gently roll to form a tight ball shape.
Repeat with the remaining 6 pieces of matcha dough.
For the plain brioche dough, divide it out into 10 balls (~34g per piece).
Taking 1 piece of dough at a time, flatten slightly into a disk and make an indent in the center. Fill with approximately 10g of the red bean filling.
Pinch the corners of the dough together to form a tight seal, ensuring the filling does not leak out. Place the dough seam side down and gently roll to form a tight ball shape.
Repeat with the remaining 9 pieces of plain brioche dough.

SHAPING

Using 7 matcha dough balls and 10 plain brioche dough balls per Christmas tree, place the dough balls closely to one another to form the Christmas tree shape on a large parchment lined baking tray.
Cover with a lightly greased piece of cling wrap and let proof for around 3 hours at room temperature.

BAKING

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the plain brioche buns are lightly golden.
Let cool on a wire rack before carefully transferring to a serving dish.
Once cooled, decorate with fresh pomegranate seeds, icing sugar, or frosting as desired.
Best enjoyed while warm and fluffy!

Watch the recipe video here.