White Chocolate & Blueberry Bread Wreath

Dough

1. Mix together 1/2 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar, 4 tsp. yeast and set it aside to rise for about 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile sift 4 cups of flour into a bowl of a mixer. Add the sugar and mix with the hook attachment on low speed. Make a little well in the middle of the flour and break the 2 eggs, yeast mixture, and 3 cups warm water. Let the mixer run on low speed for about 5 minutes, combining everything into a runny dough.

3. Add the remaining 2½ cups of flour and run the mixer for another 5-10 minutes on slow speed, until the dough does not stick to the walls of the mixer and a piece of dough can be stretched to make it see-through. At this point, the gluten in the flour should be very well developed so the dough should be very stretchy.

4. Add the 1/4 cups oil or butter and 1/3cups flour. Let the dough be kneaded for another 3-4 minutes until all the oil has been incorporated into the dough and the walls of the bowl do not look oily.

5. Oil the inside of a separate large bowl, set aside. Take the dough and start folding the edges of the dough under, until you get a neat round ball. Place the dough ball in the oiled bowl, loosely cover and set this bowl over another bowl with warm water - this will help it rise better, if your house is not 80F; or you can place your bowl with the dough on top of your cupboards where the temperature is higher. Whichever place you choose it must be draft free. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
6. When the dough is doubled in size, turn your oven to 400F and place the rack in the middle.
7. Punch down the dough and cut away half of the dough. Shape it into a round ball by tucking the ends underneath and roll it out into about 1/3 inch thick rectangle on a well oiled surface. Be careful not to deflate all the bubbles that have formed on the inside of the dough.

8. Sprinkle 1 cup dry blueberries and 1 cup white chocolate chips all over the dough, leaving about 1 inch strip at the end. Lightly press the blueberries and white chocolate into the dough and roll it like a jelly-roll, making sure to roll it tightly with not air gaps, pinching the end together and leaving it seam side down for about 5 minutes on the table – this will help the dough relax.

9. With both hands on the roll, with gentle pressure on the roll, start moving the roll away from yourself with your hands moving away and in opposite directions from each other. Keep doing this until the roll is 1/2 thin as when you started out. Fold the roll in two and twist the ends like a rope. Pinch the ends of the two logs together at the end and join them with the beginning of the twist.
10. Set the wreath on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Loosely cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise for about 1 hour or until almost doubled in size.
11. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
12. Once risen, brush the egg wash onto the dough with a brush.
13. With a sharp serrated knife, in a swift motion make cuts in the middle of each twist following the curvature of the twist.
14. Alternatively you can just stop after rolling the dough ‘jelly-roll’ style.
15. Bake @ 400F, for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350F and bake for another 15 minutes. The bread will be a deep golden color.
16. Let cool on a rack.