Sweet Strawberry jam oozing out of soft pull apart bread. Sounds good to me! Star bread is a lovely bread to display on your counter and it truly invites you to go on and pull off a twist! Whether it’s jam or Nutella, or even cinnamon sugar the possibilities are endless. Happy Baking!
The Method
A quick overview of the steps: More detailed in the Recipe itself
The dough: This dough recipe is a very simple one that anyone can master. However, it does take patience. With yeast, sugar, milk ,butter, egg and flour, it can be whipped up pretty quick! however, the importance is the rising. This dough will need 90-120 mins to rise. Rolling out layers: In order to achieve layers of filling (jam, Nutella, cinnamon etc) we have to roll out 4 discs of dough like mini pizza being spread with pizza sauce. Except we will be using filling not sauce :) After, we will stack all four discs. The cut and twist: This part gets a little messier as the filling oozes, but fear not! it’s super fun . In the centre of the stacked and filing spread dough, we will place a cup to make a circle ring in the centre as a reference for equal length strips. We will then cut 16 strips and twist them to make 8 peaks of the star shape. The egg wash: brush with egg wash and bake! Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Tips to consider:
Jam filled ! Filling with jam, Nutella, or a spread that is slightly sticky, try to make sure not to overfill. A good way to ensure you do not spread too much on each dough layer is to leave a ring of untouched dough around each disc. When filling try not to leave excess filling on the bottom, otherwise it may burn or stick to the pan/parchment. I suggest wiping up any that fell before putting in he oven :) Be sure to use an egg-wash or buttermilk for those crisp edges. If you choose not to. it will turn out nice as well. It will just be a sightly softer bread. prep time bake time total time ~2 30 mins *includes rising ~30 mins ~3 hours Serves 8
The Recipe
Star Bread : Jam filled
Ingredients:
The dough:
2 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast 3 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar 3/4 cup whole milk 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp. 1 large egg 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour + more for rolling later 1 teaspoon salt
For the filling:
ideas: jam, jelly, Nutella, cinnamon, savoury cheese scallion, etc.
Remember the EGG WASH!
Procedure
Step 1) Make the dough.
In a large bowl place the yeast and sugar and warm the milk in a saucepan until just before it simmers/boils or in the microwave for about 40-45 seconds. pour the warm milk onto the yeat and sugar and cover with a towl for 5-7 mins. it should look frothy once done.
Step 2)
Add the butter, flour, egg, and salt to the yeast mixture. You can use your hands or a mixer with a dough hook attachment to mix all the ingredients together until well combined. If it seems quite sticky an additional couple Tablespoons of flour can be added. Not too much!
Step 3)
Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise for 90-120 minutes until it has doubled in size. A nice place for the dough is in the oven on a very low temperature such as “keep warm” or 150 degrees F. After preheated turn the temperature off and the warmth will still linger inside ! perfect temperature for dough! On the kitchen counter works as well.
Step 4)
The filling and assembling:
Take the dough and split it into 4 equal balls. On a lightly floured surface roll the balls out into equal size discs as best you can. Spread your filling on each as if spreading pizza sauce on mini pizzas! now, stack each disc on-top of each-other into a pile. place a glass in the center and make a subtle indent so you can see where the center is to ensure the strips being cut are roughly the same length. First, cut four equal sections around the center. next, cut those all in half, making 8 strips. finally, cut each of those in half, ending with 16 strips. Now, take two strips at a time and twist them opposite. One cockwise, the other counterclockwise, meeting at the end and pinch them together. Repeat until there are 8 peaks to your star bread! :)
Step 5)
Brush with egg wash and finish with course sugar.
Step 6)
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F (170 C) and bake for 25-30 mins
Powder sugar. Serve. Enjoy!
Strawberry Jam Filled Raspberry Jam filled
