In this video, learn how to make Chef John’s stunning Holiday Star Bread, a show-stopping addition to your holiday table. This sweet, spiced, pull-apart bread is as delicious as it is beautiful, with its intricate star shape and layers of flavor. Perfect for holiday brunches or as an edible centerpiece, this recipe features a soft yeast dough with a hint of sweetness and warmth.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Holiday Star Bread.
00:08That's right!
00:09You're going to learn how to make star bread from someone who's only made it once, which
00:13is both a disclaimer and a flex, since I thought this came out really, really well.
00:19And I am very confident your first attempt will be just as successful.
00:23And to get started, the first thing we'll do is make our dough, which starts with a
00:27couple of teaspoons of yeast, which we will combine with some warm water, as well as some
00:32warm milk.
00:33And when we say warm in the dough business, we're talking like 100, 110 degrees, okay,
00:38so you feel like hot bath water, basically.
00:41And what we'll do is let the yeast activate for about 15 minutes before we add the rest
00:45of the ingredients, which will include a little bit of sugar, as well as some ground cardamom.
00:51And then we'll need one beaten egg, as well as a very generous amount of melted butter.
00:56And then we'll finish up with some all-purpose flour, and of course, a little bit of salt.
01:01And once everything's in, we'll grab our dough hook, and we will knead this for about five
01:05minutes or so, or until we've formed a very smooth, very soft, fairly elastic dough.
01:11And by the way, you might need to scrape down the sides of the bowl a couple times, since
01:15some of that butter might stick and not get mixed in.
01:18But anyway, after about five minutes of kneading, our dough should look something like this,
01:23at which point we'll go ahead and pull that off the mixer, and scrape down the hook.
01:27And then according to best practices, we're supposed to transfer this into a clean, greased bowl.
01:32But I think we can get away with just cleaning off the sides with a spatula.
01:36And even though the culinary instructor's not going to be crazy about that, trust me,
01:40it's going to work.
01:42Although we will appease them a little bit, and after we have that cleaned up, we will
01:46dampen our hands with a little bit of water, and give that dough a quick shape into a ball,
01:50with some kind of relatively smooth surface.
01:53And that's it.
01:54As usual, we will cover that up, and let it rise in a warm spot for a couple hours, or
01:59until it doubles in size.
02:01And while we're waiting, we can mix up the other two things we're going to need, which
02:04will be some cinnamon sugar, which we will make by mixing some cinnamon into some sugar.
02:10And then we'll also need a butter egg wash, which we will create by mixing a couple tablespoons
02:14of melted butter into an egg.
02:16And by the way, you can wait to make this one, until your dough is pretty much fully
02:20risen.
02:21And that's it.
02:22Let's go outside, and go back and check our dough, which like I said, should be doubled
02:26in size.
02:27And you know the test, if we poke it with some floured fingers, it sort of deflates
02:31and holds the marks.
02:32Okay, if the marks spring back, let it go.
02:36But since that was perfect, we can go ahead and transfer that onto a floured surface,
02:40and dust a little flour over the top, before we flatten that into some kind of uniform
02:44disc.
02:45And the reason it's nice if we get something uniform, is because we're going to want to
02:48divide this into four equal pieces.
02:50And something like a uniform circle is going to be way easier to divide, than like a weird
02:54trapezoid.
02:55And then for the next step, we'll take a portion of dough, and we'll shape it back into a nice
03:00round ball.
03:01And using enough flour so it doesn't stick, we'll roll that out into a circle, about eleven
03:06or twelve inches across.
03:08And I know what you're thinking, that doesn't really look like a circle.
03:12But you know what, that is okay, since what we're going to do once we get that to the
03:15approximate size, is transfer that onto a piece of parchment paper.
03:20And if you start with a round ball of dough, it's always going to want to stay in a round
03:23shape.
03:24So you'll see that it's going to be very easy to press and pull, and reshape into almost
03:28a perfect circle, or at least close enough for star bread.
03:32And that's it, once our first layer of dough is formed, we will paint that very generously
03:36with our butter and egg mixture, covering that almost all the way to the edge.
03:41At which point we will sprinkle over a nice layer of our cinnamon sugar, okay at least
03:45a nice generous tablespoon or so.
03:47And then if you're using them, and I hope you are, we will scatter over some dried fruit
03:51and chopped nuts, and I went with dried cranberry and golden raisin, as well as some almond
03:56and pistachio.
03:58And I will mention this again, but I probably should have gone closer to the edges.
04:02All right, and the final product, I didn't get as much fruit and nut in the outside pieces
04:06as I wanted.
04:07But anyway, once that's scattered over, we will roll out our second piece of dough, and
04:12press that evenly over the top, at which point we'll repeat the exact same process, with
04:16our butter-egg mixture being brushed down first, followed by our cinnamon sugar, and
04:21then our fruits and nuts.
04:23And since we have four portions of dough, we will do three layers of our filling, before
04:27we finish with the last round of dough on top.
04:30And of course, use any kind of dried fruit and nuts you want.
04:33All right, this is your chance to get creative.
04:36I mean you are after all the Father Christmas, of your star bread business, and there are
04:40so many great things that would work in this, depending on what you're into.
04:45But no matter what you use, as I touched on earlier, we should probably apply our filling
04:49almost all the way to the edge, just so we hopefully get some of that goodness in every
04:53bite.
04:54But anyway, once we finish that last layer, and our final piece of dough is placed over
04:58the top, we're going to take a pastry cutter, or a glass, or something similar about three
05:04inches across, and we're going to mark the dough right in the middle, since that's where
05:08we're going to start our cut.
05:09Oh, and we're just marking the dough, so be careful not to cut into the dough.
05:14And then we'll use a bench scraper, or a pizza cutter, or just a knife, to divide this
05:19into quarters, since ultimately we want to get 16 cuts total.
05:24Which means all we have to do is divide those quarter sections into two, and then cut each
05:28of those pieces into two.
05:30Which if everything goes according to plan, should give us 16 fairly even strips, which
05:34are now ready to twist.
05:36Oh, and I didn't do it, but it's probably not a bad idea to refrigerate this before we
05:40do these cuts and twists, since that will firm up the butter a little bit, and make
05:44things a little easier to work with.
05:47But either way, what we'll do is grab two strips, and we will twist them away from each
05:51other, or not towards each other, away from each other, like two or three times, or whatever
05:57looks good to you, before we press and pinch the end together, into hopefully some kind
06:02of pointy finish.
06:03And I'm sure you've heard me say it a million times, when it comes to things like this,
06:07the first one is always the worst one.
06:10And as you work your way around, by the eighth one, you're going to have this down pat.
06:14And if you're worried these need to be perfect, don't be.
06:17First of all, there's no way you're going to get them perfect, but like pretty much
06:20all shape breads, once this bakes up, you are not going to notice any of the irregularities,
06:26and you will probably be shocked by how nicely it comes out.
06:30Which by the way, is what's so cool about this technique, even if you're a beginner,
06:34and you've never done it before, the final appearance looks like you totally know what
06:37you're doing, and I think whoever you share this with, is going to be very impressed.
06:42But anyway, we'll do that 8 times total, before we slide the parchment onto a pan, and I'm
06:47using a round pizza pan, but just a standard 13 by 18 baking sheet would be fine.
06:53And then I'm going to go ahead and trim off the parchment, so it looks neater, and hopefully
06:57cooks nice and evenly.
06:59But anyway, once that's trimmed, we'll cover this with a towel, and we will let this proof
07:03at room temp for about 45 minutes, or until it looks and feels a little bit puffy.
07:09And once that happens, we'll give this a brushing with our egg wash and butter mixture.
07:14And check it out, while doing this, a cranberry mysteriously appears in the center, as if
07:19by magic.
07:20So that piece must have been on the bottom of this ramekin, and I felt like that was
07:24something you needed to see.
07:26And by the way, please egg wash the entire surface.
07:29Right, tan lines are fine on nude beaches, but not on baked goods.
07:33And if you only paint the top half, like a lot of people do, you're going to get light
07:37parts and dark parts, which I don't like the appearance of.
07:41So please brush thoroughly and thoughtfully.
07:43And that's it, this is now ready to transfer into the center of a 400 degree oven, for
07:48about 20 to 25 minutes, or until it's beautifully browned, and hopefully looks like this.
07:54Oh yeah, a beautiful star is born.
07:58And then if you have one, as soon as this comes out of the oven, I like to carefully
08:01transfer this onto a cooling rack, just so the bottom doesn't steam, and this cools down
08:06a little quicker.
08:08And yes, I should have removed the parchment also, so let me go ahead and do that now.
08:12And that's it, all we have to do is let this cool down to room temp, before we try to serve
08:16it up.
08:17And before we do, because we're calling it holiday star bread, we should probably give
08:21it a little dusting of powdered sugar, for that wintery wonderland look.
08:26But not too much, we don't want to cover up all our gorgeous dough work.
08:30And once that was dusted, I transferred it onto a serving platter, and garnished with
08:34a little bit of rosemary and cranberry, to make it look even more festive.
08:39And then I went ahead and tore off a piece, and I took a nice big bite, before placing
08:44this on a plate, so I could show you what's going on.
08:47And that my friends, really was incredible.
08:50We have a fairly rich, beautifully buttery, slightly sweet dough, with what I thought
08:55was a nice amount of fruits and nuts.
08:57Except, as I said right at the end, where we pinched those tips together.
09:02Okay, since I didn't do the filling all the way to the edges, that part didn't have a
09:06lot of filling, as in no filling.
09:08But besides that, I really loved how this came out.
09:11And by the way, this will work with any dough, and any fillings, since really what I'm showing
09:16you here is a technique.
09:18But no matter what dough you choose, or what fillings you pick, this really is an impressive
09:22bread to serve, especially during the holidays.
09:26Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.
09:30So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
09:34more info, as usual.
09:36And as always, enjoy!