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Chocolate Orange Christmas Star Bread

This chocolate orange Christmas star bread is ready for your holiday celebrations. A zesty soft and fluffy dough hugs the delicate chocolate spread in this pull apart star bread. 
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time20 minutes
Resting Time1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time2 hours 50 minutes
Course: Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine: European
Keyword: Bread, Christmas
Servings: 8 people
Author: Yesenia Consoli

Ingredients

For the Dough:

  • 400 g bread flour
  • 50 g butter room temperature
  • 1 medium egg + 1 egg for egg wash
  • 5 g salt
  • 7 g active dry yeast or 13g fresh yeast
  • 25 g caster sugar
  • 150 ml full fat milk lukewarm
  • 30 ml fresh orange juice
  • orange zest of 1 orange

For the Filling

  • 150 g chocolate spread

Instructions

  • If using active dry yeast, in a small bowl mix the sugar and yeast in the lukewarm milk and let the yeast activate for about 15 minutes until foamy. If using fresh yeast, crumble the yeast in the flour before starting mixing the dough.
  • To a mixer with a dough hook, add all the dough ingredients. Mix on a low speed for about 5 minutes, then increase the speed to medium and mix for a further 12 minutes until the dough comes away from the bowl. If you are kneading by hand, knead until you get a soft and smooth dough, after about 15 minutes of kneading.
  • Form the dough, move into a bowl and let it rest in a warm place covered for an hour or two until it doubles in size.
  • Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • When the dough is ready, punch it down and knead for a couple of minutes. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Roll each piece thinly into a circular shape of about 30cm and with a plate cut around it to remove any excess dough.
  • Place the dough on the prepared baking tray. Spread 1/3 of the chocolate spread on top. Place another piece of rolled dough on top, and repeat this step two more times. Until you have four pieces of dough with three chocolate layers.
  • Once all the layers are done, grab a small glass and make a small circular indent in the middle of the layered dough. Be careful not to cut through, we just need a light marking to guide us with the cuttings.
  • Start by cutting four quarters from the ring indent outwards. Then divide those quarters in halves and and do the same to the eight sections. At the end, you should have 16 equals strands coming out from the ring indent.
  • Take two strands that are next to each other, and twist them opposite each other two times. Connect the strands edges together well. Repeat with all the strands until you have created a star.
  • Cover the star dough with a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C or 350°F.
  • Brush the star bread with the egg wash and bake them for about 20 minutes, until golden. 
  • Before transferring to a cooling rack, let rest for about 5 minutes on the baking tray. Sprinkle some icing sugar and serve warm. Enjoy!

Notes

  • If you want to increase the orange taste, sprinkle some orange zest on the chocolate spread too. 
  • With this recipe you can either make a large 30cm star bread or two 15cm ones.