A beautiful and delicious festive star that is a perfect party centrepiece with a hint of Christmas.
This recipe uses the tangzhong method of bread making resulting in an incredibly soft and fluffy bread. I’ve filled it with a vibrant and fresh blend of green herbs, garlic, and cashews, which is so pretty swirled through the dough.
It’s perfectly complimented by the Kenton salt and pepper mills in Rosemary.
Recommended Kitchen Tools:
- 1 large oven tray
- Rolling pin
- Blender or food processor
- Kenton salt and pepper mills
- Barkway Acacia serving board
Ingredients:
Milk Bread Dough:
- 525g ‘00’ flour (or plain)
- 225ml full cream milk
- 125ml water
- 8g instant dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 20g raw caster sugar
- 2 small eggs – at room temperature
- 50g softened unsalted butter
Herb and Cashew Paste:
- 3 cups of mixed green herbs
(I used two cups of parsley and chervil, half a cup of basil, half a cup of chives and a few sprigs of lemon verbena) - 150g cashews
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- ½ to one teaspoon of salt to taste
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic
- Up to ¼ cup of hot water for blending
- 50ml olive oil
Egg Wash:
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of milk
Method:
For the dough:
- Combine 50g of the flour, 125ml of milk and 125ml of water in a small saucepan.
- Whisk over medium heat until the mixture starts to thicken without allowing it to boil. (this is your milk roux)
- Empty into a bowl and cool until body temperature, stirring frequently to stop a skin from forming.
- Mix the remaining flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- Warm the remaining milk to body temperature.
- Make a well in the centre and add the remaining milk, beaten eggs and roux mixture.
- Mix until combined, then knead either by hand or using a stand mixer with a dough attachment until smooth, springy and less sticky. (about 10 minutes). The dough is quite wet but will become more manageable with development of the gluten through kneading.
- Knead in the softened butter until smooth and well combined.
- Move to a large bowl, cover and prove overnight in the fridge.
The next day make the herb paste and assemble the bread star.
For the herb paste:
- Soak the cashews in hot water for 20 minutes to soften, then drain.
- Wash the herbs and remove any thick stems.
- Place the oil, lemon juice, garlic, herbs and drained cashews in a blender and pulse adding just enough hot water and pushing down the ingredients to allow it to combine. Blend until smooth and thick. Add salt and pepper as well as any additional lemon juice to taste.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan forced.
To assemble:
- Remove the cold dough from the fridge and divide it into four equal parts.
- Roll each portion into a ball and keep covered under a damp towel.
- Have a tray lined with baking paper ready to assemble the star.
- On a floured bench, roll the first ball into a 30cm flat circle and place on the tray.
- Spread with a layer of herb paste.
- Roll the subsequent balls of dough as you go, layering them onto the first dough disc and spreading with more paste like a sandwich.
- Don’t spread any paste on the final layer which will be the top of your star.
- Mark an approximately 7cm circle in the centre of the dough as a guide.
- Cut 16 equally spaced wedges of dough around the central circle.
- Carefully take the ends of two wedges and twist them 3-4 times away from each other, finally squashing the ends together to secure and tucking them under to neaten.
- Continue with the remaining dough wedges until you have an eight-pointed star shape.
- Cover with a damp clean tea towel and prove for 30 minutes in a warm place or until the dough has visibly risen.
- Baste with egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes or until puffed and golden.
Serve the bread on a large board whilst still warm.
Lashings of butter or a bowl of cheese fondue dip would work wonderfully to up the decadence.
Tips:
- Working with a cold dough makes it easier to handle when assembling the star.
- Feel free to add some grated cheese between the layers or to create your own favourite herb blend.
