StarBread Dinner & Dessert

My great friend from Germany taught me how to make this bread, there are quite a few recipes online of this type of bread if you just search "Starbread", but this one is special to me now. In this instructable I'll go over two variations that are possible so that you can make a savory pizza-like bread and a sweet dessert bread as well. The fillings are only limited to your imagination and bravery.

Here is a link to my friend's blog, so if you want to follow along in German, need metric measurements, or want to check out some more of her recipes definitely go give it a look.

https://www.facebook.com/studentkitchenwonder/

https://www.instagram.com/studentkitchenwonder/

In the photos I made a double batch of the dough because I made both the savory starbread and the sweet starbread, but I will type up the values of a single batch of dough, so if you are making both just double all the numbers and you'll be good to go!

Some kitchen gear to have that will be helpful is: Rolling Pan/Pin, Spatulas, measuring cups, chef's knife, skillet, microwave-safe bowl, a trusty spoon, and mixing bowls

3 part Checklist of ingredients:

1.Dough

4 Cups Flour

1 Package of Yeast (1.25oz)

3/4 Cup Water

3 Tablespoons Oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2.Pizza Style Filling

1 Jar of your favorite pasta sauce

Pesto (homemade or store-bought)

1 Pound of your choice of meat (I used lean beef)

1 Medium Onion

4 Medium Mushrooms (Not pictured because I forgot I had some in the fridge later on)

1 Pound of shredded cheese

3.Dessert Style Filling

1 Jar of Nutella (or chocolate spread if you don't like hazelnuts)

2 Cups Sliced Almonds

1 Cup Shaved/Shredded Coconut

The Dough:
- 3/4 cups Warm Water (100°F - 110°F)

- 1 (1.25oz) package of yeast

- 3 1/2 cups Flour

- 1 teaspoon Salt

-1 teaspoon Sugar

- 3 Tablespoons Oil

Simply microwave the water for around 45 seconds or heat it up on the stovetop until it is close to 110°F and then stir the yeast into the water. Wait 3-5 minutes and add it to a bowl with the flour, salt, and sugar and stir to combine with a spoon.

Once the dough starts to pull together and starts sticking to the spoon, use your hands and knead the dough until it is smooth and soft, about 4-5 minutes.

(Alternatively, if you have a mixer with a dough hook attachment you can just throw everything in there and let it do the kneading for you.)

Then pour a small amount of oil in a large mixing bowl and put your ball of dough in there. (I have two pictured because I doubled the recipe) Place a clean cloth over the top of the bowl.

The ambient temperatures of most houses are too cool for dough to rise efficiently so a easy trick to do is preheat an oven for 1 minute and then turn it off so that the internal temperature is warm. Place your bowl of dough in the oven, make sure you turned the oven off, and wait 1 hour for the dough to rise.

While your dough is rising in the oven you have plenty of time to prepare the filling!

dice up your mushrooms and onions and throw them into a skillet with some oil over medium heat to saute. (My skillets are too small for this volume of cooking so I used two.)

After your onions have become translucent put your selection of meat into the pan with it and use a spatula to break it down into manageable pieces. Cook thoroughly until there is no longer any raw bits of meat showing, and by this time the dough should be close to finish rising

Here comes the repetitive part!

Take your dough out of the oven and punch it down.

Divide it into 4 equal balls of dough

Ball 1

Take one ball and roll it out over a floured counter-top until it is very thin

Transfer it to a baking sheet, or pizza stone if you happen to own one of those, and make note of it's size

Spoon out pesto in an even layer and spread it around with the back of the spoon, set aside

Keep a 1 inch perimeter around the edge of the dough free of filling

Ball 2

Roll out the next ball to the same size and thickness as the one before and lay it over the pesto layer that you set aside, press it down to remove air bubbles

Instead of pesto, spoon pasta sauce over this layer, then add half of your meat, onion, and mushroom mixture on top of the sauce, and lastly an even coat of shredded cheese to glue it all together!

Ball 3

Repeat the previous steps for Ball 2 but with pesto, pasta sauce, meat mixture, and cheese as the final filling layer

Ball 4

Roll out the dough as before and lay on top of the previous 3 layers

Pinch the perimeter of the dough circle to seal the filing in between the dough layers

Grab a mug or a similar object that you can mark a circle in the center of your bread and this will be your guide when making your cuts.

Slice

With a sharp knife cut the circle into fourths, without cutting through the center circle.

Then cut each of those sections in half, now you have 8 sections

Then cut each of those sections in half, now you have 16 sections

Twist

Take 2 sections that are side-by-side and twist/spiral them away from each other in opposite directions

After you make 2 rotations, pinch the two corners that are closest together and then bring the farther two corners together and pinch down the spine that is created

(If that description doesn't make sense I took many photographs to help you see what I mean)

Repeat the twisting steps until you have made all 8 rays/petals

An egg was not listed in the ingredients, because this is totally optional, but it will help the finished bread look golden brown and delicious.

Beat and egg with a splash of water and spread it on top of the bread with either a brush or if you do not have one, like me, a folded up paper towel.

preheat your oven to 425°F and bake for 15-17 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy while its still warm!

This step is purely just to show that you can make a dessert variation. For mine I used Nutella, Sliced Almonds, and Shaved Coconut.

The steps are the same for the savory pizza-style starbread, but replace the filling with the ingredients above

Slice and twist just as before and bake it of with an egg wash at 425°F for 15-17 minutes

Another idea that I have to do with this bread is an apple pie version with thinly sliced apples, cinnamon, walnuts and maybe some raisins as well, but I have far too much bread to eat through for this week so that will have to wait for another time!