I’m a little behind on these Bake Off bakes I’m really sorry! It’s only taken 5 weeks but this morning is the first time I have woken feeling well, I actually think this darn cold may finally be leaving me! A brief date on the stomach issues – it looks like I’ve got IBS which is apparently mega common when you have autonomic problems and useless connective tissue so I’ve just added it to the list of ‘irritating conditions’ that I’ll learn to live with, at least my appetite is back … Maybe something to do with a warm bready, Nutella smell wafting around the house!

Onto the Nutella star bread, my choice for the chocolate bread task on Bake Off bread week, I don’t think mine came out right to be honest – I’ll tell you the truth, I got impatient waiting for the dough to ‘grow’ and it turns out that stage is pretty crucial oops! It still tasted delish it was just a bit heavier than I imagine it was meant to be, if you’re going to give it a whirl … Make sure you prove for long enough!

For those wanting a go here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients

• 180ml of milk
• 7g instant yeast
• 70g caster sugar
• 450g plain flour (I used white bread flour … Maybe that was another reason it didn’t fluff up?)
• 2 eggs, separated
• 30g butter, melted
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pinch of sakt
• 200g Nutella (other brands available!)

Method

• Microwave the milk until it’s warm (really quite warm, not just a little warm), use a saucepan if you prefer
• Add the yeast and sugar and stir until all is dissolved, leave to activate for 15 minutes
• Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the middle, add the egg yolks, melted butter, vanilla extract and yeast mixture, stir until a dough begins to form
• Knead the dough for about 10 minutes (no need for a gym visit today I can assure you!) until all the ingredients are encorporated and you have a good, slightly sticky, dough
• Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover, place in a warm place for 1-3 hours until the dough has doubled in size (this stage is really important so don’t be hasty, I used an airing cupboard but if your oven has a really low temp use that – you want it warm enough to rise but not so warm it cooks)
• Preheat your oven to 180c and knead the dough again for about s minute until the air is all knocked out (I’m still struggling to understand why you knock out all the air you just spent hours creating but I’m putting that down as a cake maker thing!)
• Divide the dough into 4 balls, lightly flour your work surface and roll out each ball until they’re big enough to cut an 8″ circle (I used a cake tin as a guide)
• Line a baking sheet and put the first piece of rolled out dough on it, using your cake tin imprint a circle on the dough and now spread a third of the Nutella into the circle. Put the next layer on and keep doing the same until you have your last piece of dough on top, now trim off the excess (save it) so you have a choclatey doughy round pile of yumminess
• Take a ramekin or glass and put in the centre, that area stays intact while you cut 16 lines around the circle, I did four quarters, then halved those and halved again so they were all equalish
• Remove the glass and go around your circle turning over each piece alternating ways, so flip one to the left then one to the right until you’ve done them all, now squish together the dough ends so they’re joined up and back in a round shape
• Lightly beat your egg whites and use them to brush over your star
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen and lightly golden
• Serve warm from the oven or leave to cool on a cooling rack, tuck in and enjoy!

I’m determined to get this perfected by Christmas as I think with a sprinkling of icing sugar it would look lovely as a centrepiece, happy baking xx

 

Edit … I forgot to add rolling out your leftover dough, smother it in some extra Nutella and roll it, twist it, knot it, whatever you fancy and pop it in with the star. Creates a tasty snack to nibble before you tuck into the main event – I call it a perk of the job 😉