Happy Christmas! I thought for Christmas morning, I’d make this lovely breakfast treat. Sweet and pretty quick to make (for a yeasted or sourdough), you can make the dough the evening before. Yummy and not overly sweet. Also would be great for afternoon coffee or tea.
Ingredients
for the dough
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) ripe sourdough starter
1 cup milk, warmed to between 100-110F
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten
for the filling
1 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 egg combined 1ith 2 tablespoons milk, lightly beated, for egg wash
for decoration
powdered sugar, for dusting (optionals)
Directions
Combine flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle. Heat milk and butter, combine with your sourdough starter, and pour into the well. Add egg and dried fruit mixture and mix until fully combined. T. Turn out onto
a well-floured counter and knead until you have cohesive dough. It should be fairly soft and supple. Set aside in a warm, draft free place for a couple of hours in a greased bowl until it has doubled in size.
Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 4 portions. Roll 1 portion into a 12-inch circle. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat. Brush a thin coat of beaten egg on the surface, then
evenly sprinkle with 1/3 cup of the raspberry jam, leaving 1/4″ of bare dough around the perimeter. Roll out a second circle the same size as the first, and place it on top of the filling-covered circle. Repeat the layering process —
egg, raspberry jam, dough circle — leaving the top circle bare.
Place a 2 1/2 inch to 3 inch round cutter in the center of the dough circle as a guide – do not press down! With a bench knife or sharp knife, cut the circle into 16 equal strips, from the cutter to the edge, through all the layers.
Using two hands, pick up two adjacent strips and twist them away from each other twice so that the top side is facing up again. Repeat with the remaining strips of dough so that you end up with eight pairs of strips. Pinch the pairs of
strips together to create a star-like shape with eight points. Remove the cutter. A good photo tutorial of what you are supposed to do is here.
Cover the star and let it rise until it becomes noticeably puffy, about 45 minutes. While the star is rising, preheat the oven to 400F.
Brush the star with a thin coat of the beaten egg. Bake it for 26-30 minutes, until it’s nicely golden with red raspberry streaks; the center should register 200F on a digital thermometer. Remove the loaf from the oven and allow it to
cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.
