I’ve been drooling over the star bread trend, but figured I lacked the patience and artistry to make it… I’m just not very good at making food look pretty. But then I realized that if I could whip up a *super quick* version, then it wouldn’t be so sad if it turned out to be an ugly mess 😉
(PS: If you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in awhile, I talk about it on my Instagram!)
There weren’t any solid-looking quick vegan recipes for star bread out there, so I made my own! I used my go-to cinnamon roll dough, which doesn’t require the typical hours of rising time but still gets super poofy. And it requires hardly any ingredients.
If you have your own favorite cinnamon roll dough, you can definitely use that instead. Just follow the directions, including rising, for your dough. I suggest that you don’t let it rise after assembling the star, though, or the shape could lose definition.
This recipe is also super versatile in terms of fillings! Instead of the vegan nutella (Justin’s, Artisana, and Nocciolata are all great options), you can use things like:
- Vegan butter + cinnamon + sugar
- Jam
- Apple or pumpkin butter
- Cinnamon sugar, orange zest and cranberry sauce
- Pesto or marinara + vegan cheese (just halve the sugar in the dough)
Tips
Usually I keep these pre-recipe spiels really short, BUT this recipe is a bit more finicky than my usual chuck-in-a-pot recipes, so here are some tips on the procedure:
- When spreading the nutella on the soft dough, it can be a little tricky–I found it helpful to approach it more as lightly scraping the nutella around with the edge of the spoon rather than spreading it per se.
- When twisting the star arms together, make sure you REALLY pinch them together at the end, otherwise they can pop apart in the oven.
- I found this video really helpful for the shaping method, so I highly recommend watching it or another one before beginning.
- See the steps below:
Ingredients:
Dough:
- 1c warm vegan buttermilk (aka 1c non-dairy milk + 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar)
- 2 1/2c all purpose flour
- 1 packet of instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
Filling:
- 3-4 tbsp vegan nutella
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Make the dough: Combine all dough ingredients in a stand mixer with a dough hook, and mix it all together. Then, knead in the mixer on low for 7 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can knead by hand. The dough should be smooth and not too sticky; if it’s wet or very sticky, add a bit more flour. Split the dough into 4 equal balls, approximately 160g each.
- Roll out a ball into a circle until it is about 8.5″ in diameter; anywhere 8-9″ is fine. Place the disc on a baking sheet (on either a silicon mat or parchment paper) that is at least 9×9″.
- Spread a heaping tablespoon of your filling evenly onto the disc, leaving about .5-1″ clearance around the edges. (See tips above)
- Repeat steps 3-4 with two more of the balls of dough, layering one on top of another. (So you’ll have a stack that’s dough disc, then nutella, then dough disc, and so on). For the fourth and final ball of dough, roll it into a disc as before and set it on top of your stack, but do NOT spread nutella on top of this one!
- (I strongly recommend watching a video like this one before starting this step.) Use a 2-3″ circular pastry cutter, glass, or jar to lightly mark a circle in the center of the dough; do not cut the dough out. Then slice the surrounding dough like a pizza into 16 equal pieces, leaving the center circle uncut.
- To make the star arms, grab two adjacent pieces, and twist them away from each other two and a half times, then join the flat parts on the edge. Pinch them together really well so they don’t come apart! Repeat for the rest of the pieces.
- Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown on top. Dust with powdered sugar.
Enjoy, and try to snap a photo of your beautiful bread before inhaling it! That was a tough one for us 😉
Miche, Ph.D. 