This Nutella Star Bread was fun to make, it was a bit messy but I had a willing little helper.

This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour.

Ingredients

335 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

115 g Maize starch

75 g Butter (melted) 

2 Eggs

475 g Warm water

2 tsp Guar gum~

1 tsp Salt

2 tsp Yeast (dried)

25 g Sugar

Nutella ~ 200 - 300 g

 

Extra - oil

Extra - milk

Extra - icing sugar for dusting

 

~ Guar gum can be interchanged with xanthan gum. Normally I don't use gums in gluten free baking but in this case it helps to keep the dough "manageable". 

Nutella - I modeled this recipe on ones that I had seen on a number of blogs (they looked so yummy). The latest that caught my eye was on the Thermomix recipe community & the amount of Nutella they used was 1 jar. I don't buy Nutella normally so I was at a loss as to what size jar I needed. In the end I settled on a 400 g jar & didn't use all of it. It will be up to you how much Nutella you use. 

If you don't want to use Nutella I also made this without Nutella & used a dark chocolate/oil/cinnamon combination. I used oil to 15% but the chocolate set so it would need to contain maybe 20% oil (see Magic Chocolate Topping). My family would prefer it made with sweeter milk chocolate instead of dark.

 

Method

Warm water is ~1/4 to 1/3 of boiling water with the remaining cold water (tap). Whether you use 1/4 or 1/3 will depend on how cold your tap water is. If the water is too hot it will kill the yeast.

Pre-incubate the yeast at room temperature for approximately 5 - 8 mins 100 g of warm water containing the sugar. Stir the mixture to dissolve the sugar & disperse the yeast. This gives the yeast a readily available food source & they can "revive" in a relatively undisturbed environment. After the allocated time the surface of the yeast mixture should be slightly frothy. This indicates the yeast are viable. 

If the yeast mixture has a frothy top or you can see bubbles proceed with bread making.

**** I made this star bread as a free standing loaf (with dark chocolate) & in a 24 cm springform pan (Nutella). The free standing loaf will spread out a little & the resulting star bread is not thick. Making the bread using the springform pan is a little messier but the resulting star bread is a lot thicker than the free standing star bread. 

  

In a mixing bowl (bowl of a stand mixer if you have one) combine together the bread mix, maize starch, guar gum & salt.

Melt the butter. 

In another bowl lightly whisk together the yeast mix, 375 g warm water, melted butter & the eggs.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry. Combine ingredients using the flat beater of a stand mixer (or hand held beaters) until a uniform consistency is achieved. You may need to stop the mixer and scrap down the sides.

While the dough is mixing cut two pieces of baking paper (~30 x 40 cm). If using a springform pan trace around the outside of the pan on both pieces of paper. If making a free standing loaf draw a ~25 cm circle on both papers. Lightly oil the papers on the other side. Put some oil in a dish - this will be used to oil a knife & your hands to make it easier to handle the dough.

Transfer 1/4 (~265 g) of the dough to one piece of the oiled paper. Leave the rest of the dough in the mixing bowl.   

With oiled hands/gloves press the dough to the size of the template. Warm the Nutella a little to make it easier to spread it on top of the dough. Spread the Nutella leaving a ~3 cm gap around the edge. How much Nutella you spread is up to you. 

Transfer another 1/4 (~265 g) of the dough to the other piece of oiled paper. Spread it out to be an equal thickness the size of the template.

Messy time In a nutshell - you need to flip the newly spread out dough on to the top of the dough spread with Nutella. The dough will stay on the paper long enough for you to flip it. However once the dough on the flipped paper touches the dough with Nutella on it the dough will come off the paper. Basically it means that you have one chance of getting it spot on top. Did I get them spot on - Nah, the dough discs were generally off centre.

Spread Nutella on top of the second dough layer.

Repeat with another 1/4 of the dough (spread out on paper, transfer to Nutella dough & spread more Nutella on top).

Spread out the last 1/4 of dough & transfer to the top of the Nutella dough. 

Messy time The dough needs to be cut into 16 segments with a 5 - 10 cm circle in the middle. To make the cuts oil a knife & cut through the layers. After each cut wipe the knife clean of the Nutella/dough, oil it again & make another cut. The second cut I made was opposite the first one, then I halved these segments etc. 

Messy time continues This is the stage where you twist the cut segments & it is relatively easy doing it with oiled gloved hands. Start with the two segments closest to you. Put your left hand under the left segment & your right hand under the right segment. Lift your hands up a little, twist the left segment twice anti-clockwise & the right segment twice clockwise. Put the twisted segments back down. Move the paper so that two new segments are facing you & repeat the twisting until there are no more segments to twist.

Free standing loaf Transfer the baking paper (with twisted dough) to a baking tray. Brush the top with a little milk. 

Springform pan  Remove bottom from the pan & slide this under the baking paper with the dough on top. If the dough is bigger than the base of the pan push the dough in a little until it is the same size. Bring up the baking paper on all sides. Put the side of the pan over the outside of the baking paper & lock it into place with the base.  

Proof the dough in a warm place for approximately 45 mins.

Turn oven on to 160 C.

Bake for ~35 mins. The time will depend on your oven & whether you have made a free standing loaf (slightly less) or one in a springform pan (slightly more). My oven is fan forced - adjust the cooking temperature if your oven is not.

Bring out of the oven & allow to cool for (maybe) 10 mins.

Dust with icing sugar & enjoy while it is still warm.