Braided Nutella Star | Pull Apart Bread | Brioche [Recipe]

This Braided Nutella Star has been popping up on my Facebook newsfeed recently, and since I've now submitted my M.A. thesis [I've now plenty of free time until I find a full-time job] I decided to try it out yesterday.

It only requires few ingredients [less thank 10, to be exact!] and it is quite simple to make [although you do need to allow an hour or so for the dough to rise]

This is what you'll need:

• 450 grms all-purpose flour
• 180 ml warm milk [if it's full fat, the better]
• 2 eggs [separated into yolks and whites]
• 2 tsp yeast [around 10 grms]
• 30 grms melted unsalted butter
• pinch of salt
• 70 grm sugar [I used castor]
• 1 jar of nutella [I used a 350 grms jar]

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients together with a fork [so the flour - which you should sieve, yeast, sugar, and salt]

Add the butter, milk, egg yolks.

Continue to mix with a fork or wooden spoon until lightly combined, then when it starts to stick together, tip everything on a work surface, where you should proceed to hand knead the dough for approx 5-10 mins until it looks smooth, a bit shiny, and bounces back to shape if you press a finger into it.

Lightly coat a bowl with vegetable oil, put the dough in [toss it around until it is coated with the oil], cover with a damp tea cloth or clingfilm, and put it in a warm place. 

Leave to rise until it doubles in size [I left mine for about 2 hours]

When it's done, tip it on a work surface and knock the air out from it by pressing lightly with your fingers. Proceed to cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.

Put some flour on your work top and roll out each piece of dough until it is the same size of a dinner plate. Take said dinner plate and rest on rolled out dough, so it lightly indents its shape [this way you'll know where to spread your nutella] 

N.b. this brioche dough is a bit finicky, so take your time with it.

Put some nutella in a bowl, and warm it up in a microwave until it is soft and easy to spread.

Layer nutella and brioche dough as if you were making a lasagna.

Of course the last layer has to be sans nutella. Trim everything by using the same dinner plate and a sharp knife.

Cutting part: 

Place a glass in the middle of your creation as a guide.

Cut from the glass to the edge in a 12//3//6//9 o'clock movement. Then proceed to cut each quarters in half. Then again cut those in half. You should end up with 16 segments.

Take 2 pieces in your hand, and turn counter clockwise twice. Do this with the rest of your pieces. Smush the edges together to achieve this pretty star shape.

Now you can cover it again with a damp teacloth or clingfilm for another 20 minutes, or you can skip this step if you're impatient like me.

Take the 2 egg whites we didn't use earlier and lightly wash the star with it for a beautiful shine.

Cook in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius for about 10-20 minutes. I think the best method is to cook for 10-15 minutes normally, than switch on the top grill for 2-3 mins [depending on oven, of course]

Your house will smell amazing [of bread and chocolate!]

Allow to cool completely before you taste it :)

You can also sprinkle some icing sugar on top, if you prefer.

Some more photos below:

If you have any questions, leave them below!

Love,

Lola

xoxo