Stop what you’re doing. Head to your closest grocery store, get what you need to make this bread (don’t forget the potato flour), then head to your kitchen and start baking. Honestly, this bread is the bread of your fall/winter/holiday dreams!
Potato flour sounds weird, right? But you guys, it makes this bread so soft and pillowy you’ll probably never look back. And bonus – you can use it to thicken soups and sauces without having to use regular flour! If potato flour isn’t your thing, you can substitute the same amount of instant mashed potato flakes, but I highly encourage the potato flour route. You won’t regret it.
This bread is the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving or holiday table. It comes together surprisingly quickly and easily for a bread, it’s a beautiful shape, and it’s filled with cinnamon which is really what the last couple months of the year are all about.
We top this bread with powdered sugar and it basically looks like a beautifully snowy winter star. It pulls apart perfectly and is great for sharing with friends and family.
After all, that’s what the holiday season is all about right? Sharing with and spending time with family and friends. I have a small family (there are 5 of us, everyone else lives in England), but I share everything I make with them and they’ve tested just about every recipe on this blog for me. Family is the best.
Now, stop reading and start baking! You’ve got some soft star-shaped cinnamon bread in your future.
Notes
Recipe from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup potato flour
- 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
- 3/4 cup + 2-4 tbsp. warm water
- 1/4 cup (4 tbsp.) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. instant yeast
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
Filling:
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon
Instructions
- First, measure the flour by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Next, sift the flour, potato flour, and dry milk through a strainer; this is an important step to prevent lumps in the dough.
- To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a soft, smooth dough.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 60 minutes, until it's nearly doubled in bulk.
- Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, cover the balls, and allow them to rest for 15 minutes.
- On a lightly greased or floured work surface, roll one piece of dough into a 10" circle. Place the circle on a piece of parchment, brush a thin coat of beaten egg on the surface, then evenly sprinkle with 1/3 of the cinnamon-sugar, 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, cinnamon sugar, dough circle — leaving the top circle bare.
- Place a 2 1/2" to 3" round cutter in the center of the dough circle as a guide. 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.
- Transfer the star on the parchment to a baking sheet. Cover the star and let it rise until it becomes noticeably puffy, about 45 minutes.
- While the star is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Brush the star with a thin coat of the beaten egg. Bake it for 12 to 15 minutes, until it's nicely golden with dark brown cinnamon streaks; the center should register 200°F 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.
- Store any leftover bread, well wrapped in plastic, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.
