Star Shaped Brioche Bread |
This is a delicious and extremely soft brioche bread filled with a chocolate cream made with ricotta cheese. But other than this - as if it wasn't enough - what makes it special is its particular shape. The star shape probably looks hard to do, but believe me, explaining it is much harder than actually doing it. Have fun making it, the result will be so rewarding! |
Ingredients
for the dough:
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for the chocolate cream:
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Tools:
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Step 1Pour your flour in a bowl or mixer and add yeast, sugar, milk and eggs. Mix everything together.
In the meantime, add butter, salt and orange peel, and keep mixing. You can even knead with your hands until you obtain a smooth and compact dough. Don't worry if it feels too sticky: the more you'll knead it, the more perfect it'll get. Put your dough in a bowl and cover it with a cloth or plastic wrap to keep it warm. Let it rest until it becomes double its size. |
Now that your dough has leavened, divide it in 4 equal pieces using a knife, and give them a round shape.
Flatten each of them using a rolling pin to create 4 big discs. Make them a little smaller than your pan, about 3cm smaller (1.18 inches). |
Step 3Prepare the chocolate cream now.
Chop your hazelnuts as tiny as possible and mix them with sugar. The hazelnuts need to be like a powder. It's fine if there are some bigger pieces left though. Sift your cocoa and put it in the mix. Add the ricotta and finally mix everything together using a hand mixer. You must obtain a cream this way. |
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Step 4
Place your first disc of dough on a piece of parchment paper.
Spread some chocolate cream on the disc, keeping it 1 or 2cm (0.78 inches) distant from the edge.
Place your second disc on the first one and press the border with your fingers to stick them together.
Spread some other chocolate on it, leaving the free border all around, just like you did on the first one. Lay the third disc on it and press the borders with your fingers.
Spread some more chocolate cream on it too and finally add the last disc to close everything. Make sure that all the edges are joined together.
Spread some chocolate cream on the disc, keeping it 1 or 2cm (0.78 inches) distant from the edge.
Place your second disc on the first one and press the border with your fingers to stick them together.
Spread some other chocolate on it, leaving the free border all around, just like you did on the first one. Lay the third disc on it and press the borders with your fingers.
Spread some more chocolate cream on it too and finally add the last disc to close everything. Make sure that all the edges are joined together.
Make 4 cuts that create 4 right angles on the discs. The most important thing is that these cuts don't meet each other at the centre of the disc, leaving it free.
Make other 4 cuts between the first ones, and finally, make 8 cuts between all of them, for a total of 16 cuts. These cuts create 16 sections. Make sure to always leave the centre free from cuts. |
Step 6Let's consider 2 sections next to each other:
rotate the left one towards the left, and the one on the right towards the right. You need to lift them a little to do this. Twist all the other sections like you did for the first 2 ones, always working on a couple at a time. Can you see the star shape now? Move your brioche bread in a round pan, holding it with parchment paper. Leave the paper in the pan too. Cover the pan and let everything rest for another hour. |