Wow and delight your Christmas guests with this stunning but simple centrepiece bread. A sweet honey-mustard dough twisted together with sharp melted cheese and a tangy fruit chutney. All shaped into a beautiful festive star.
This delicious bread is sure to be the stand-out accompaniment to any Christmas buffet.
Ingredients
250g white bread flour
250g malted bread flour (or use all white flour)
5g instant action dried yeast
8g salt
30g butter, cubed and softened
250g milk
75g water
30g wholegrain mustard
15g runny honey
For the filling
4 tablespoons cranberry and port chutney (or another chutney of your choice)
40g walnuts, roasted and very finely chopped (optional)
60g grated strong hard cheese (mature Cheddar or a blue cheese work well)
To finish
1 egg, whisked with a pinch of salt
Method
1. Combine the flours, salt and yeast in a large bowl and rub in the butter.
2. Add the milk, water, mustard and honey and mix to form a dough.
3. Knead the dough for ten minutes on an un-floured surface until smooth and elastic. Place back into the bowl, cover and leave to rise for 1 – 2 hours.
4. Once risen, divide the dough in two (or four if you’d like to make two smaller stars). Roll out one piece on a lightly oiled surface into a circle the size of a dinner plate. Transfer to a lined and floured baking tray.
6. Mark a circle about 5cm wide in the centre of the dough. Brush the chutney over the dough, avoiding the centre circle and edges. Sprinkle the walnuts (if using) and cheese over the chutney.
7. Roll out the second piece of dough into a circle as before. Place on top of the first piece of dough and seal the edges firmly.
8. Mark another circle in the centre of the dough circle. Use a large sharp knife to cut the dough into quarters, cutting out from the edges of the marked circle all the way to and through the edge. Then cut each quarter in half, and then in half again, until you have 16 strands radiating out from the centre.
9. Take two strands and twist each away from each other, then join at the ends. Repeat for all eight pairs of strands. Cover the dough and leave it to prove for 45 minutes to an hour. Preheat the oven to 220C.
10. Brush the risen dough with the beaten egg. Bake the bread at 220C for ten minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200C and bake for a further 7 – 10 minutes until golden brown. If the bread starts to go too dark, cover it with foil for the final minutes of baking.
11. Serve warm as the centrepiece of a Christmas cheeseboard or buffet. Enjoy!
More bread baking help
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