Swedish cinnamon twisted buns, kanelbullar, made into a cinnamon, cocoa and apple star bread. Isn’t it so pretty? I’m amazed I was able to make something this pretty.
The star of breads
The star of breads, cinnamon star bread, or my interpretation of a cross between Swedish kanelbuller, cinnamon buns, and the twisty star bread made from layers of dough interspersed with chocolate, cinnamon, cardamom, pesto, cheese, sausage (made up the last one) fillings.
The Swedish buns are so much loved that they even have their traditional celebration day, 4th October. But the Swedes eat them all year round and who would blame them? Cinnamon-sugar filling in near-plain fluffy bun, prettily shaped with slash ‘n twist, with a glass of milk or hot cocoa must be one of the world’s most blissfully comforting feasts.
Slash/twist in wreath breads
The slash/twist technique is well known in babkas and all kinds of wreath breads. The incision is made through layers of pastry and the twist exposes colour-contrasting filling.
I have been in awe of those bakery artworks for ages and never thought I’d manage to create anything as neat and pretty. As those who read CF know, I do tasty; I don’t do pretty.
But lo! behold, it’s not so hard; surely not if I managed to shape and prove and bake it, retaining the beauty of the shape. The dough is brioche, the fillings are threefold: cocoa, apple-almond and cinnamon.
I found the brioche perfectly well-behaved dough when it comes to rolling out and cutting and my fillings are easy to put together. Above all though, the star passes my, most important, taste test: it’s unbelievably delicious.
Is it cinnamon bread? Is it a kanelbullar?
The name is somewhat ad libbed: it’s not technically kanelbullar because it’s not a bun; it isn’t kanelbrød because that tends to be shaped into a log and – well, duh! – has solely cinnamon filling.
Star bread is not actually what it is commonly thought to be, so I call this cinnamon twist star bread where the twist is both on cinnamon and on bread.
It's a star
But privately I just call it ‘star’. After the star of Bethlehem, because it makes a great Christmas table centrepiece; the star of the show, ditto.
Christmas star (poinsettia); A Star is Born; that old Nazareth track that nobody remembers; Mazzy Star; Death Star; Michelin star; Starsky and Hutch (all right – not the last one).
Star – because it’s my star bake of this season.
The brioche dough
Brioche dough is best done over two days. That’s because unless chilled properly, it is Sticky Central, impossible to roll out and generally unruly.
It starts off by mixing together, standing mixer or a food processor recommended, a ferment of yeast, some sugar and the liquid. I like making brioche with buttermilk, for the lovely, tangy flavour, but you can use milk if you like.
The ferment is joined by the flour, remaining sugar, eggs and salt and mixed, processed or kneaded (the least appealing option) into a smooth, silky ball of dough that preferably passes the windowpane test.
Now you can start adding softened butter, gradually, next tablespoon only after the previous one is incorporated. Finished dough then needs to prove for an hour, before going to the fridge for the night, or at least a couple of hours.
The fillings
This recipe has three kinds of fillings, but you can pick just one or two of them, as you like.
The first is the traditional cinnamon mixed with sugar, the second: cocoa with sugar and some oil, worked into a paste with some of the beaten egg prepared for brushing the finished thing. The third is my favourite: some light coloured jam, in this case apple preserve, thickened with ground almonds. They are all three as easy to make as each other.
The assembly
It is really simple: stacking four rolled out layers of dough, each spread with a different filling, except the top one of course.
Trim it to a neat circle with a pastry or pizza cutter. Then make 16 incisions towards the centre.
And the twisting is hopefully explained pretty well in the recipe below, and the pictures.
Brush the star to a glossy shine with beaten egg and bake till evenly golden. Remove, cool, admire.
More festive bake recipes
Danish marzipan kringle, the perfect cake for festive times is easier to bake than most Christmas breads and it is insanely delicious. Especially with homemade marzipan remonce (filling).
Schiacciata con l'uva (pronounced ‘ski-a-charter’ and meaning 'squashed'), Tuscan grape focaccia is a sweet version of the flat bread, with grapes and raisins.
Colomba di Pasqua, Easter Dove is the traditional Italian cake baked for Easter in cases shaped like a dove. A gorgeous, almond studded and orange flavoured colomba is perfect for Easter Sunday.
More brioche recipes
Soft and rich brioche base with plum and cinnamon crumble topping. It means brioche is not just for breakfast. It means turning bread into cake!
Fluffy and rich brioche rolls made with Japanese milk starter, tangzhong, proved overnight for rich flavour. Well suited for fine dinner and for a bacon butty.
Buttery and barely sweet brioche, home baked breakfast fit for a king. Paper-thin glossy crust and the softest, meltiest crumb hiding inside, waiting only for a lick of good jam.