Chocolate Cinnamon Star Bread
I hope that you are having a wonderful Christmas season so far. As we inch nearer to the big day, Jill and I have admittedly slowed down with our content creation and have been enjoying just spending time homemaking, crafting, and baking instead. With each year, as our blog and following grows, I feel the pressure to make incredible holiday content, and then I feel so overwhelmed that I just want to spend time not making anything. While I know many would praise me for choosing to slow down, this is also our full time job, and I feel like I always fall short for you all this time of year. I do apologize… I should probably start making Christmas content in July or something - ha!
Either way, I have been wanting to share this Chocolate Cinnamon Star Bread for a couple of weeks now, as I invented the recipe back in November. Unfortunately, these photos did not turn out how I was envisioning them. So, to me at least, this cinnamon roll bread looks less than desirable. I think I will try to reshoot it before the holiday. But I wanted to get the recipe out to you before it was too late!
This bread has a lovely depth of chocolatey flavor that is really quite unique. I first made the recipe as a sourdough discard recipe, and then experimented a bit to make it for those of us who do not work with sourdough.
If you want to make this as a sourdough discard cinnamon roll, you certainly can. Add in 1/2 cup of sourdough discard and bump down the flour to around 3 1/2 to 4 cups. As long as the dough is not sticky/clingy.
You could also turn this star into chocolate cinnamon rolls! Instead of diving the dough into 4 pieces, roll out the entire piece of dough to about 12 x 20-inch rectangle, spread the butter and brown sugar cinnamon mixture, roll it up from the longest end like normal cinnamon rolls, then slice into 2-inch pieces. Place the pieces in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, let puff, and bake as normal.
The method:
This dough uses cocoa powder and melted bittersweet chocolate to flavor the dough and give it a really nice, deep cocoa flavor. As I used bittersweet chocolate, the bread tends to lend more to a bitter flavor than overly sugary. I really enjoyed how it turned out! If you want, you could sub in melted milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate. It is really up to your flavor preference.
To shape the star, the method is really quite simple once you understand how it works. The initial dough is cut into 4 equal sized pieces, and each of those pieces becomes a layer. You will build the layers, which are rolled out into 10-inch rounds, and then smother those pieces of dough in softened brown sugar butter. The top layer is left bare, and then cut into 16 sections. It is easiest to figure out where to cut the sections by placing a biscuit cutter or an upside down drinking glass as a guide.
I like to think of cutting the sections like drawing a sun with rays, the childhood drawing kind. It is easier to cut 8 rays, and then fill in the gaps with the remaining 8 cuts. Slice all the way through and you have your 16 strips of dough, which are shaped a bit like a rounded triangle.
The twisting is the really fun part! You can start anywhere around the circle. Twist the pieces of dough away from each other, exposing the layers of cinnamon sugar and butter inside. The more exposed they are, the better looking the final star is!
This bread looks beautiful with a contrasting powdered sugar icing spread over the top. I also dusted mine with powdered sugar, though this is not in the recipe instructions. I like to dunk this into hot chocolate or a frothy coffee.
This bread makes a wonderful Christmas breakfast option!
xoxo Kayla
Chocolate Cinnamon Star Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
- 4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
- In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, whisk together the water, yeast, and sugar. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes or until the yeast blooms and becomes bubbly.
- Add in the salt, the melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and chocolate. Whisk until well combined. Stir in the cocoa powder.
- Slowly begin to incorporate the flour, one cup at a time, until a dough forms and no longer clings to the sides of the bowl. It should be soft and a bit sticky. Knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
- Form the dough into a ball and place into a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let rest until the dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- In a medium sized bowl, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon.
- Gently deflate the dough. Divide the dough into 4 equal sized pieces. Roll the first piece of dough on a lightly floured surface to a 10-inch round circle. Place this round on a piece of parchment paper.
- Spread 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar butter mixture over this piece of dough all the way to the edges. Roll out the next piece of dough to a 10-inch circle. Layer this on top of the first piece of dough. Spread with 1/3 of the butter mixture. Repeat this again. With the fourth piece of dough, roll it out to a 10-inch circle but leave it plain. Do not spread any butter on top.
- Place a 3-inch biscuit butter or upside down drinking glass in the center of the layered dough as a guide. Make 8 slits evenly around the biscuit cutter with a serrated knife. In between those slits, make 8 more cuts for a total of 16 slits. Slice all the way through the layers with a serrated knife at each slit. Remove the biscuit cutter.
- Taking two side by side cut pieces of dough and turn them away from each other about 3 times, exposing the layers of cinnamon sugar inside. Pinch the ends together like a star tip. If they are having trouble sticking, brush them with a bit of water. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough until you have 8 star points.
- Move the piece of parchment paper onto a large baking sheet by sliding it. Do not lift it, or it may break. Cover the star with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let puff or nearly double in size, about 30-40 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake the star for 25-30 minutes or until it is a deep chocolate brown and the inside is fully cooked. You can check this by separating the layers gently with a paring knife and seeing if it is no longer doughy.
- Move the star to a wire cooling rack and let cool 15 minutes before icing.
- In a small bowl, make the icing. Whisk together the powdered sugar and cream. Drizzle over the cooled star and serve.
