Cinnamon Star Bread
Cinnamon star bread is a buttery pull-apart cinnamon bread shaped into a star and baked until soft and golden. A stunning centerpiece for brunch, celebrations, and special-occasion baking.
Servings: 12 servings
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- parchment paper
Ingredients
for the dough
- 3 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (1 packet)
- 3/4 cup lukewarm water
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
for the filling
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cardamom
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
egg wash
for topping
- 2-3 Tbsp powdered sugar
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
- In a smaller mixing bowl, add the water and the yeast. Mix to dissolve the yeast.
- Add the milk, oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla to the water mixture and whisk well to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the flour and salt, and mix well with a spoon or with your hands until everything is well incorporated and there is no dry flour remaining. (Note: you do not need to "knead" this dough, but it is important to mix it well and make sure that everything is well combined, so take your time.)
- Cover the bowl tightly and let rise at normal room temperature for 2 hours.
- Transfer to the fridge and chill for at least 3-4 hours, or overnight.
- Shortly before you are ready to form the bread, make the cinnamon filling by combining all of the filling ingredients in a small bowl and mixing until well combined. You should have a moist, sandy mixture. Set aside.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for a bit just to take the chill off the dough.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, and roll each section into a ball, and place on a lightly floured surface. Keep some extra flour nearby for dusting the dough as you go to keep it from sticking.
- Set out a piece of parchment next to your workspace for assembling the star.
- Now take one of the balls of dough, and roll it into a circle about 10 inches wide.
- Transfer the circle of dough to your parchment paper and top it with about 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar filling. Spread it out as evenly as you can, leaving a small edge around the outside of the circle with no filling.
- Repeat for the second ball of dough, rolling it out and stacking it on top of the first one, and topping it with another 1/3 of the cinnamon filling.
- Repeat with the 3rd ball of dough, using up the remaining cinnamon filling. With the fourth ball, simply roll it out into a circle and place it on top of the stack.
- Nudge the layers of dough to get them as even and round as possible. Next, set a small biscuit cutter or circular cookie cutter (2-3" wide) in the center of the circle - this will act as a guide for cutting the dough. NOTE: you're just setting it lightly there, not cutting through the dough.
- Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut through all the layers of the stack to divide it into 4 equal sections. Subdivide each section into 4 equal sections, for a total of 16 equal wedges of dough.
- Working with one pair of wedges at a time, twist each one two full times in an outward direction (in opposite directions from one another).
- Repeat this for each pair of wedges around the whole circle.
- Next, take each pair, and gently pinch the ends together to make a gentle point. Don't worry about doing this very precisely, just make sure the dough is secure and won't come apart. Remove your biscuit cutter guide.
- Use the parchment paper to gently slide the cinnamon star onto a large baking sheet. (The parchment paper will remain under the bread for baking)
- Lightly cover the shaped dough and allow it to rise in a warm spot for 1-2 hours until it has puffed up somewhat. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350F.
- When ready to bake, make an egg wash by beating 1 egg in a small bowl. Brush a thin layer of the beaten egg over the top of the dough.
- Bake for about 30-35 minutes until golden brown and puffy.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before topping with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
- Leftover bread can be stored at room temperature and will remain nice and soft for a couple of days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 piece · Calories: 256 kcal · Carbohydrates: 43 g · Protein: 5 g · Fat: 7 g · Saturated Fat: 2 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 2 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 2 g · Trans Fat: 0.1 g · Cholesterol: 47 mg · Sodium: 228 mg · Potassium: 65 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 17 g · Vitamin A: 127 IU · Vitamin C: 0.1 mg · Calcium: 25 mg · Iron: 2 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Did You Make This?We love seeing what you've made! Tag us on social media at @theviewfromgreatisland for a chance to be featured.