Playing with Star Bread

The finished lamb, mint, rosemary bread

We ran across a fun, dressy bread over at Food 52 before the holidays this year. This Cheese and Herb Star Bread is pretty straightforward in terms of what's in it. A little fancy dancy twisting and its quite a beauty.

Lloyd, the baker of the family, was intrigued. So he made it. We loved the fancy style but the flavor reminded us on some kind of pizza bread - underwhelming. And the recipe itself seemed to be over the top with butter (anytime you take something out of the oven and butter drenches the pan in a pool, you know something is off). But man was it pretty.

The second time, we made a few key changes and liked the results more.

Egg wash finish

We left the dough as it was. For the filling.we skipped creating a herb butter (using 1/2 c. of butter). Instead, we melted a tablespoon or two of butter and simply brushed a layer on the dough and sprinkled the herbs and cheese on each layer. Worked swell. It was a croissant-y bun - fluffy and flavorful - although still reminding us of pizza.

Our newest idea was to incorporate meat and see if we could create a little sandwich bun feeling. We browned 6 oz of ground lamb and chopped it finely. We thought about herbs we love with lamb and used mint, rosemary and garlic powder. We again just brushed each layer with butter.  It was a bit more challenging to twist but the results were delicious.

A salad on the side and half the loaf made a tasty winter meal!