CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT STAR BREAD

INGREDIENTS

135ml boiling water 135ml whole milk 500g strong white bread flour 14g instant yeast 1tsp fine salt 2 medium eggs 100g soft unsalted butter Rapeseed oil, for greasing 2tbsp smooth apricot jam

For the filling

200g chocolate hazelnut spread Finely grated zest of 1 orange 75g chopped roasted hazelnuts

METHOD

1. Add the boiling water to the milk to give you a warm liquid. Place the flour, yeast, salt and eggs in the bowl of a kitchen mixer fitted with a dough hook. When adding the yeast and salt, place them at opposite sides of the bowl. Add two-thirds of the liquid and begin to mix it all together. 2. Add more liquid gradually until you have a soft dough. You may not need all of the liquid. Mix for about eight minutes until you end up with a smooth, soft, silky dough. With the mixer still on, gradually add the butter in thumb-size pieces until it is all incorporated and the dough is smooth and shiny. 3. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in it. Cover with Clingfilm or a shower cap and leave it until doubled in size. Depending on your room temperature, this can take one hour, but it’ll be fine for two hours. 4. Find the largest round plate you have that will fit completely on your baking sheet. When the dough has proved, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface (I use rice flour). Fold the dough over on itself several times to knock the air out of it. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Roll out one half of the dough on a piece of non-stick baking parchment into a circle just a little larger than your plate. 5. Place the plate on the dough and trim around it with a knife. To make the filling, place the chocolate spread in a heatproof bowl. Warm it gently in a microwave tot makek it runny. Using a palette knife, spread it evenly over the dough, leaving about 1cm bare all around the edge. 6. Sprinkle over the orange zest and 50g of the chopped hazelnuts. (You could also sprinkle any other finely chopped nuts or dried fruit of your choice.) Roll out the other half of the dough on a lightly floured surface and trim to the same size circle. Carefully place it over the chocolate-covered dough and press to seal around the edges. 7. Get a small bowl with a diameter of about 12cm and make a light imprint in the centre of the dough circle. Using a sharp knife, cut 16 equally spaced slices up to the circle imprint. The easy way to do that is to cut four evenly spaced, then another four in between those and so on. 8.8 GentlyG tl lift eachh slice,li spini over twice and lay back down. This will give you the amazing pattern. Twisting in the one direction will give you the pattern depicted in the photograph. Slide the whole thing onto the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet inside a large bag to prove. Make sure the bag doesn’t touch the dough. 9. Prove again for about an hour until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/390°F/gas 7. Place your rack just below the centre of the oven. Bake the bread for about 20–25 minutes until golden. 10. Warm the apricot jam and brush it over the hot bread to glaze it. Sprinkle some chopped hazelnuts in the centre circle of the loaf – use a pastry cutter to sprinkle into and get a perfect circle of nuts. Eat warm or cold.