My family was thrilled when this year’s Great New Year’s Baking Show brought back the greatest the GBBO tent has ever seen: Jürgen. We watched the two holiday episodes this holiday season, and appreciated getting to see Jürgen back in the tent, and even performing his trombone. And then when they were done I convinced my parents to start watching the gem that is Junior Bake Off! Watching those back to back gave me the idea to do a Junior vs. Adult Bake Off comparison.
In this year’s Christmas episode, they made a pull-apart cinnamon “snowflake bread,” and then in season 6, episode 3 of JBO, they made this Pizza Star Bread. I immediately noticed the similarities in concept and construction, but could tell the junior version was a lot simpler to make. So I had to make both, and see what the difficulty levels are!
This bread may appear complex, but it’s actually incredibly easy to make. I made it twice in 24 hours!
The second time, I made sure to document the process, so you can see how easy it is:
The dough is the easiest part. Baking powder is the rising agent, so you don’t have to wait for it to rise at all. And the moisture comes from yogurt, with makes it come together very easily. It’s get a texture that makes rolling it out into three circles very easy! Doing all the cuts and twists is the tricky bit… if you’re eleven. It’s pretty straightforward if you’re an adult.
It definitely makes sense they chose this for bread week for the Junior Bake Off – it’s easily achievable in an hour, since you don’t have to wait for anything to rise. It works for the attention spans and patience of kids. And, frankly, the time that adults have to pull together dinner.
Now… the simplicity of this begs me to ask some very obvious questions… Such as, how would this taste layered with peanut butter and Nutella???
I didn’t do peanut butter and Nutella this time, obviously. But I did switch it up from Liam Charles’ original recipe. His used a pesto on one layer and a tomato sauce on the other. But I made a garlic parmesan sauce (a la… Domino’s), and then made a pistachio pesto (with my homegrown basil!!) for the second layer. I think these were solid substitutions!
This could probably also make a reeeally good garlic bread if you just did butter and garlic honestly. There’s a lot of flexibility and a lot to work with, that’s all I’m saying.
(Shout out to Ethan for being a hand model)
And it’s “tear and share,” which makes it perfect to enjoy with a crowd (or like… five people). A solid addition to spruce up any otherwise simple dinner – a side with soup, salad, pasta, etc.
Stay tuned for the cinnamon snowflake bread!
Print
Total Time:
Print
PinDescription
This is heavily modified from Liam Charles’ Pizza Star Bread from JBBO – I didn’t use any tomato sauce and subbed in my favorite Pistachio Pesto from Gimme Some Oven, as well as a “dupe” for Domino’s garlic cream sauce.
Ingredients
For the pistachio pesto:
- 3 cups lightly-packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2/3 cup shelled pistachios
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the garlic cream sauce:
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- pinch salt
For the dough:
- 2 ⅓ cup self-raising flour (or, 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour + 3 teaspoons baking powder + 3/4 tsp salt)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ¼ cup Greek yogurt
For the shaping and topping:
- ~3.5oz shredded mozzarella
- 2.5 in biscuit cutter or a glass with a ~2.5in-diameter rim
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400°F
- Make the pistachio pesto: Place all the pesto ingredients except for the oil in a food processor and blitz until there are no big basil leaves remaining and the pistachios are broken up. Then, keep the food processor running as you slowly stream in the olive oil, until it comes together into a smooth paste. Set aside.
- Make the garlic cream sauce: Melt the butter in a pan over low heat, and then add the garlic. Stir gently and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Then, slowly pour the heavy cream into the pan. Keep stirring gently. Sprinkle in the Italian seasonings and salt. Then, sprinkle in the grated cheese a little at a time, while you continue stirring. Keep the heat down low and let the sauce cook for about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Make the dough: Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the yoghurt. Mix with a fork, then use your hands to bring the mixture together to form a dough. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it lightly until just smooth. Divide into 3 equal balls.
- Roll out each ball into a large circle about 11-12 inches in diameter. Using a dinner plate as a guide, cut out 3 circles each of 11 inch diameter. Carefully place 1 circle of dough onto the lined baking sheet.
- Spoon some of the pesto over the dough and spread it out using the back of the spoon, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. Sprinkle half of the mozzarella over the pesto, then cover with a second circle of dough.
- Spoon some more of the pesto over that circle of dough and spread it out using the back of the spoon, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the pesto, then cover with the last circle of dough.
- Place a 2.5 in round cookie cutter or glass in the middle of the dough but do not press down. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 12 evenly spaced wedges going from the edge of the cutter or glass to the outside edge of the dough. (If you think of the dough as a clock face, make cuts at every hour.)
- Remove the cutter or glass. Pick up one wedge in your right hand and the wedge next to it in your left hand. Twist the right-hand wedge clockwise 3 times and the left-hand edge anti-clockwise 3 times, then bring the ends of the two twisted wedges together and pinch to seal into a point.
- Repeat all the way round the ‘clock face’ so that you end up with a six-pointed star.
- Bake the bread for 30–35 minutes, until golden and crispy. (Check after 20 minutes and cover the bread with foil if it’s browning too quickly.)
- Once baked, serve the pizza star bread with a pesto aioli or marinara dip if desired.