How to Make Soft Sourdough Brie Star Bread

Christmas is around the corner and this Sourdough Brie Star Bread is the perfect appetizer or side dish to serve! It is soft, buttery, salty, sweet and pulls apart perfectly making it ideal for sharing.

Every year, when holiday season comes, we all seem to be looking for the perfect appetizers and snacks to serve. Of course we all love some of the classics like baked brie, charcuterie or chips and dip, but if you are looking for some special and beautiful to serve this year, this is it!

This Sourdough Brie Star Bread, screams holiday season in every way. It is full of rich brie cheese, salt prosciutto and sweet jelly for the perfect flavor combination. The sourdough bread is soft and chewy, making it the perfect layering vessel to hold all those delicious fillings.

While this bread looks complex, it is really quite easy to make. You start by mixing together a soft sourdough roll dough. Then, let is bulk rise until doubled in size. After that, you roll it into four large circles of dough and layer those on top of one another with all the different filling. Make 16 cuts in the circle then twist each piece to form it into its beautiful star shape. What is so great about this bread is you can make it a day or two in advance then bake it fresh before serving!

Tips for Making Brie Sourdough Star Bread

1. Make sure you are using a strong and active sourdough starter. Ideally you want to feed your sourdough starter a 1:4:4 ratio 8-10 hours before you use it. This will ensure you get nice soft and fluffy bread.
2. This bread dough takes a while to rise, so it loves a nice warm place to do so. I like to turn my oven to on for a couple minutes to preheat slightly, then turn it off. Place the covered dough in the warm oven (that is not on) and let it rise there. Just make sure it is not too hot in there.
3. You do not want to four your counter before rolling this dough. The dough shouldn’t stick to the counter and if you flour it, it will make it hard for the dough to hold its shape.
4. When you are layering the dough with the filling, keep the centre of the dough (where you have the small bowl) without any fillings. If you layer the cheese and everything in that centre spot, the dough will not cook through as it will be too moist.

Sourdough Brie Star Bread Ingredients

Sourdough Starter– As mentioned above, you want a nice an active fed sourdough starter for this recipe.

Milk– This dough uses milk as the liquid. You can use skim, 2% or whole milk.

Flour– Use whichever type of flour you typically use to make your sourdough bread. Unbleached all purpose or bread flour.

Butter– Salted or unsalted works. I always like to use salted.

Sugar- There is just a touch of sugar in this dough. Don’t worry, the bread will not taste sweet.

Egg- You just need one egg in this dough.

Salt– Any fine salt will work.

Brie Cheese– Use whichever brand of brie cheese you like. Slice it nice and thin.

Prosciutto– I love adding prosciutto to this bread for a nice salty addition to combat the richness of the brie cheese. You could alternatively use, thinly sliced ham if you like. A rosemary ham would be delicious too.

Jelly- This can be any type of jelly you like. My favourites are a fig jam, apricot jalapeño jelly or red pepper jelly. This adds a perfect subtle sweetness.

The Steps

Make The Dough

1. Start by mixing together the milk, butter, egg, sugar and sourdough starter in a large bowl with a dough whisk.
2. Once mixed, add in the flour and salt and mix until smooth. You can do this by hand or with a stand mixer and dough hook attachment.
3. After the dough is all combined, you want to continue to knead it with the mixer for 8 minutes or by hand for 8-10 minutes until it is super soft and smooth.

Rise & Shape

1. Gently form the dough in a ball and place it in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap to rest in a nice warm place for about 6-7 hours. See pictures above to know when your dough is done rising.
2. After your dough has doubled in size, you want to dump it onto a dry counter and cut it into 4 equal sized pieces.
3. Take each pie of dough and roll it into a nice large, thin circle, roughly 14 inches wide or so.
4. Then, take the first circle of dough, and place it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
5. Next, spread half of the jelly over this piece of dough, followed but half of the thinly sliced brie cheese. Make sure that you leave about a 4 inch circle of dough in the middle of the circle plain without any toppings, otherwise this dough in the center will not cook all the way through.
6. Take your second circle of dough, and place it on top of that first layer and gently press down all over so there are no air pockets. Lay the sliced of prosciutto all over this second layer of dough.
7. Then you are going to lay the third circle of dough on top of that and repeat the jelly and brie layer, making sure to leave that 4 inch circle in the middle dry.
8. Finally, lay the fourth circle of dough on top, then place a small 3-4 inch rouch bowl upside down in the middle of the dough.
9. Take a sharp knife and make 16 slices evenly spaced, all around the circle.
10. Then, take two of the pieces at a time and twist the one in your right hand to the right, and the one in your left hand to the left.
11. Once both pieces have been twisted once, take the end of each piece and gently press them together to form a tip of the star.
12. Repeat this process with every 2 pieces going around the whole circle. You should end up with 8 points on your star.

Final Rise & Bake

1. Then, cover with plastic wrap and let the star rise for 2 hours at room temperature OR you can place it in the fridge over night or for up to 2 days. If you put it in the fridge, then you want to remove it 3-4 hours before you want to bake it, to let it have its final rise.
2. When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350F.
3. Uncover the star bread, and bake it for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
4. Allow the star bread to cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to a serving dish and enjoying!

If you give this recipe a try, leave a comment or recipe review below!

Looking for more sourdough recipes to try this holiday season?

https://cmbarndominium.com/easy-apple-cream-cheese-sourdough-french-toast-bake/

https://cmbarndominium.com/perfectly-soft-gooey-sourdough-monkey-bread/

https://cmbarndominium.com/delicious-homemade-bacon-sourdough-stuffing/

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