Shaped like a star, or even a snowflake, Star Bread is the perfect Holiday treat! This soft and sweet bread is so easy to make and even better when filled with a rich, hazelnut spread. Top it with a sprinkle of confectioner’s sugar and you’re ready to celebrate the Holidays in the most delicious way!

Nutella Star Bread is one of the most beautiful and yummy ways to celebrate the Holidays.

What is star bread?

Although it may seem like a project only fit for the professionals, star bread is not as complicated as it might look – I promise! Star breads consist of layered pieces of rolled out dough, with a filling in between. After the layers and fillings are all stacked together, you’ll cut 16 equal strips of dough around the circle, but leave them all connected in the center. The strips are then paired up and twisted opposite each other and joined together at the ends, creating an 8-tip star. When the strips are twisted, all of that delicious filling is revealed and the result is a beautifully swirled star bread.

Filling this star bread with a rich, chocolate hazelnut filling makes for the ultimate pull apart bread! Dusting it with powdered sugar is the perfect way to present this as a traditional Holiday treat – fit for breakfast or dessert!

If you love this recipe, you’ll also want to try my Cinnamon Apple Star Bread with Maple Icing. It’s just as delicious, but with an Autumn twist!

Ingredients

The ingredients for this recipe are pretty simple and straightforward, but there are a few things in here that are worth mentioning.

All-purpose flour for the bread dough will yield a softer, more tender dough than if you were using a bread flour. Bread flours have a higher protein content and will therefore produce a chewier bread. Stick with all-purpose flour for a softer, more pastry-like bread.
Potato flakes help to soften the dough as well as extend its shelf life. Yes, these potato flakes are simply the boxed, instant mashed potato flakes you get from the grocery store. I tested this recipe both with and without the potato flakes and noticed that with them, the bread stayed fresher an extra day than the one I made without the potato flakes. If you’d rather leave these out, just decrease the amount of milk you use (check the recipe notes for measurements) – you’ll still get a yummy bread either way!
Yeast: The yeast in this recipe can be either instant (rapid rise) yeast or active dry yeast. In the recipe and video, I show how to incorporate active dry yeast by allowing it to foam up before adding the rest of the ingredients. If you are using an instant yeast, you can skip this step and simply add the yeast with all of the ingredients. To read more about how these two yeasts work, you can read my article, Active Dry Yeast vs. Instant Yeast. If you are using a natural yeast (sourdough starter), you can swap it out for the commercial yeast. About 100 grams of sourdough starter is equal to 5 to 7 grams of instant/dried yeast. When you swap these out, you must also decrease the correct amount of water/liquid and flour from your recipe that you have now added from your sourdough starter. Also, remember rise times will increase as well when using a sourdough starter. Go HERE to learn how to create a starter from scratch.
The Nutella Filling: This can be made with any chocolate hazelnut spread. Nutella is my favorite brand, but others can be used as well. I took the recipe for this filling from my S’mores Sweet Rolls.

The steps for making Nutella Star Bread

You’ll love how easy this bread dough is to put together – it’s one of those recipes that you can just put all of the ingredients into the mixer and simply turn it on and walk away. It turns out great every time!

I suggest using a food scale to weigh your ingredients – that takes so much of the guess work out of making this recipe!

Once kneaded, the dough should be soft and pliable and pulling away from the sides of the bowl.

Mix the dough: Simply add all of the dough ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer. Turn it on and let it mix, knead for 6 minutes. By the time the gluten develops the dough, it should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl, soft and tender but not wet and sticky. Place your dough in a greased bowl, cover it and let it rise until doubled in size. Depending on how warm your kitchen is, this could take anywhere from 60-90 minutes. *If you want to make this ahead of time, refrigerate the dough after mixing and let it slow proof in the refrigerator overnight – roll it up, let rise and bake the next morning.
Make the filling: In a small bowl, combine the Nutella, softened butter and cinnamon. Your butter should be soft enough so that you can easily do this with a fork. Cover and set it aside until your dough is ready to fill.
Divide the dough: After your dough has risen, divide it into three equal pieces. Each piece should weigh about 10 ounces.
Shape the dough: With a rolling pin, roll out your first piece of dough to a circle about 11-inches in diameter. Silicone Rolling Mats work so well for this process – they have circles with measurements to guide you as you roll out. They also help keep your dough from sticking to your work surface, allowing you to use less flour when rolling out. You can also roll out your dough on a piece of parchment, it will need to eventually be on the parchment, but I typically don’t like to roll it out on parchment as it can be difficult to keep it from sliding around.
If you don’t roll it out on parchment, you’ll need to transfer it to a piece of parchment before moving on to the next step. Transferring the dough to a piece of parchment can be tricky. I use the same technique for transferring pie crusts to a pie plate to do this. Flour the rolled out dough and fold it in half. Flour it again and fold it in half again – you’ll end up with a triangular shaped dough that has been folded into quarters. Now you can easily pick it up and transfer it to a piece of parchment. Unfold it and if it has shrunk a bit, you can use your rolling pin to quickly roll the dough back out to 11 inches.
Spread on one half of the Nutella filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge of the dough. Slide that parchment off to the side.
With your second piece of dough, repeat steps 3-4. When you place the rolled out dough on top of the first layer, gently stretch out the edges, lining them up together. Press the edges together to keep them in place. Add the remainder of the Nutella filling, again leaving a 1/2-inch border. Slide the parchment to the side.
Roll out the third and final piece of dough and transfer it on top of the second layer. Again, stretch out the edges and line them all up together. Press the edges to seal all three layers together.
Place a 3-inch cookie cutter or small mason jar in the center of the circle. Using a pastry cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into quarters. Cut each of those in half and cut each of those in half again – creating 16 total equal strips of dough, connected at the center.
Remove the cookie cutter or jar from the center of the dough. Take two pieces of dough, side by side, and twist them 3 times in opposite directions from each other. Pinch the ends together, sealing the dough. Repeat all the way around until you have an 8-pointed star.
2nd Rise: Slide the parchment with the dough onto a rimmed baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375°F while it’s rising.
Bake: Brush with egg wash to ensure a nice golden crust. Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden. Allow it to cool for 15 minutes on the pan before sliding the parchment with the bread onto a wire cooling rack.
Top: Allow it to cool completely before dusting the powdered sugar on top. Serve and enjoy!

Look at that beautiful bread! It’s so soft and full of chocolate goodness! It’s best enjoyed the same day, but will stay good for up to two days (if it lasts that long!). If you cover it, the powdered sugar will liquify and soak into the bread. It will still be yummy the next day, but you’ll probably want to sprinkle it with powdered sugar again.

My number one tip for making this bread

This is such a fun bread to make! I know you’ll love creating it! The most important tip I can suggest for a successful bake is to try the line up the edges of the layers the best you can. This will give you a more sculptured and precise look as you twist up the pieces of dough.

Want more help with your bread making?

Baking with yeast may seem intimidating and confusing, but I promise it doesn’t have to be! The more you practice, the easier it gets! I love to help bakers get amazing results in bread and baking through my Baking Academy classes. These pre-recorded videos help to take a lot of the guess work out of working with yeasted doughs! They are perfect for visual learners!

There is so much information out there that can make bread making so confusing, causing you to maybe hold back from tackling lots of recipes you want to make. My classes make it easier for you to understand how and why baking with yeast can be so rewarding!

Other recipes you’ll love

Spiced Gingerbread Cake Loaf

Mom’s Cranberry Bread

Cranberry Orange Sweet Rolls

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

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