Cinnamon Star Bread Bakealong with King Arthur Flour

This Cinnamon Star Bread Bakealong with King Arthur Flour is a gamechanger. Sure, it looks beautiful, but the flavor of the dough is unreal. Does this bake look intimidating? Yes. Is it too difficult for even the most novice baker? Absolutely not.

About the Bakealong Challenge

Have you ever tried a bakealong challenge with King Arthur Flour? They are so much fun. King Arthur Flour has a blog as well, named Flourish. On the blog, the bakers have detailed instructions with step by step photos to help guide bakers at every level. Need a little more help? No worries, King Arthur Flour has you covered with the Baker’s Hotline. Remember when I made this White Russian Cake & I dropped it while taking it out of the oven? They talked me through it & I salvaged the bake!

What I like most about the Bakealong Challenges is they take me out of my comfort zone to try new things. Remember these Dark Chocolate Eclairs? I was so scared to make them, but with the guidance of King Arthur Flour, they were a huge hit.

Cinnamon Star Bread

Jessica:  Ok, I am not the greatest baker, but I am getting better.  When I saw this bread, I was sure I couldn’t do it.  I sent a picture to my mom and told her to try – she said no way.  But reading the King Arthur Flour blog post about this bread made me think I may have a chance to get it right and make something impressive.  I may have broken the cardinal rule and not read through the whole recipe first, which lead to a mistake, but even then my bread turned out fantastic.

Sarah:  I made a mistake too!  We really need to pay more attention.  The recipe is simple.  Follow the instructions and make a sweet dough, then divide that dough into four even-ish balls and roll them out into circles.

Jessica: I was so worried because I can never roll things out right, but they soooo don’t have to be perfect.  Somehow it seems to work out in the layering process.

Sarah:  You will brush egg wash on one of the rounds, then sprinkle on your cinnamon sugar mixture.  Layer with the next round and repeat until you have all four layers stacked and leave the top layer plain.

Jessica:  This is where I messed up!  I mixed the cinnamon, sugar and egg all together.  While it still worked out, it made the cinnamon and sugar mixture very runny and I didn’t get as much of it between the layers as I would have liked.

Sarah: I likely would have made the same mistake if you hadn’t told me your experience before I made mine. Next, use a cup or biscuit cutter and put that in the center of your bread.  Cut 16 equal strips from the center, and like the Bakealong blog says, it is easier to cut into “four quadrants” first.

Jessica: Then you remove your cup and simply twist the strips away from each other.  This is where the bread starts to look really beautiful.  Pinch the ends of two twisted strips together so you form an eight pointed star.

Sarah:  Now, this is where I made a mistake – I didn’t pinch the ends together!  Mine didn’t exactly turn out like a star.  Oh well. The good news is despite not fully closing the ends together, the filling stayed put!

Jessica: Sarah, yours was beautiful!  After you do this, give your bread a final rise and then bake in a 400 degree oven.  Even with my mistakes, mine still was pretty.  It would look a lot better if you didn’t compare it with Sarah’s…

Sarah:  Jessica, stop it.  Your Cinnamon Star Bread looks great! I love your little platter too. Next time, I’m definitely pinching the ends. Yours looks like a golden snowflake!

The Verdict – Cinnamon Star Bread Bakealong with King Arthur Flour

Sarah: We are Really Into This Cinnamon Star Bread Bakealong with King Arthur Flour. While this cinnamon version is delicious, we are Really excited about trying a savory version of this bread. I could definitely go for a ham & cheese version or even better, a Philly Cheesesteak version. What about you, Jessica?

Jessica:  We are definitely Really Into This.  I am ready to make pesto one this weekend for Christmas.  Please, go and read PJ Hamel’s fantastic blog post.  She will give you the confidence to try it yourself and the best step by step guide to creating this bread.