Nutella Star Bread

I need to take a dish-to-pass.  We've been watching the Great British Bake Off, and the home bakers in the competition make interesting bakery items.  Once they were tasked with making a "Tear and Share."  Never heard of it, but have been looking around.  Lots of super videos on youtube.  This sounds good.

Nutella Star Bread ready to rise:

Ingredients:

450 g flour

70 g sugar (I think less would be better)

2 eggs

180 ml milk

2t yeast

salt

40 g butter

Nutella™

It would probably be best to watch a video on how to shape the bread.  Makes learning it easy.

After fully risen, there are fewer spaces between the arms.

Smells delicious.

Artistry is not quite there yet.

Not too bad for a first try.

~ ~ ~ 

Five Days Later

Second Try

One of the group does not like Nutella™.

The large star is made with Nutella.

The top left two are plain.

The other five are cinnamon buns.

I also reduced the sugar to 50 grams.

I like that better.

Finally - some spring fauna have arrived

Happy St. Patrick's Day.  We have had snow on the ground since mid-January, and we were despairing of ever seeing a robin.

This morning, on the only cleared space - the driveway - four robins appeared.  By the time the camera was ready with a new battery, there was one left - sitting fluffed up in the viburnum.

This guy is a little hard to see in the driveway - it's probably a female or an immature male redwing blackbird.

This is the first time we have seen gray squirrels here.
Our squirrels are the red ones.

Here he is playing on an overturned chair.

And now, with about 16 inches of compacted snow on the ground, D has gotten an email that his trees will arrive by UPS tomorrow.

25% Whole Wheat No Knead Bread

Yet another attempt to perfect the no-knead bread.  For this bread, I used 1/4 whole wheat pie and pastry flour and 3/4 bread flour.  It was about four cups.  The flour weighed 680 grams, and I added 544 grams of water (80% of 680 = 544).  The dough sat overnight and in the morning, I shaped it and allowed it to rise again.

Preheat the oven to 550º with the corningware pot and lid in the oven heating, too.

Plop the risen loaf into the pot, slash the top a few times with a super-sharp knife, put the lid on and bake for 30 minutes.  Lower the temp to 425º, remove the lid, and bake for 15 minutes more.

Here it is!

It's square because the pan is square.

I have been frustrated with the crumb, but this looks ok.

A fine loaf!

I cut the loaf into quarters and freeze three quarters.

It's fine when it comes out of the freezer.

We find the best slicing knife is the electric knife.