Pesto Star Tear and Share Bread

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Pesto Star Tear and Share Bread

The smell alone will make you want to tear this Pesto Star Bread to pieces! Fresh from the oven, this is a real friends or family sharing treat! don't wait or it will be gone in a few moments. The fresh, bouncy bread, smoothly coated with delicious pesto sauce (smell that fresh basil and rich parmesan) tears easily on the table and enhance any meal. Try with Aglio Olio or some pan fried prawns. Pesto Star Tear and Share Bread will grace a formal dinner or snuggle up with the TV. Versatile, simple and completely irresistible. You know you want to ...

Prep Time1

Cook Time20

Proving time1 45

Total Time3 5

Course: breakfast, main course, side dishes

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread, pesto bread, tear and share

Servings: servings

Calories: 440kcal

Author: Bakabee

Equipment

8" Cast Iron Skillet with Red Silicone Handle

Ingredients

Tear and Share Bread dough

450 g bread flour
70 g caster sugar
2 tsp quick yeast
1/4 tsp sea salt
30 g unsalted butter melted
2 pc egg
180 ml milk lukewarm

Homemade Pesto Sauce

1 cup fresh basil leaves
1½ tbsp pine nuts toasted
1 clove garlic
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh grated Parmiggiano Reggiano

Instructions

Tear and Share Bread

Warm the milk in the microwave for 15 second. Add sugar and dry instant yeast. Stir to dissolve gently. The warm milk and the sugar help to activate the yeast. Set it aside for 5-10 minutes or until it is foamy.
Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. Leave the egg whites for later.
In a stand mixer, attach the dough hook, add bread flour, sea salt, melted butter and egg yolks, mix at medium speed.
Add the yeast mixture into the flour mixture. Mix them at a medium to high speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl sides. The bowl sides should be clean and the dough should be firm and elastic.
Prepare a large mixing bowl and oil it with a little bit of olive oil. Use a paper towel to wipe the excess oil. Put the dough into it and wrap it by cling film.
Place the dough in a warm place and let it prove for 60 minutes or until double in size.
Press the dough a few times to knock the air out. Roll the dough into a ball and divide it into 4 small equal pieces.
Start with one piece of the dough. Sprinkle with some flour onto the surface and roll the piece of dough into about 20cm diameter round and 5mm thick circle. Slide a sheet of parchment paper underneath. While working on the first piece, cover the other three pieces of dough with a tea towel avoid getting dry.
Use a spatula to spread the homemade pesto sauce evenly onto the dough (right to the edges).
Repeat the exact same process for the second and third pieces. Stack each finished layer on top of the others.
Roll the last piece of the dough and place it on the top.
Take a small drinking glass and place it in the middle of the round dough. Use it as a guide and use a sharp knife and cut the dough all the way down into four equal portions. DO NOT cut into the central core under the glass.
Then cut each portion into half again. Then again cut each segment into half. You will end up with 16 equal segments.
Take one segment and twist it twice to the left. Lift the next piece and twist it twice to the right. Move around the 16 segments repeating the alternative left/right twist pattern. Place each twisted segment back in its original position.
Working around the 8 pairs of dough, pinch the two outward facing ends of each pair together using your thumb and forefinger to make a beautiful 8 pointed star shape.
Lift using the parchment paper and place the whole dough into a cast iron pan (10" should be the correct size) or any baking pan of similar size. Cover it with a tea towel and leave it to prove for 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
After the second proving, brush the dough with the egg whites before putting it into the oven. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
When it comes out from the oven, leave it cool down for a while on a wire rack. Serve it warm! Yum!

Homemade Pesto Sauce

In a food processor, add the garlic, pine nuts, basil and grind it.
Add the Parmiggiano Reggiano and continue to grind and slowly adding the extra virgin olive oil until it turns into a sauce texture.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Video

Notes

watch my video tutorial to learn the whole process.
If you have some left over homemade pesto sauce, store it in a glass airtight container, add some oil on the top to stop the air from going into the pesto sauce.

Nutrition