This star bread is just the thing to kick off Christmas morning in the most celebratory of ways. Light as a feather and vibrant orange pumpkin brioche. Mmm. Super spicy gingerbread with crystalised ginger. Mmmmm. Pop them together and what do you get? Double mmmmm! And made all the more delicious with Hakanoa’s Fresh Spice 'Golden Latte' Syrup. I also made this recipe using their Gingerful Ginger Syrup and it was equally superb.
There’s no need to get up at dawn to create this! Make the star the day before and as soon as you finish construction, cover the pan in cling film and pop it into the fridge overnight. Next morning, place in a warm place to rise for a couple of hours before you bake it. The aroma of freshly baked spiced brioche will rouse the people you love from their dreams, to the table. You will be the Christmas star.
THE BRIOCHE
1 c hot Hakanoa Fresh Spice 'Golden Latte' Syrup reduced to ½ c
½ c warm roasted pumpkin flesh, no skin, no seeds
100 g soft butter
2 eggs
1 T brown sugar
1 t instant dry yeast
1 t cardamon seeds
2 ¼ c white flour plus extra if required
½ t salt
1 egg yolk to glaze
(*** you’ll use half the reduced syrup for the dough, and half for the gingerbread filling)
THE FILLING
¼ c hot reduced Hakanoa syrup
100 g soft butter
¼ c light brown sugar, packed
1 t ground cinnamon
2 t ground ginger
5 ground black pepper corns
5 ground cloves
1 large orange, zested
ASSEMBLY
60 g crystalized ginger, roughly chopped
Extra orange zest for top
METHOD
For the brioche - to reduce the Hakanoa syrup, simmer in a heavy bottomed pot. The Lil’ Legacy is perfect for this. It will take about 15 minutes. Split into 2 portions.
In your Nutribullet or blender, blitz a portion of the hot syrup, pumpkin, butter, eggs and brown sugar until smooth and creamy (and the most beautiful orange)!
Combine the flour, yeast, salt and cardamon in a medium sized bowl. Pour the pumpkin mix into the flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
Sprinkle the bench top with flour, turn dough onto the bench and knead for 5 minutes, adding a little more flour if required. The dough should be sticky and soft not hard and dry. Transfer the dough to a clean, greased bowl and cover with clingfilm.
Leave in a warm place until it has doubled in size. About an hour.
Place all of the filling ingredients in the Nutribullet and blend till creamy. Then pop in the fridge to cool. Remove before it goes completely hard.
Heat your oven to 180°C and generously butter your Ironclad Pan.
Weigh the dough. You’ll need 600g for the star. Divide the dough into 4 portions and roll each into a 22cm circle.
***Save the remainder of the dough to make Fix and Fogg Everything Butter with Pumpkin Brioche. Now watch the ‘how to’ video ***
Lay the first circle of dough in the centre of the pan.
Spread ⅓ of the cooled ginger bread mix on top of the dough, sprinkle with ¼ of the crystalised ginger.
Place the second dough circle on top and repeat with ginger butter and ginger.
Place third dough circle on top and spread the last of ginger butter and ginger.
Pop the last piece of dough on top and tuck it all in so that it’s a perfect circle.
Rest an 8 cm cup in the centre of the dough and gently press in to create an indent.
Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into 16 equal pieces but only to the edge of the indent. Don’t cut all the way into the middle of the dough.
Pick up two pieces and twist away from you, tuck under and then towards you and press dough together to form a star point. You will end up with 8 star points. Brush the dough with egg yolk. Sprinkle with extra orange zest and the remaining crystalised ginger.
Leave to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes, until it has almost doubled in size.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes at 180°C until golden brown. Serve straight to the table with lashings of cream, mascarpone or yoghurt.
And have yourselves a very Meri Kirihimete!
