We are less than a week away from Christmas day and to be honest, I thought I had finished all my Christmas related baking and was almost ready to move on to the New Year, however, I have seen these little stars around on social media and I felt like it would be silly for me not to give it a go! I love this garlic bread so to be honest, I will take any possible opportunity to make it again and again.

This bread is really easy to make and delicious, the star shape may seem a bit intimidating, but it’s actually a lot easier than you’d think! I will show you how below:

1. Once your dough has risen, knead it on a floured surface for a few minutes and form it into a ball, then divide them into 3 equal parts.

2. Then, roll every piece of dough into a circle. Once you’ve done that with all of them take one and spread the garlic butter mix, place another circle above and repeat, finally, place the last one above the other two. Use scissors to cut any scraps around the edges.

3. Place a glass above the dough and with some scissors make 4 cuts on the dough, I did mine like a clock, so at o’clock, at quarter past, at half past and at quarter to. Then divide them again by dividing them in two and then once again. You’ll have 16 strings.

4. Take one string and start twisting it, do the same with the one to its right and once both of them are twisted, simply pinch their ends together. Do that with all the strings. Don’t worry if it looks a bit skinny (like mine below) the dough will rise.

5. Rest the dough for another hour and then cook at 180 for 15 minutes.

Christmas Star Garlic & Herb Bread

Ingredients:

• 400 gr of bread flour + more for rolling
• 290 ml of milk
• 1 tbsp of honey
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp and 1/2 of fast action dried yeast
• Olive oil
• 50 gr of salted butter softened
• 2 tbsp of fresh basil
• 1 tbsp of fresh oregano
• 1/2 tsp of sage
• 2 tbsp of parmesan (feel free to add more if you want it to be cheesier)
• 2 grated garlic cloves

Method:

1. Mix the milk and the honey and warm it up.
2. In the meantime, mix the yeast, salt and flour and then add the milk and the honey. Mix then well until you have a dough, then, flour a surface and knead for 5 minutes.
3. Form a ball with the dough and put it in a oiled bowl. Let it rise in a warm room for at least an hour or until it doubles its size.
4. Once the dough is ready, take the softened butter and add the garlic, parmesan, sage, oregano and basil, mix well until you have a paste.
5. Take the dough and cut it into 3 equal parts. Roll all of them into circles.
6. Place the first circle on a piece of parchment paper and spread the butter mix. Then repeat the process with a second circle of dough placed over the first one. Finally, please the third one over the other two.
7. Place a glass in the middle of the dough and start cutting the strips. Start but making 4 cuts, I did mine like a clock, so at o’clock, at quarter past, at half past and at quarter to. Then divide them again by dividing them in two and then once again. You’ll have 16 strings.
8. Take one string and start twisting it, do the same with the one to its right and once both of them are twisted, simply pinch their ends together. Do that with all the strings. Don’t worry if it looks a bit skinny (like mine below) the dough will rise. If you have any garlic butter left, spread it over the middle of the star.
9. Rest the dough for another hour and then cook it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
10. Serve hot or cold, enjoy!