Pesto, Tomato, and Calabrese Star Bread

Nov 25

Nov 25 Pesto, Tomato, and Calabrese Star Bread

This decadent savory star bread is filled with pesto, parmesan cheese, sundried tomatoes, and calabrese salami. If, like me, you're generally down with anything remotely pizza related, I heartily suggest giving this one a try.

Last November I was auditioning foods for an upcoming holiday party and this one turned out to be a total winner. Full of flavor and absolutely delicuous? Check. Impressive looking? Check. Relatively easy? Check - even though it doesn’t look so! When I served it for the actual party it played it's part very well, receiving oohs and aaaahs from my friends and most importantly, disappeared off the platter. I mean, you can't really ask for anything more, can you? It looks like it might only serve 8, but those star "points" are pretty big, so if you're serving lots of grazing foods, you can easily slice each point in two.

Star Bread Cooking Notes

The recipe is from King Arthur Baking. (They've obviously become my go-to as I have most success with their recipes.) I used sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, and calabrese salami because it's usually sliced nice and thinly. I don't recommend pepperoni (even though the recipe does) because unless you can find it sliced very thinly I don't think it would twist up neatly. Not a meat eater? You could try subbing in some flavorful thinly sliced mushrooms or even zucchini. I would pre-cook those so you don't end up with too much water content in the filling.

The star is achieved by layering circles of dough and filling, then slicing and cutting into the star shape. King Arthur's Cinnamon Star Bread recipe has helpful photos for achieving the look. I found it easiest to first pat out the dough into a circle then finish with my rolling pin to the right circumference. If you have a rolling mat that includes circles for pie dough, this is a good time to break it out. Just don't slice through it when you're creating the star points like I did.

Pesto, Tomato, and Calabrese Star Bread Recipe:

Find it on King Arthur Baking: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/salami-and-herb-star-bread-recipe

Yield:
1 star bread, serves 8-16

Difficulty:
Medium

P.S. I recommend auditioning party foods. You'll know ahead of time how long it takes to make, you’ll know if you even like it, and of course the bonus is indulging in party foods ahead of time. Win. Win. Win.