Raspberry Mascarpone Star Bread ⋆ Biscuits to Brownies

Star breads are taking social media by storm. I love seeing all the different varieties and displays. Bread is something that I not only love eating, but making as well! Here I take two of my favorite flavors and combine them into one delicious Raspberry Mascarpone Star Bread.

The Art of Bread

The art of bread was something I always wanted to master in the baking realm. So, I tried my hand at it when the love of baking took hold of me and I admit that I wasn’t so successful, initially.

Purchasing cookbook after cookbook trying my hand at making various types of bread with some winners but others, not so much.

Inspiration: Culinary School

However, when I decided to attend culinary school I couldn’t wait for the baking and pastry classes! It was the inspiration I needed in mastering this art and science. Fond memories I have of my pastry instructor with his tips and techniques he taught in bread making. Absolutely awesome he was and I feel so blessed to have had him.

Here is a quick blurb about how my baking journey started and my time in culinary school.

I can still hear his British accent ringing in my ear as he shared his wealth of knowledge with us all. Loved watching him make amazing pastry!

Science, Science, Science

Speaking of science, I’m a big lover of all science, especially food science. Maybe, it’s my background and in my DNA?

Upon graduating college with a degree in Medical Technology (now called Clinical Laboratory Science) science has always been my passion. Baking is totally a science and I think that is why I love it so much. Bread baking totally fits the bill.

This holiday, I wanted to create a great bread that would grace the Christmas dinner table and this idea came to mind.

Raspberry and Mascarpone

Raspberry is the perfect filling given the traditional color and flavor of the season. As well as, mascarpone cream which equally seems to be a perfect sidekick adding just a hint of creaminess to the sweet jam.

Dough

The dough is a basic and a universal dough that can go either savory or sweet. Once risen, it is divided into 4 equal portions. Here I went sweet, a great recipe you can find here.

Circles, Circles, Circles

The foundation for the star is rolling the four portions of dough into a 10″ circle. Then, alternating layers of raspberry jam and mascarpone cheese. I like to start with the jam and so I get more layers of that for sweetness.

Layering: Lots of Raspberry

Dough, jam, dough, mascarpone, dough, jam, dough

Kitchen Tool

One of the best kitchen tools I have are baking rings. They come in all sizes. and can usually purchase them at a kitchen specialty shop or online. I believe I found this one at Sur La Table. Perfectly, I happened to have a 10″ ring that is perfect for getting the correct size of rolled out dough.

It also is great for using as a pattern when rolling out pie dough. The 10″ ring makes the perfect pattern for a 9″ pie plate.

Tip

Also, another great use for this ring is when all the dough layers are stacked forming the base of the star bread, you can place the ring around the whole stack and cut around it to get a perfect 10″ round size!

Once the dough is layered, the next step is the cutting.

Place a small glass or round cutter in the center, custard cup works great too
Make 4 cuts, two diagonal and two horizontal of the cutter
Make 4 more cuts in between the previous cuts
Continuing with the cuts till there are a total of 16 triangles

preparing dough to cut for the star shaping

A Star is Born

Now for the fun part, creating the star. This is so much fun. I love how the filling colors start to show once you start shaping the star. Super simple to make.

Raspberry Mascarpone Marriage

First, you start by removing the round cutter on the top. Then, you take two of the tiny triangles that are side by side, and start twisting outward about two times, then pinching the ends to seal for the star tips effect.