Spiced Apple Star Bread Recipe
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Warm, buttery, and full of cozy spice, this Spiced Apple Star Bread is as delicious as it is stunning! Soft, pillowy layers of dough are filled with a sweet apple-cinnamon mixture and twisted into a beautiful starburst shape. Perfect for special occasions, holiday gatherings, or whenever you want to wow your family with a treat that tastes like fall wrapped in every bite.
When the apple harvest starts, my taste buds turn to bake anything with this delicious fruit. Apple pies, crisps, muffins, filling, cakes, breads, or even stuffed into pork chops. I just can’t get enough!
This Cinnamon Star Bread is soft and tender and tastes like a cinnamon roll loaded with fresh apple. This star-shaped bread is perfect for a holiday morning but easy enough to make when you’re craving a delicious pastry.
We originally made this bread when I was participating in a monthly bread challenge. The challenge was to create bread using fall fruits or vegetables. Sweet or savory bread was all game. Our Spiced Apple Star Bread just screams fall!
Quite some time ago we saw Cinnamon Star Bread on the King Arthur website. It was one of those recipes that I just couldn’t get out of my mind. I wanted to make it but it really looked labor-intensive.
One of the reasons we joined the Bread Bakers group was to learn and challenge myself when it comes to baking bread. This event was the perfect time to give it a try.
Star Bread Fillings
To put a spin on the Cinnamon Star Bread, we stuffed our bread with apples. Here are some more ideas.
- Add raisins to the apples
- Substitute the apples with pears
- Substitute the fruit with chocolate chips
How to make Spiced Apple Star Bread
- We used an electric stand mixer for this recipe. Add the dough ingredients to the bowl, and with the mixer running, slowly add the water until the dough is soft and smooth, not wet and sticky.
- Cover the dough and let it rise for one hour.
- Using a bench scraper, cut the risen dough into 4 pieces. I rolled them into balls and covered them for 15 minutes while I prepared the filling.
- Roll each ball into a 10-inch circle.
- I turn a baking sheet upside down and cover it with parchment paper. Put the first dough circle on the parchment paper.
- Brush the dough with melted butter and sprinkle it with brown sugar and 1/3 of the diced apples.
- Place the second dough circle on top of the first one and stretch it to match up the edges of the first circle.
- Repeat the filling and third dough circle. Place the 4th circle over the previous 3 but don’t top it with filling.
- Place a 2-1/2 to 3-inch biscuit cutter in the center of the top dough circle.
- Don’t cut through the dough. Just place it there.
- You can also use a glass. You just need a circle you can work around.
- Using the bench scraper or sharp knife, make 4 cuts through all 4 layers evenly spaced through all four layers. Repeat until you have 16 cuts to the center.
- Each 2 strips make one star tip. Pick up two strips and twist them twice away from each other. Continue until all 16 strips have been twisted.
- Pinch the pairs of strips together to create a point.
- Remove the cutter. Cover with a clean towel and let star rise 45 minutes. While star rises, preheat the oven
- Remove towel and brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with Turbinado or demerara sugar.
- Bake
That many steps? Not really, I just really broke them down so it would be easy for you to shape your bread.
Tips for the perfect Star Bread
- Dice the apples in small pieces to make twisting the bread easier without losing the filling.
- We recommend using fresh apples. Canned or jar apple slices will have too much moisture making the bread soggy and/or lose its shape.
- Don’t overfill the dough. You will just lose the extra filling when you twist it or it will be difficult to shape.
- Don’t overproof the second rise. By doing so, you will lose the shape.
- We added turbinado (sugar in the raw) to the top of our bread because we love the crunch you get when you bite into it. You could skip the sugar and just apply a dusting of powdered sugar or a simple glaze.
I’m hoping all of these details will encourage you to try it and I hope you’ll let me know if you have any questions.
If you enjoy interesting bread recipes as much as we do, you may enjoy our Blueberry Twisted Bread Rolls, our Kifli Walnut Rolls, or this delicious Brioche Cinnamon Roll recipe.
We LOVE baking bread! You can find all of our bread recipes here!
The bread gods were definitely with me. There isn’t anything difficult about making this bread and I’ll be making it several times throughout the year.
It’s not any more difficult than making cinnamon rolls, and makes an amazing gift!
I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe as much as we do. Drop me a comment below, and don’t forget to give it a star rating. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Your comments and ratings help others decide if this recipe is for them too.
Spiced Apple Star Bread Recipe
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups Unbleached all-Purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 1 cup of warm water may not use all
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tbsp white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ cup dry milk
- ¼ cup potato flour or instant mashed potato flakes
Filling
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1 apple cored, peeled, and finely diced
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- Turbinado or demerara sugar
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer combine all dough ingredients EXCEPT water. Mix on low until blended. Drizzle in warm water with mixer running until dough is soft and smooth. Put the dough in a greased bowl and turn once to coat both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and allow bread to rise for 1 hour or until dough doubles in size.
- Once the bread has risen, divide into four even-sized pieces and roll into balls. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
- In a small bowl combine brown sugar and spices. Mix to combine. Melt butter in a separate container.
- Dust a working surface lightly with flour. Roll out each piece of dough into a 10-inch circle.
- Place the first circle on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with brown sugar mixture and top with diced apples.
- Place the next circle over the first filled circle. Stretch to match up edges. Repeat brushing with butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and then apples. Repeat with the 3rd circle and top with the fourth but don’t fill or brush the top of the fourth circle.
- Place a 2-1/2″ to 3″ biscuit or cookie in the center of the circle. Don’t cut through the dough center just set it there. Using a sharp knife or dough scraper make 4 cuts through all 4 layers evenly spaced through all four layers. Repeat until you have 16 cuts to the center.
- Pick up two strips and twist them twice away from each other. Continue until all 16 strips have been twisted.
- Pinch the pairs of strips together to create a point.
- Remove the cutter. Cover with a clean towel and let the star rise for 45 minutes. While the star rises, preheat the oven to 400 °F.
- Remove towel and brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with Turbinado or demerara sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
- Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before serving.
- Store covered at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.
Did you enjoy this recipe? Don’t forget to pin it for later and follow me on Pinterest for more delicious recipes like this one!
This recipe was made on behalf of a challenge group that’s no longer active but I learned so much and am grateful to have participated. Pavani at Cook’s Hideout was our host for this post. Check out what the Bread Bakers have come up with Fall Fruits & Vegetables.
- Apple & Olive Oil Boulé from Food Above Gold
- Apple Cider Muffins from A Baker’s House
- Baked Cauliflower Breadsticks from Sneha’s Recipe
- Broccoli Burger Buns from Herbivore Cucina
- Brown Sugar Pumpkin Apple Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Chilli and Cheddar Potato Rolls from Mayuri’s Jikoni
- Easy Apple Banana Bread from Food Lust People Love
- Kartofel Khleb – Russian Potato Bread from Ruchik Randhap
- Potato Bread Rolls from Gayathri’s Cook Spot
- Pumpkin Challah from Passion Kneaded
- Sauerkraut-Nut Bread from Palatable Pastime
- Savoury Potato Rose Rolls from Sara’s Tasty Buds
- Spiced Apple Star Bread from Hostess At Heart
This dough works well in a bread machine, dough cycle. I have made without apples from KARTHUR site. It is NOT recommended to preassemble and refrigerate as filling will seep out, this would be worse with apples as contact with sugar will draw moisture out of apples. I also used my pie crust bags, plastic circles that are zippered and enclose the dough, nice even round uniform circles.. this is bread not pastry, you won’t overwork it. Check out the blog on King Arthur, separate from the recipe for detailed shaping.. yes, time consuming but a beautiful and delicious bread, not overly sweet..
Thank you for sharing, Chris!
Wondering how much of this can be made ahead of time. I am debating on whether I should make it all the way to baking and then putting it in the fridge so that on Christmas morning, I just have to pull it out and bake it OR should I just bake it all the way and then just reheat it in the morning….have you or anyone else on here made it ahead? What were the results?
I’ve had that question before Kristn and sorry I didn’t see it yesterday. Personally, I freeze baked goods all the time and know you can buy frozen cinnamon rolls dough and then bake them later. I think I’d bake it up and then wrap it in plastic and then foil. It should come out like it was freshly baked. I’ll give this a try sometime and update the post.
To prevent the filling from making a pool of caramelized sugar on the bottom, I divided the dough into 5 and rolled it out in stages, to let the layers relax in turn, achieving 10″ disks for each. I buttered the bottom layer, then placed the first filled layer on top and when finished stacking and pinching the top 4 layers, cut and twisted them as Julie instructs in her recipe, leaving the bottom layer whole. Then I gently tucked in the bottom layer to keep the star shape and sure enough, when the whole beautiful thing was baked, the bottom whole layer caught the run-off from the top four layers. Instead of a sticky mess on the bottom, you get more of what you put in it with the same amount of dough, albeit thin as struedel without the hassle of making a giant paper-thin pastry dough, you do it in stages of manageable size 10″. Thank you so much, Julie! Next, a savory version with herbs and nuts.
Wow Alicia you definitely did an amazing job and I’d definitely think the savory version with herbs and nuts would be delicious. Maybe even a sprinkling of grated cheese in your filling. If you do it let me know how it goes.
The recipe could use some clarification. It needs to state that the dough should be divided into 4 parts, each of which will be rolled into a ball. Also, should the amounts for the filling ingredients be tripled? I can’t imagine one apple being enough for three layers.
Hi Lois! Thank you for stopping by. I added the word four further up in the recipe instructions for clarification. Thank you for pointing that out. Also, I did only use one apple diced in small pieces. This is a soft dough and I didn’t want to add a lot of moisture from additional fruit. I would say the filling is more about the cinnamon than the apple but the combination works. I hope you’ll let me know if you make this bread. We love it.
Bread tastes wonderful! I absolutely love your picture! I would like to perfect mine so that it comes out as beautiful as yours! I feel like I followed the recipe, but it isn’t as beautiful. I tried to post a picture of my bread, but I am not having any luck. 🙁
It seems that your braiding is more pronounced than mine.
Congratulations, Tiffany! There are so many people that won’t attempt this bread! I’m sure your bread was impressive regardless of what you think. Send your picture to hostessatheart@gmail.com and maybe I can offer some tips? Thank you so much for sharing your experience. You’ll be a pro in no time!
I’m very new to this and need some help. What is the dough consistency supposed to be when mixing it with a kitchen aid mixer and a dough hook? The machine manual says 4 minutes is enough to completely mix it, but my dough was very flimsy and took TWO hours to prove in my oven on the “bread proof” settings (100 degrees)….
I misunderstood and ended up with half as many strips of the star as needed so mine looked kind of like a diamond… what’s the secret to making the twists look pretty? Is there a secret to making the dough less wet so it twists better?
Would it be worth my time to try this on a pizza stone rather than a baking sheet?
Do I cook for 12 minutes, do the egg wash, and then cook for 12 more minutes?
Is an egg wash the whites or the yolks?
With breads, do you cook on the bottom most part of the oven?
Hi Micah! Thank you for stopping by. If the dough is too soft you may have added a little too much water. If that happens, add just enough flour to make it workable. Just drizzle a little bit at a time. What I did with the twists was you gently turn each on the same amount of times and then pinched them together to a point. I’m sure your diamond looked beautiful too. I put on the egg wash before it goes into the oven. The whole thing only takes 12 to 15 minutes to bake. Please let me know if you have any more questions. Baking as you know is an experience and sometimes experimenting is just as fun. Enjoy your day and thank you for stopping by.
Thank you so much!!!!! I’m going to try making it again!! My guess is that if I can get it down, I can make it with all kinds of flavors with jams and stuff and spice it up! I’m hoping to make this bread my family’s Christmas morning tradition!!!!!
I agree, Micah! I was just wondering why I hadn’t done more with this technique myself!
Hi!! I wanted to thank you for the tips! Have continued to learn about bread making with your tips and some additional sources and am overcoming my fear of it! Made it again this Christmas and it turned out much better!! I think I’mfinally understanding yeast!
Thank you for letting me know Micah! I just love that you stopped by and let me know and left me 5 stars. That’s awesome. If you ever have any tips that would help others jumping into the bread world or want me to make something and write it up just let me know.
Also Micah, I use the whole egg for the egg wash. It helps to add a small splash of water to think it just slightly. It brushes on so much easier, and I bake it in the center of my oven. Turn it half way through if your oven tends to bake unevenly.
Julie, this is just beautiful. I’ll definitely be trying these out over Easter 🙂
Thank you, Marie! I had so much fun making it and was so happy with the way it turned out. Let me know how yours turn out!
WOW What an awesome and lovely bake. bread. LOVE LOVE LOVE it.
Thank you so much! I just love baking bread and was so happy with how this one came out. It was a lot of fun to make too.
I iwll have to bookmart his one to try at some point.
We have a monthly Share and Inspire Others! Recipe Exchange on our blog. and I am wondering if you would be interest to participate. I am leaving the link here for you to check it out: https://cookandenjoyrecipes.wordpress.com/2017/01/01/january-2017-share-and-inspire-others/
We do a different theme every month. Please join our blog and email me your entry. I would love to have you on board as well. Thanks in adv ance
Looks gorgeous! Will definitely try it!
Thank you Mira! It was a lot of fun to make.
Gosh this looks like pure comfort.
Thank you, Joelyn! It was so good.
This is absolutely gorgeous!!
Thank you Megan!
Would it be possible to make the night before and bake it off in the morning? I assume when the baking time is so short that there is no room to par-bake it? Just really checking to see how forgiving it is?
Thanks!
I’ve never done it with this recipe Lauren but you can with a lot of breads. I would put it in the fridge after the first rise. And then the next day put it in your pan and let it do the second rise and then bake it. I do this with my brioche. You can try it with this one. https://hostessatheart.com/brioche-bun-recipe/
This is just gorgeous! But I am still intimidated! Ever think of posting a video of creating the star?
Hi Megan! I’m in the stages of creating a tutorial on baking bread for people that are just not sure that they can do it. It will be released free to everyone on my mailing list. I’m hoping to make it a progressive course and this star would be a great one to feature on video. I’m still working on creating video and will keep you posted in when I get there. Thank you for stopping by and I love getting ideas of what people would like to see.
Wow! This is a beauty! Thanks for the step by step photo inspiration!
Thank you, Kevin! I was a bit intimidated before starting this project so wanted to make sure others could see that it really isn’t hard to do. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
I don’t know if I have ever seen anything quite so beautiful!
Wow Michaela, Thank you!
This bread sounds so delicious and looks so impressive! I enjoy making bread, so I’m going to have to give this one a try!
Thank you, Lisa! It was fun to make and delicious to eat. I hope you’ll let me know what you think or if you have any questions.
What a terrific post! Your bread looks beautiful, and your directions are excellent. Congratulations on a job well done!
Thank you so much, Adri! I’m happy that you found the instructions easy to follow. I put off making this one way to long because I thought it would be hard. It wasn’t at all and I’ll be making it again.
What a show stopper! All those flavors and how beautiful this bread looks. Almost too pretty to dig into, but after the first piece I’m sure this will be devoured 🙂
Thank you Sandra! It was so much fun to make and definitely delicious to eat!
This is unbelievably beautiful!
Thank you, Justine! I had fun making it and was very happy that it was a success!
What a perfect fall and holiday treat; these apple goodies are absolutely beautiful and no doubt just as tasty and flavorful as your gorgeous photographs depict. Stellar job with this recipe!
your photography is stunning and so is the Star Bread! Oh my goodness – I’m going to need to make this!
Thank you so much Heather! I hope you will make it and let me know how it turns out.
Julie, this is STUNNING!!! I am so impressed with this delicious recipe!!
Thank you Angela! To be honest it came out even better than I thought it would.
ALMOST. Almost to pretty to eat. ALMOST!
Thank you Debbie!
This would be so impressive to serve at a brunch – maybe Christmas day brunch! Oh, I love it. Thanks!
Thank you Debi. I was thinking of the same thing and changing up the filling.
That bread is absolutely stunning!! I am in awe!
Thank you Michelle! It was a fun one to make.