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Zaa'tar Star Bread

A delicious and festive soft bread filled with a savory medley of herbs and spices including thyme, oregano, sesame, and sumac spread in extra virgin olive oil.
5 from 1 vote
Course Appetizer, bread, Breakfast, brunch, Side Dish
Cuisine egyptian, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern

Ingredients
  

  • 1 recipe of star bread from Sally's Baking Addiction or any preferred bread dough

Zaa'tar filling

  • 1/3 c extra virgin olive oil 45 grams
  • 1/2 c zaa'tar mix 45 grams
  • 1/2 tsp salt ,more to taste
  • 1 tsp ground sumac

Instructions
 

  • Prepare the bread dough according to Sally's recipe linked here.
  • On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a ball and divide it into 4 quarters.
  • Roll out each dough quarter into a thin and large 8" circle.
  • Lay the first circle of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread the zaa'tar mix onto the circle of dough, starting at the center and spreading all the way out to the edge, leaving only about 1 cm of dough without the filling. Then lay the next dough circle on top of it. Repeat spreading the zaa'tar onto each circle of dough. Do not spread zaa'tar onto the last layer of dough (you will likely run out by now anyway.
  • Press the 4 layers of dough gently so they are all together and lined up. Use a pizza cutter or knife to trim the edges of the dough circles to make it as symmetrical of a circle as possible. The scraps can be twisted together and baked on the pan and eaten too! :D
  • Use a small round shape such as a cup to press a 3.5" circle indentation into the center of the dough. This acts as a marker for where to cut the star lines up to. (See the video for this!)
  • Use a pizza cutter or knife to make 16 even wedge slices. Start by cutting 4 even quarters, and then cut each quarter in half to create eighths. Proceed to cut each eighth in half to create 16 wedges total. See the video for this step as well, it will make it very easy!
  • Now, be sure you watched the video for this part, as it is much easier to see it than it is to describe. Take every 2 wedges, twist them outwardly, away from one another 2-3 times and then join them at the ends and press to create a beautiful point of the star/snowflake. The zaa'tar filling will appear in lovely swirled lines. Repeat this for every 2 wedges until you have 8 points in the star or snowflake total.
Keyword bread, entertainment, festive, middle eastern, zaatar