Emile Henry is a much loved French brand of cookware. I have one of their casserole dishes in my pot drawer which I’ve been using for years so I was really looking forward to trying out the bread cloche maker. When I opened the box to reveal the bread cloche I was excited to find a razor blade was included, designed to score bread loaves. I’ve always wanted one of those.
I’ve made bread in a Dutch oven before so I figured the bread cloche would work in a similar way. The cloche has a domed lid which is designed to create and retain the correct humidity, resulting in a crusty loaf every time. The cloche is made from a ceramic material which heats evenly and is heat resistant to 270°C. I was interested to learn you could also use it to roast meats and vegetables so next time I make a roast, I’ll give it a go. Best of all the cloche can be used from oven to the table and is dishwasher safe for convenient cleaning.
I have a gas oven and when it was first installed I found baking bread a huge challenge. It took me a year of failed attempts before I worked out the best method which involved preheating a tray or Dutch oven for 20 minutes in the oven on the lowest shelf before baking the bread. To test out the baking cloche, I made a batch of sweet bread rolls and used the baking directions that came with the cloche. They suggested proving and baking the rolls directly in the cloche. I did as suggested and placed the cold cloche in the pre-heated oven and instead of being cooked in 20 minutes the rolls took 45 minutes and didn’t brown until I removed the lid from the cloche.
When I made the fruit mince star, I deviated from the instructions that came with the bread cloche and went rogue. I preheated the bread cloche in the oven for 20 minutes at 200°C and placed the fruit mince star on the hot base. Unfortunately, as it proved, the star became too big for me to fit the dome on top, so I baked it using the base like a pizza stone. 20 minutes later the fruit mince star bread came out of the oven looking pretty well perfect.
I saw my first-star bread last year and I’ve been hankering to make one ever since. It looks way more complicated to make than it is. Just follow the instructions and you’ll be fine, I promise. Here’s the recipe for you, which can be baked in the cloche or on a large baking tray. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.
Fruit Mince Star
Dough
- 90g unsalted butter
- 150 ml milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 400g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- ½ tsp salt
- 50g caster sugar
- 10g dried yeast
- 1 egg
Filling
- 80 g softened unsalted butter
- 50 g brown sugar
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 tsp golden or maple syrup
- 4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 50 g almond meal
- 1 tbs roughly chopped nuts (macadamias, almonds or walnuts)
Fruit Mince
- One 310g bottle of fruit mince
- 1 green apple, peeled and grated
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon rind
- 1 tablespoon thick cut orange marmalade
- 30 gm (1 oz) melted butter
Topping
- 1 tbs melted butter
- 1 tbs roughly chopped nuts
- 1 tbs raw sugar
Method
To make the dough, melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat, add milk and vanilla and heat until lukewarm. Mix flour, salt, sugar and yeast in an
electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Make a well in the centre, then, with the motor running, pour the beaten egg into the well and gradually add the milk mixture and knead until smooth and shiny (2-3 minutes). The mixture will be quite soft at this stage. If it's not then you might need to add a little more milk.
Grease a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the greased bowl, turn to coat, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (1 hour) or you can leave the dough to prove in the fridge overnight. The following day, bring the dough back to room temperature while you prepare the filling.
In a small bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, the syrup and the ground cinnamon. Mix in the almond meal to form a paste, ensuring there are no lumps in the mixture. Set to one side. Put the fruit mince into a mixing bowl. Add the apple, the grated rind, the marmalade then the melted butter and mix until well combined. You’ll need ¾ - 1 cup of the fruit mince for the filling
To shape the star, divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll the pieces into balls, and let rest for 20 minutes, covering with plastic wrap.
With a
rolling pin, roll out all the dough balls into 9-inch circles. If you’re baking this on a tray, roll out the dough to a 10-inch circle. Place one of the circles on a piece of parchment paper that will fit the base of the baker or tray. Spread a third of the brown sugar filling over the circle of dough leaving a 1cm edge. Spread about ¼ cup of fruit mince over the sugar. Brush the edge of the dough with water then place another circle on top. Repeat the filling process sprinkling a tablespoon of nuts over the second layer. Repeat the layering process a third time before placing the final circle on top. Pinch the edges of dough together.
Place a 2.5cm scone cutter (or the other round object) in the centre of the circle, and then use a knife or
pizza cutter to cut the circle into 16 equal strips starting at the centre of the circle and out to the edge, cutting through all the layers.
Take two pieces of dough, and twist them away from each other twice then pinch the ends of the pairs of strips firmly together to create the star. You’ll need to flour your fingertips for this process to create a good seal. Repeat around the whole circle until you have 8 points. Remove the scone cutter. Brush the star with the melted butter and sprinkle the centre of the star with the chopped nuts and sugar. Cover the star gently with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes or until it has risen a little.
Place the base of the bread cloche or tray onto the lowest rack of your oven, and preheat the oven to 200°C making sure you allow plenty of time for it to completely heat before the star has finished rising. Transfer the star on the parchment to the base of the cloche or onto a baking sheet. Lower the oven to 190°C and cake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the star cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes before dusting with icing. The star is best eaten the day it’s made or it can be frozen as soon as it’s cooled then brought back to room temperature before serving.
Have you always wanted to bake a pretty good loaf of bread where its lighter on the inside and crispier on the outside (just like the ones you get from a French bakery)? Try making one with Emile Henry's Cloche Baker
for the perfect French bakery result.
Aside from the Cloche Baker, Emile Henry has a collection of Bread Makers made from ceramic, all of which using their proprietary "Ceradon" state-of-the-art manufacturing process.
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