Christmas Freekeh Bread with Chestnut Butter

These crusty Christmas constellations are a feast of flavour and fun- filled with our favourite festive ingredients and a centre of gooey brie.

By Alex Mackay

Serves 4
90 minutes
1 pan
Proficient

Suitable for vegetarians

Ingredients

125 Merchant Gourmet Simply Cooked Freekeh
90g Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts
350g strong bread flour plus extra for dusting
150g spelt or whole wheat flour
125g dried cranberries, chopped
12g fast action dried yeast
2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 heaped tbsp chopped rosemary
1 heaped tbsp grated orange zest
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus a little extra for baking sheet
310ml warm water
120g brie or camembert
90g Merchant Gourmet Chestnut Puree
65g unsalted butter
2g salt flakes
Freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Put the flours into a large mixing bowl with the cranberries, Merchant Gourmet Simply Cooked Freekeh, Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts, yeast, salt, sugar, cinnamon, rosemary and orange zest. Mix together then make a well in the centre
Pour the olive oil and water into the well. Mix until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl but is still slightly tacky. Put the dough on your worktop, resist adding any more flour. Knead vigorously for 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and bouncy
Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and brush with oil. Divide the dough into 32 even sized pieces. Shape 28 of the pieces into balls
Stretch the final 4 pieces out. Put a 30g chunk of brie in the centre of each and cover the brie completely with the dough. Put this brie filled ball, smooth side up, into the middle of the baking sheet. Push an unfilled ball to its left side so they are just touching. Continue all the way around with 6 more unfilled balls until you have a star shape. Once you do, pull out the ends of each ball a little to give each one a sharp point (see image). Continue until you have four stars
Put the stars to prove in a warm place until they double in size, this generally takes about an hour. While the bread stars prove, preheat your oven to 200c/Rack position middle shelf. Dust the stars with flour. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-16 minutes until the bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer the bread to a rack to cool
For the chestnut butter, blend the Merchant Gourmet chestnut puree and unsalted butter together until very smooth. Stir in the salt and pepper. Serve