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Pizza Star Bread

By Chula King · August 15, 2020 2 Comments

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Pizza Star Bread

Pizza Star Bread is a pizza lover’s dream come true. It’s a stunning recipe that is surprisingly easy to make and is sure to impress anyone who is lucky enough to have a piece. This pull apart Pizza Star Bread features layers of easy to make pizza dough with no-cook pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Don’t be fooled, however by the simple ingredients. This Pizza Star Bread is a true show-stopper.

Pizza Star Bread

Susan and I first learned to make star bread a number of years ago when we took a bread making class in Paris. We were both totally impressed with how easy it was to make and how beautiful the finished product was. 

Fast forward to today. Susan suggested trying our hand at making star bread with a pizza theme. I thought – what a great idea! We wanted to keep it simple like our favorite Pizza Margherita. Susan took care of the photography while I made the bread.

If you truly want to impress, you should definitely try your hand at making this Pizza Star Bread.

Making the Pizza Dough

While you could use ready-made pizza dough, I thought – why bother since it’s so simple to make your own. My easy pizza dough used bread flour, granulated sugar, instant yeast, filtered water, Kosher salt and olive oil.

Ingredients for Pizza Dough

The best part about this pizza dough is that the food processor does most of the work. I added all of the flour, sugar and yeast to the bowl of my food processor fitted with a metal blade. Then, I processed it for about 5 seconds. With machine running, I slowly added water through the feed tube. I processed the mixture until dough was just combined and no dry flour remained. This took about 10 seconds.

I let the dough stand for about 10 minutes. After 10 seconds, I added the olive oil and salt. I processed it for about 45 seconds, until it was satiny and cleared the sides of the bowl.

Processed pizza dough in food processor

Next, I removed dough from bowl of the food processor. I kneaded it briefly on lightly oiled piece of parchment paper until it was smooth. This took about 1 minute. Then, I shaped the dough into 3 tight balls. Each one was about 9 ounces each. I lightly oiled each ball and placed each piece in a Ziploc bag. Then, I refrigerated the dough for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.

Pizza dough in ziploc bags for refrigerator

Making the Pizza Sauce

Just as you could use ready-made pizza dough, you could also use ready-made pizza sauce. But again, why bother when it’s so simple to make your own. In addition, home-made pizza sauce is so much tastier than anything that you could purchase. 

The pizza sauce uses the following simple ingredients: canned tomatoes, fresh garlic, dried oregano, Kosher salt, black pepper and olive oil.

Ingredients for pizza sauce

First, I drained the canned tomatoes in a wire strainer. I took care to remove as many of the seeds as possible.

Then, I added the drained tomatoes and remaining sauce ingredients to the bowl of my food processor fitted with a metal blade and processed the mixture until it was smooth. This took about 30 seconds. Next, I transferred the sauce to a covered container and refrigerated it until it was ready to use. How easy is that?

Adding olive oil to pizza sauce ingredients in food processor

Ingredients for Pizza Star Bread

With the pizza dough and pizza sauce made, I only needed two additional ingredients for this amazing variation of a pizza: mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.

Ingredients for Pizza Star Bread

Putting the Pizza Star Bread Layers Together 

I started by rolling one of the pieces of pizza dough into roughly an 11-inch circle on a floured surface (Photo 1). Then, I transferred the dough to a silicone baking mat (Photo 2). 

Next, used a 10-inch cake pan to mark a 10-inch circle on the pizza dough. After t that, I spread about 1/4 cup of the pizza sauce on the dough, to about 1-inch from the marked circle (Photo 3). Finally, I sprinkled on some shredded mozzarella cheese and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (Photo 4).

First layer of Pizza Star Bread

I repeated this for the second layer of the Pizza Star bread and finished it with a final layer of the pizza dough.

Adding final layer of pizza dough to the star bread

With all of the layers finished, I next placed a 10-inch cake pan on top and trimmed the dough to 10-inches. 

Trimming the layers to 10-inches

Finishing the Pizza Star Bread

To form the star bread, I started by placing an inverted 3-inch bowl in the center of the top layer. Then, starting at the edges of the bowl, I made 16 equal cuts in the pizza bread. I used a sharp knife to make the cuts and made sure that I cut through all of the layers.

Making 16 cuts in the pizza bread

Once I had the 16 strips, removed the inverted bowl from the center.

I carefully picked up two of the adjacent strips and twisted them towards each other twice. Then, I pinched the edges together. I repeated this with the remaining strips.

Twisting the pieces together

I brushed the Pizza Star Bread with egg wash and sprinkled on some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Grating parmesan cheese on Pizza Star Bread before putting into oven

I popped the Pizza Star Bread into a preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes. When I opened the oven after 20 minutes, all I could say was WOW – the Pizza Star Bread was absolutely perfect!

I removed it from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I transferred the pizza bread to a pizza peel.

Transferring Pizza Star Bread to Pizza Peel

I served the Pizza Star Bread with some reserved pizza sauce. To say that the Pizza Star Bread was amazing was an understatement. The pull-apart pieces had the perfect amount of pizza sauce and cheeses and were amazingly delicious. Yum!

Pulling apart Star Pizza Bread

Chula’s Expert Tips

  • I prefer to shred my own mozzarella cheese. The reason is that the pre-shredded mozzarella cheese has a coating on it to prevent caking. This can interfere with both the taste and the texture.
  • Pizza dough, like most yeast-based doughs tends to be springy and somewhat difficult to roll at first. If your dough keeps springing back, let it rest for about 10 minutes and try again.
  • You want to leave about an inch from the edge of the dough circle free of both pizza sauce and cheese. The reason is that these can interfere with the pinching of the edges together later.
  • I like to use an inverted 10-inch cake pan to not only mark the circle, but also trim the pizza bread. However, you could also use a large plate, bowl, etc.
  • I use a sharp knife to cut the strips. Generally, I start by making four equal cuts. Then, I cut each of the four pieces into two equal pieces. Finally, I cut each of the eight pieces into two equal pieces for a total of 16 pieces.
  • Like regular pizza, the leftovers are amazing!

Other Delicious Pizza Recipes

If you’re a pizza lover like I am, you should check out these other amazing pizza recipes:

  • Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Margherita – Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Margherita is the ultimate in simplicity and taste. It’s crisp crust is topped with a simple home-made pizza sauce, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. One bite of this classic pizza and you’ll never opt for the store-bought pizza again! In fact, you can use the leftover dough trimmings to make a mini cast-iron skillet pizza.
  • Halloween Ghose Pizza – Halloween Ghost Pizza is an adaptation of the Cast-Iron Skillet Pizza Margherita that is sure to bring smiles to your little ones.
  • Thin Crust Pizza – Brought to you from America’s Test Kitchen, this pizza is simple to make and delicious to eat
  • CPK Rosemary Chicken and Potato Pizza – One of Susan’s favorite pizzas is the Rosemary Chicken and Potato Pizza from California Pizza Kitchen.  Unfortunately, this pizza has been discontinued in the restaurants.  Its recipe, however, is in The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook.

I hope you liked this recipe for Pizza Star Bread as much as I do. If so, please consider rating it and leaving a comment. Also, if you’d like to receive notifications of new posts by email, ever your email address in the Subscribe box.

Thank you so much for visiting Pudge Factor. I hope you’ll come back!

Pizza Star Bread

Pizza Star Bread

Pizza Star Bread is a pizza lover's dream come true. It's a stunning recipe that is surprisingly easy to make and is sure to impress anyone who is lucky enough to have a piece. This pull apart Pizza Star Bread features layers of easy to make pizza dough with no-cook pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese. Don't be fooled, however by the simple ingredients. This Pizza Star Bread is a true show-stopper.
5 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Bread
Cuisine: Italian
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Dough resting time: 1 day
Total Time: 1 day 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 343kcal
Author: Chula King

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

  • 3 1/4 cups (16.25 ounces) Bread flour
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1 1/4 cups plus (10 ounces) filtered ice water
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt

Pizza Sauce

  • 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, drained and liquid discarded
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
  • 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pizza Star Bread

  • 3 pieces pizza dough, 8 to 9 ounces each
  • 1/2 cup pizza sauce, divided
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (See Tip 1)
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) fresh Parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

Pizza Dough

  • In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process flour, sugar, and yeast until combined, about 5 seconds. With machine running, slowly add water through the feed tube; process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let dough stand 10 minutes. Add oil and salt to dough and process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball that clears sides of work bowl, 30 to 60 seconds.
  • Shape the dough into 3 balls approximately 9.6 ounces each. Lightly oil each ball and place in individual Ziploc sandwich bags. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.

Pizza Sauce

  • Drain the tomatoes in a wire strainer, removing as many of the seeds as possible. Add the tomatoes and remaining sauce ingredients to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer to medium bowl or container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Pizza Star Bread

  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • On a floured surface, roll out one of the pieces of pizza dough into roughly an 11-inch circle. (See Tip 2)
  • Transfer pizza dough to a silicone mat placed on inverted baking sheet. Press an inverted 10-inch cake pan on dough to mark 10-inch circle. Spread 1/4 cup of pizza sauce inside of circle to about an inch of the circle mark (See Tip 3)
  • Sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and top with about 3 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese. (See Tip 3)
  • Repeat process with second piece of pizza dough, remaining pizza sauce, remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and 3 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Finish with final piece of pizza dough.
  • Trim pizza bread to 10-inch circle. (See Tip 4)
  • Place 3-inch inverted bowl in center of pizza bread. Starting at edges of bowl, cut pizza bread into 16 even pieces. (See Tip 5)
  • Carefully pick up two adjacent strips; twist towards each other twice; pinch edges to seal. Repeat with remaining strips.
  • Brush with egg wash; sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
  • Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool 10 minutes. Transfer to cutting board or pizza peel. Serve with remaining pizza sauce.
  • Yield: 8 servings. (See Tip 6)

Chula's Expert Tips

  1. I prefer to shred my own mozzarella cheese. The reason is that the pre-shredded mozzarella cheese has a coating on it to prevent caking. This can interfere with both the taste and the texture.
  2. Pizza dough, like most yeast-based doughs tends to be springy and somewhat difficult to roll at first. If your dough keeps springing back, let it rest for about 10 minutes and try again.
  3. You want to leave about an inch from the edge of the dough circle free of both pizza sauce and cheese. The reason is that these can interfere with the pinching of the edges together later.
  4. I like to use an inverted 10-inch cake pan to not only mark the circle, but also trim the pizza bread. However, you could also use a large plate, bowl, etc.
  5. I use a sharp knife to cut the strips. Generally, I start by making four equal cuts. Then, I cut each of the four pieces into two equal pieces. Finally, I cut each of the eight pieces into two equal pieces for a total of 16 pieces.
  6. Like regular pizza, the leftovers are amazing!
 

Nutrition

Calories: 343kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 926mg | Potassium: 274mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 337mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment below and/or give this recipe a rating. On Instagram? Take a picture and tag @pudgefactor or #pudgefactor.

 

 

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Filed Under: Breads, Savory Pastry and Pies

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Comments

  1. The Book of Food says

    August 16, 2020 at 5:20 am

    That sure looks pretty cool !

  2. Chula King says

    August 16, 2020 at 8:00 am

    It tastes good too!

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I'm Chula King, the food blogger, award-winning photographer, and videographer behind Pudge Factor. Pudge Factor features amazing and well-tested recipes from my every day cooking. These recipes run the gamut from simple to sophisticated and everything in between. I not only present awesome recipes with tips and tricks that I've learned through the years, but also process photos from start to finish. For some of the recipes, I include videos detailing the actual making of the dish. Read More…

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