I was very sad when Martin from Pain de Martin posted this summer that he would stop blogging. I liked Martins Ideas very much and his recipes often inspired me to my own recipes.

And so I was very happy when I saw some days ago that he started his new blog Lite mer bröd.  When I read the new entries I found directly one I wanted to try: long fermented saffron buns with an orange filling.

I decided to try a variation of this recipe for breakfast on Christmas. So I skipped the filling and reduced the sugar amount. For kneading I do it like I do all sweet dough: I knead the dough until medium gluten development without sugar and butter. Then I add the sugar gradually and at the end the butter. That yields a dough with a good developed gluten network because sugar and butter cannot interfere with it.

I shaped the dough into little stars and let them proof overnight at room temperature. That is something I really love: I don’t have to cram a tray with buns in my very full fridge but let it just stand on my counter. The key to let them rise so slowly that you don’t need to cool them is using nearly no yeast. 1g fresh yeast (that’s about 0.4 g instant dry yeast) is enough for this dough.

The next morning I just had to heat the oven, bake the stars and while their baking I prepared a sugar syrup. After I took them out of the oven I brushed them with the syrup and let them cool down while I prepared the breakfast table. The Saffron stars were a delicious and beautiful part of our Christmas breakfast.

I sent this recipe to the “X-mas Edition” of Bread Baking Day which is hosted at Cindystar and to Yeastspotting, Susans weekly Showcase of yeast baked good.

Saffron Stars

yields about 10 stars

Saffron mixture

• 1 Bag Saffron threads (0,125g)
• 10g sugar
• 10g hot Water

Dough

• Saffron mixture
• 125g Water
• 125g Milk
• 450g flour Type 550
• 3g Salt
• 1g fresh yeast
• 75g Butter
• 40g sugar

Glazing

• 50g sugar
• 35g Water
• 1/2 Vanilla bean

Grind the saffron with some sugar in a mortar, then add hot Water to the sugar-saffron mixture. Dissolve the yeast in milk. Add water, milk, saffron mixture flour and salt into a bowl and knead for 5 min at slow speed, then another 7 min at high speed . Because the sugar inhibits the gluten development, sugar is added just now. Add always a tablespoon at once and knead in between always for 1 min. At last add the butter all at once and knead until the butter is completely incooperated.

Ferment for two hours.

Now divide the dough into pieces of about 75g and shape them to balls. Now flatten the balls and make a cut in the middle of the dough. Rotate the card 1/3 and cut again, repeat it for a third time, leaving six points in the middle (see picture). Turn the dough inside out, so the points are now outside, forming a star.

Place the stars on a paper lined tray, cover it with plastic foil (I used a clean plastic bag) and let them proof over night (about 8 hours).

The next morning bake at 220°C for about 15-17 min with steam.

For the Glaze bring water, pulp of the vanilla bean and sugar to boil and boil until the sugar syrup form threads when it drops from the spoon. Brush the still hot stars thinly with the syrup.