Sunflower bread
A delicious pull out Sunflower bread that is shaped like a golden sunflower. Looks beautiful but tastes even better!
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The sunflower bread is definitely not one of my quick recipe, in fact it is quite a labour intensive process. But the final product is sooooo worth it. Not only you will be super pleased with the results yourself but it is sure to wow your family and the guests!
I have used an enriched dough here which basically means enriching the basic dough of flour, water, sugar and yeast with higher percentage of fat, sugar, dairy or starch. The result is melt in the mouth pillowy ‘petal’.
I wanted to pair this bread with pumpkin and pear soup so decided to stuff it with pumpkin seed pesto. However, you can stuff your bread with any of the following options or keep it plain and simple with sprinkling of sesame seeds.
- Spinach and paneer
- Coriander chutney
- Cheese and finely chopped jalapenos
- Finely chopped olives and jalapenos
- Finely chopped toasted pistachio and sugar
- Or get creative and make your own filling 🙂
Do try and let me know how it turned out for you.
Other stuffed bread recipes you can check:
Recipe Card
Sunflower bread
Recipe Rating
AUTHOR
Hema B Kathrani
CUISINE
International
PREP TIME
3 hrs
COOK TIME
18 – 25 mins
SERVINGS
serves 8 – 10 people
Author: Hema B Kathrani | Cuisine: International | Category: Breads
Prep Time: 3 hrs | Cook Time: 18 – 25 mins | Servings: serves 8 – 10 people
A delicious pull out Sunflower bread that is shaped like a golden sunflower. Looks beautiful but tastes even better!
Ingredients
- To activate the yeast:
- 100 ml milk
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- For the dough:
- 100 gm potato diced (approximately 1 medium sized potato)
- 150 ml (¾ cup) water
- 350 gm (2 ½ cups) plain flour
- 26 gm (¼ cup) milk powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 100 ml milk
- 1 cup pumpkin seed pesto
- For glazing:
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 ½ tbsp milk
- ½ tsp honey or sugar
- 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
Method
- Activating the yeast:
- In a bowl, mix 100 ml of warm milk, sugar and instant yeast. Stir well.
- Keep it aside till the mix becomes frothy.
- Make the bread dough:
- Cooking the potato:
- In a pan, combine water and the diced potato. Cook till potatoes are soft.
- Strain the potato, reserving the starchy liquid (I got 1 ½ tbsp of starchy water)
- Mash the potato well and keep it aside.
- In another big bowl, combine flour, milk powder and salt. Mix well.
- Once the yeast mix is frothy, add it to the flour mix along with mashed potato and the starchy water.
- Combine in to a sticky mess. Add 100 ml of milk little at a time to bring the dough together.
- Transfer the sticky dough to a clean counter surface and knead for 10 minutes until you have a soft and pliable dough.
- Place it in a greased bowl and cover it for an hour or until it doubles.
- Once the dough has risen, gently deflate the dough and transfer it to a clean counter surface.
- Cooking the potato:
- Shaping the bread:
- Divide the dough equally in 4 parts. Keeping one part, cover the remaining 3 under a clean napkin.
- Working with one part at time, roll out the dough in a circle of 10 inches in diameter.
- In a baking pan, put a baking paper and place the rolled-out circle in the middle.
- Spread the pumpkin seed pesto all over the rolled circle.
- Roll out the 2nd part of the dough in 10 inches in diameter and place it carefully on the first circle.
- Spread the pumpkin seed pesto all over the second layer too.
- Repeat the process with the 3rd part of the dough.
- Roll out the 4th part of the dough in a circle as well and place it gently above the 3rd circle without any pesto.
- Take a cookie cutter or a small bowl (of about 3 cm) and place it in the middle of your rolled-out circles, pressing it gently into the circles to create an indent.
- Using a sharp knife, make 4 parts taking care to leave the middle indent of 3 cm as is.
- Divide each quarter into 8 equal petals making total of 32 petals.
- Working gently, twist each petal 3-4 times and press it down.
- Baking the bread:
- Cover the sunflower bread with a clean cloth for second proofing for 30 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200 C.
- Keep another tray with 2 glasses of water at the bottom rack to create a steam in the oven
- Combine milk, turmeric and honey in a bowl to glaze the bread.
- With a help of a brush, paint the bread yellow all over the petals as well as the middle circle.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds in the middle round circle.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 18-25 minutes or until the top is golden.
- Remove the bread carefully from the oven as the steam of the oven can rise upwards.
- Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and pluck the golden petal to enjoy.
Notes
- The temperature of the milk should be warm, not hot. To test, simply put your finger in the bowl. If you are able to comfortably keep you finger in, it is good to go.
- If your yeast mix does not become frothy and bubbly in 10 minutes, it is best to discard and start again.
- Keep the second proofing for not more than 30 minutes as the bread will rise and the petals that you did so beautifully can open up.
- Creating a steam environment makes the crumb of the bread softer while giving a golden crust on the top.
- This bread can be stored at room temperature for a day and in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- I use US cup measurement which is 1 cup = 235 ml, however I would strongly recommend using the weighing scale to get the best results.
- If you got more 1 ½ tbsp of starchy liquid, you can adjust the liquid quantity with the reserved 50 ml of milk. However, do not use more than 3 tbsp total of starchy liquid.
- Each flour is different. If you find your dough too sticky, add 1 tbsp of flour to the mix.
- Lastly, do not be concerned about the use of potato. You won’t be able to taste it at all. It is added to the recipe to keep the crumb soft and moist, not for flavouring.
Did you make this recipe? Follow me on Instagram handle @acookwithin or @acookwithin on Facebook.
www.acookwithin.com
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Let me know how this recipe turned out for you by writing to me in the comments below. And if you take a picture, please tag me on my instagram handle @acookwithin 
to share your creation😊 It would make my day!
39 thoughts on “Sunflower bread”
Hey, I made this today and it turned out soft, beautiful and delicious! Thank you so much!
(And I think you mean 10 inches and not cm as mentioned in the recipe?)
Hi Anuradha, so wonderful to know that the bread turned out well for you 🙂 and thank you so much for pointing out about the cm. Just corrected! 🙂
This was great. I made it with my batch of frozen already-proved bread dough. I used my version of almond/sunflower seed pesto (my recipes are on my insta handle @chezjayy) and also Gouda cheese. It was wonderful and looked great. Thanks for the lovely detailed recipe!
Thank you so much Jaya. I am glad it worked out so well for you!
Thank you Hema for this amazing recipe. I made it with sweet twist and it tasted great. Also for guiding me through this journey of baking .
So happy to hear that Kavita! I am glad you enjoyed the bread 🙂
Hi, I tried it today. It’s comes out too tasty but my petals were breaking when I was twisting them so I twisted them. two times only. Can you please tell me what mistake I had done. Thank you for sharing this mouth watering recipe.
Hi Shruti, thank you for trying the bread and I am glad you enjoyed it too. About the petals,
1. did you use pesto or some other filling?
2. if you used pesto, was it too watery? Watery filling can make the twisting much messier and trickier
3. Was your dough soft and pliable during second proofing?
let me know these details so that I can help you further on.
What other ingredient to use instead of pumpkin pesto🙂🙂 ??
Hello Savita,
I have given many different options in lieu of pumpkin seed pesto. Do have a look at the write up of the post.
Very beautifully explained and the bake is awesome.I will try definitely.
Neelam, thank you so much for your kind words 🙂 Do let me know how it turned out for you. Till then, happy baking!
Hi. Got inspired from this and made one with rosemary garlic cheese stuffing. Used another recipe though but the inspiration was surely ur beautiful sunflower
Hello Hetal,
Good to know that my recipe inspired you to make the sunflower bread with the variations given. Do tag me on Instagram/Facebook with your picture. Would love to see your creation! 🙂
It looks so awesome.!!You said plain flour here..is it the all purpose flour or the wheat flour.?
Thank you so much! It is all purpose flour.
Can i do this in cooker. It is so tempting but i dont have oven
Thank you! I haven’t baked this bread in cooker, so can’t be sure about how it will turn out.
what is the yellow liquid being brushed .. do we have a step by step recipe in words?
Absolutely! Click on the word ‘Recipe Card’ to see step by step clear instructions.
One of the best pizza dough we ever tasted. It is soo easy and instructions are very clear my 13year old did the recipe by himself. Thank you Hema providing the easy and yet tasty recipe .
Thank you so much Mamatha 🙂 My blog is just a day old and you have given me so much motivation, you have no idea 🙂 will always remember this. Thank you so much!!!
Hey Hema just wanted to kno if we could avoid using potato in the dough as being a Jain I can’t use potato as some family members don’t eat potato..
Please lemme know what I can replace it with
Potato is adding starch to the dough in this recipe which enhances the softness. Maybe try another form of starch and see how the end product is. Though I can’t be absolutely certain since I haven’t tried it, starchy sticky rice might do the trick. Do let me know if you try it.
Thank u for ur suggestion.. will surely try and let u kno
Is there a way we can replace yeast? I want to try it out asap but don’t have yeast at home. It looks so tempting and mouthwatering. ??
Thank you so much Aparna. The texture of this bread is dependent on the yeast so unfortunately, I doubt you will get the similar results. I haven’t tried this bread with sourdough so can’t comment.
Wow!! This looks so beautiful ?. I want to try it. I checked even pesto recipe, and that is sooo perfect as my lil one is allergic to nuts. Wish me good luck. And I will let you know how it turned out.
I am so happy to hear that Sowjanya! Will wait to hear from you again! Happy baking 🙂
I made it today for dinner along with your pumpkin and pear soup. Both turned out awesome. Everyone in the family liked it. Thank you for the yummy recipe.
I am so happy to hear that Sowjanya. Thank you so much for writing back 🙂
I am going to try this it looks really yummy?
Thank you so much! Do let me know how it turned out for you. Happy baking! 🙂
Dear Hema,
First of all I wish to congratulate you on your new venture and also would like to inform you that your blog is awesome with lots of new recipes. I wish you all the very best for the wonderful job you are doing and wish you success in your new venture.
Best regards,
Jayant C. Kathrani
Thank you so much for your blessings Uncle 🙂
Can we replace the milk power with other ingredient. I want to try. It looks superb ?
Thank you so much 🙂 You can substitute milk powder by increasing the quantity of the milk. Use 1 tbsp of milk at a time ensuring that the dough does not become too lumpy. Do let me know how it turned out for you. Happy baking!
I am going to make this one for sure!!!
That would be wonderful. Let me know how it turned out for you.