Tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread)

Tsoureki - Greek Easter Braided Bread Paine Greceasca de Paste

Tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread)

Soft, braided Greek Easter bread with a pull-apart feathery crumb, perfumed with mahlab and vanilla. The defining ingredient is mahlab -- without it, it is a nice bread; with it, it is tsoureki.

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 30

Additional Time 2

Total Time 1 2

Choose Serving Size 3 loaves

Ingredients

For starter:

240 ml 8 fl oz warm milk
38 g 1.3 oz dry yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
30 g ¼ cup of flour

Dry ingredients:

720 g 5 ⅔ cup flour
240 g 1 ¼ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
½ Tbsp mahlepi / mahlab cherry pit powder

Liquid ingredients:

2 eggs lightly beaten
1 Tbsp vanilla
grated peel from an orange
60 g ¼ cup butter, soft at room temperature

For toppings and decorations:

1 large egg
2 tablespoons of milk
6 red eggs
3 tablespoons of almond flakes

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, add all the ingredients for the starter, mix gently, cover with plastic wrap and keep the bowl warm (kitchen with closed windows)
In another bowl, add and mix the dry ingredients.
In separate bowl, beat the eggs with the rest of the liquid ingredients except the butter.
After the yeast in the starter mixture has activated and started to bubble, add the the mixture of flour and eggs.
Put the mixer bowl in the food processor and let it knead for 8-10 minutes. You must obtain a soft, homogeneous, elastic and sticky dough. Add the soft butter and let the robot knead for another 4 minutes.
Transfer the obtained dough to another well oiled bowl, lightly sprinkle the dough with oil and cover with a plastic film. Leave the dough in a warm place to rise for two hours, until it doubles in size.
Grease lightly with oil so that you can work the obtained dough. Transfer it to a clean surface and divide the dough into 3 equal parts to get three loaves.
One third of the dough is divided again into 3 other equal parts. With the help of your palms, roll 3 equal strips, about 30 cm. Braid them and transfer the braided loaf to the baking tray lined with baking paper.
Repeat with the rest of the dough.
After you have obtained three braided loaves, cover them with foil and let them rise for another 25 minutes.
Heat the oven to 180 C (360F).
After the loaves have risen, remove the foil, brush each bun with a mixture of beaten egg and milk, carefully place two red eggs in each bun and sprinkle with almond flakes.
Put the loaves in the oven for 25 minutes, until they become brown.

Notes

Knead for at least 15-20 minutes by hand (10-12 in a stand mixer) until the dough passes the windowpane test. Add butter gradually, a small piece at a time. Allow two full rises. For a more complex flavour, do the first rise in the fridge overnight. Mahlab is essential and cannot be substituted effectively -- find it at Greek delis or online.