Tsoureki (Greek sweet bread)
Tsoureki or Greek sweet bread is a traditional recipe that we make here on Mount Athos at Easter. Try the following recipe for fluffy tsoureki with all the secrets for sure success.
To activate the yeast: We dissolve the yeast and some of the flour in a little warm milk. We let the mixture rise for about 2 hours in a warm place.
We put the rest of the milk with the sugar in a pan and heat it so that the sugar malts, but without boiling.
We beat the eggs, pour them into the pot and mix until the mixture is homogeneous.
We pour the contents of the pot into a large container that will be used for kneading.
We add the mastic, the kakoule, the mahlab, the juice, the orange zest and the yeast mixture to the vessel.
We add the flour little by little and knead, making sure to regularly dip our hands in the melted butter.
We knead until the dough comes away from our hands, but without being too tight.
We cover the dough with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for about 1,5 hours.
When our dough rises, we knead it again a little and for each bun we divide it into 3 equal parts which we put together to form a braid.
We transfer out buns to buttered pans and spread them with a little mixture of egg yolk and water.
We sprinkle the buns with some almond fillets and some sesame seeds and leave them to rise again, covered, in a warm place for about 1 hour.
We bake the buns at 180 degrees for about an hour until golden.
If we pierce the tsourekia with a knife and it comes out dry, then the buns are ready.
The yeast mixture should not come into contact with hot liquid ingredients because the tsourekia will not rise.
When the tsourekia have cooled, we wrap them with cling film to prevent them from drying out.
