TSOUREKI - GREEK EASTER BREAD, POLITIKO TSOUREKI, SWEET AND FRAGRANT

Topped with cinnamon sugar and sliced almonds

All Greek Easter bread is sweet and fragrant, and there are lots of tsoureki recipes out there. I use two recipes, one of which makes a brioche-style tsoureki which requires a pretty decent amount of butter. 

The recipe in this post is a politiko tsoureki, meaning a tsoureki made in the style of Constantinople; it's more bread-like but very, very flavourful and it comes together with great results!!!

Once tsoureki is taken out of the oven and has cooled down it can be stored in plastic bags and frozen for up to two months. I always make mine ahead of time for the holiday. No reason to rush around at the last minute. So many other things to do right before Easter!

If you cannot find mahlepi and/or mastic, leave them out and for the mastic substitute with two teaspoons of vanilla extract. You will still get a very fragrant bread. To tell you the truth I am not a big fan of mastic, therefore I use it sparingly. Mahlepi is the seed found in the wild cherry fruit. It has an exceptionally aromatic flavour. I love it! However, if you can't mahlepi, think about using a little almond extract. Just a little, because almond extract is potent in flavour. Nothing is written in stone, and there's no reason to miss out on making tsoureki just because certain spices are not available. So ... get ready, get set, go! 

Good luck!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups milk, lukewarm

3 envelopes active dry yeast: 7grams (1/4 ounces) per envelope 
7 cups bread flour
1 cup bread flour for the starter
1 cup bread flour to use during kneading 
*Total bread flour needed is nine cups

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Grated rind of two oranges
Grated rind of two lemons

140 grams (5 ounces or 10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cool to the touch

5 eggs well-beaten

3 mastic tears (no more than three), finely ground

1 tablespoon finely ground mahlepi

For the egg wash:

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons milk  

Mix together the beaten egg and the 2 tablespoons of milk.

Toppings: sesame seeds or almonds (some folks use cinnamon sugar). 

This is the sugar mixed with the orange and lemon rinds, the mastic and the mahlepi: mixing with the sugar helps them better dissolve and be distributed throughout the dough and this brings fantastically tasty results to the tsoureki!

Directions for making the tsoureki:

• The best way to prepare mastic for baking is to pulverise it with a mortar and pestle. Place a tablespoon of sugar in a mortar and add the three tears of mastic. Use the pestle to smash up the mastic, mixing it with the sugar. Mastic flavour is strong. For this recipe, I wouldn't use more than three tears. Even if you like the mastic aroma,  too much of it will produce bitterness rather than give fragrance to your baked goods. 
• In a large bowl mix together seven cups of bread flour and 1 teaspoon of salt. Set it aside. 
• Prepare an extra cup of flour to have at the ready. Set it aside. You should now have eight cups of flour set aside. 
• Heat the milk to lukewarm. It mustn't be hot at all because it is to be mixed with the yeast, and if it's too hot it will kill the yeast.  
• Make the starter: 
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment stir together the milk and yeast until the yeast is dissolved.  
• Slowly add one cup of flour. This will be the ninth cup. 
• Add 1/2 cup of the sugar. 
• On low speed, fold until well incorporated, then turn off the mixer, remove the attachment, cover and let rest in a warm place for one hour. 
• When the hour is up you will have your starter! Fit the dough hook attachment to the mixer. 
• To the yeast mixture add the orange rind, lemon rind, mahlepi, and mastic. 
• Add the rest of the sugar, the eggs, and the butter.
• Stir on low speed and start adding the reserved flour about one cup at a time. 
• When all seven cups are incorporated beat for about 15 minutes until the mixture has turned into a nice dough which slides away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be a little sticky. Turn off the mixer.

  

  The dough right after being taken out of the mixer.

• Use flour from the cup which was set aside. You may need to use all of it or you may not: sprinkle flour on a clean surface and move the dough on top of it. 
• Begin to knead gently until the dough gets nice and silky. It should not require too much more kneading. The dough will absorb as much of the extra flour as it needs.
• Place the dough into a large bowl along with any excess flour left on the kneading surface. The excess flour will keep the dough from sticking to the bowl.
• Cover well and let rise in a place free of drafts until it is doubled in volume. It should take three hours at most.
• Punch down the dough, take it out of the bowl and using a knife divide it into pieces. With the amount of dough in this recipe, you can make two really large tsoureki or three smaller ones. The decision is up to the baker!
• Keep in mind that in order to form tsoureki you'll have to plait the dough as though you are plaiting a braid: three pieces of dough to one braid!
• Let's say you want to make three Easter breads. Cut up your dough into three equal size pieces.
• Take one of the pieces and cut it into three equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rod shape. When you have three rods, go ahead and braid them. Now, one of your Easter breads is ready! Repeat the process until you are done. You'll have three Easter breads! 
• Place each braid of tsoureki on a parchment-covered baking sheet. If you have a large baking sheet, you may be able to fit two braids on it.
• In a draft-free environment, let the braids rise until they have doubled in size. While they are rising, keep a light kitchen towel over them.
• Once doubled, brush the braids with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds or almonds. Do it gently, so that the dough doesn't deflate. The almonds used can be sliced, slivered, or you can use whole blanched almonds.
• Bake in a 350F/180C preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until golden. The baking time really depends on the amount of dough used per Easter bread.  
• Let cool before eating. Keep in mind that while the tsoureki is fresh out of the oven it's fragile and can break. Give it about half an hour to an hour of cooling time before you handle it.

I would call these the "money shots!" Not too sexy looking photographically speaking, but what is shown here are the fibres created in the dough. The presence of a good fibre means a good tsoureki. This is the type of airy and fibrous appearance a good Easter bread should have!

BANANA RAISIN OAT BREAD

This banana raisin oat bread tastes really good, but is it a cake or is it bread?  It tastes more like cake, but it's called bread. What's the deal here?  Well, actually, it's a quick bread. It is so named because it doesn't use yeast as a leavening agent.

Yeast requires hours and optimal temperatures to cause bread to rise. Baking powder, which contains baking soda (base pH) and cream of tartar (acid pH), acts quickly. The acid/base combination reacts when introduced to liquid, causing carbon dioxide to form. Consequently, the batter expands and increases in volume. When baked goods rise quickly, they are called quick breads. Cakes, muffins, and scones, are types of quick bread. 

Banana bread is a cake, and officially a quick bread, but it's referred to as banana bread because, I suppose, it's faster to say banana bread than banana quick bread. Fine. That solves the mystery for me. I thought I would share the information with you. I am not a know it all, but I like to do my research. I just hope I can remember all this a year from now.  But then I will always have this post to remind me. One thing I won't forget is how delicious this cake (quick bread) is. I've already had requests for the recipe. Here we go ladies, my post is finally ready. Get out those bundt pans!

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup of golden raisins
½ cup regular oats
½ cup unsalted butter, melted

½ cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
½ cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon cinnamon
powdered sugar and cinnamon for dusting on top

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325º F.  Grease a bundt pan and set it aside.

Into a bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder cinnamon and salt.  Stir well to combine. 
In the bowl of your mixer add the sugar and melted butter.  Beat until smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. 

Add the bananas and vanilla extract and mix.

With a wooden spoon gently fold in the raisins, oats, and walnuts.

Add the flour mixture in three batches folding gently after each addition. 

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

When ready, a knife inserted into the centre of the quick bread should come out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a rack to cool.  After about 20 minutes invert the pan onto a plate.  The banana bread should slide on the plate. 

Let cool another half hour.  Mix some powdered sugar with a little cinnamon and sift it on top of the banana bread to decorate.  Slice and enjoy a nice treat! 

  

TSOUREKI or GREEK EASTER BREAD

This tsoureki bread can be whipped up at Easter or at any time of the year. Give it a try. It's not difficult to make at all. You just need a free afternoon. The recipe makes a very fragrant and tasty tsoureki. I guarantee that you will be overjoyed with the way it tastes! Plus, there is no kneading by hand, as is the traditional way. Here, the stand mixer takes over this job. 
There are lots of recipes for tsoureki out there ...  This one makes a brioche tasting type of dough, but it's a really fragrant brioche we're talking about!
Other than Easter, when tsoureki is usually served with coffee at the end of the holiday meal, this bread can be eaten year-round as a snack or for breakfast. Try it toasted with some orange marmalade on top.

Ingredients:

3 packets of active dry yeast (in the US, one packet contains 7 grams of active dry yeast) 
1/2 cup lukewarm water 

2 tablespoons sugar for the yeast 

1 to 1 and 1/4 cups sugar for the dough

4 large eggs 
1 cup milk, lukewarm
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, reserved to be used at the end of kneading.

2 teaspoons ground mahlepi see note

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

rind from 1 large lemon

rind from 1 large orange 

1 mastic tear see note

7 to 8 cups bread flour, plus more flour if needed for a light dusting of your work area.

1 teaspoon salt 
parchment paper for the pans

1 egg yolk, beaten and mixed with 1 tablespoon milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar to make an egg wash for topping

Sliced almonds and/or sesame seeds to be used for topping

Directions:

• All the ingredients must be at room temperature.
• Grind up the mahlepi seeds to give you two teaspoons of ground up mahlepi.
• Grind the mastic tear. Some recipes call for more mastic but this recipe calls for lots of flavourings, therefore, one mastic tear will suffice. Well ... okay, you can use the largest mastic tear in the jar! 
• Mix the sugar with all the citrus zest, the mahlepi and the mastic.
• Reserve 2 tablespoons of flour out of the total amount of flour the recipe calls for.
• In a medium-sized bowl mix the yeast with the warm water. 
• Add the reserved 2 tablespoons of flour and the 2 tablespoons of sugar. 
• Stir, then let stand in a warm place until the mixture bubbles and foams and begins to rise, about 15 minutes. The mixture must rise, which is an indication that the yeast is still active. If the mixture doesn't rise, the dough will not rise. C
• In the bowl of an electric mixer and using the paddle attachment, beat the eggs. 
• Add the sugar with its flavourings; mixing them into the sugar distributes them evenly.
• Add the milk.
• Add the salt.
• Add 10 tablespoons of the melted butter. 
• Add the vanilla  
• Stir in the yeast mixture.
• Keep beating at low speed until incorporated. 
• From now on, you will need to use the dough hook with your electric mixer, so go ahead and change to it.  
• Add the flour, one cup at a time, beating well at low speed after each addition. Keep scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 
• Gradually a dough will begin to develop which will be sticky. 
• Keep beating on low, adding small portions of your flour just until the dough stops clinging to the sides of the bowl. 
• The dough should be soft and really pliable. 
• Remove the dough from the mixer and place it in a large bowl. Pour the last four tablespoons of butter over it and knead gently. Form the dough into a round shape.
• Cover the bowl (not the dough; cover the top of the bowl) with a piece of plastic wrap and one or two or three clean towels. Leave in a warm place free of drafts. 
• Let the dough rise until it has doubled in bulk, about 3 to 4 hours. 
• Yeast is the ingredient that makes tsoureki (or any type of bread) rise, and as yeast is a live thing it is sensitive. Outdoor conditions such as humidity, heat, or cold, influence the manner in which yeast behaves. Tsoureki is more temperamental than regular bread dough because tsoureki is an enriched bread, meaning it contains heavier ingredients such as eggs and butter. If it's cold outside, it might not rise as quickly. If it's too hot ... If it's humid.... well you get the picture. Just do your best and keep in mind that practice makes perfect.  A friend purchased an electric blanket which is reserved only for tsoureki duty. She covers her dough with this electric blanket so that it can rise at an optimal temperature. She reports that all her tsoureki troubles are now over and her dough rises beautifully.  
• This recipe, even though it requires patience during the rising, makes a very fragrant and tasty tsoureki. I guarantee that you will be overjoyed with the way this Easter bread tastes.
• Once the dough has risen prepare to roll it out. Don't punch it down. Gently separate the dough into 2 even sections. Take each section, cut it into 3 pieces, and roll each piece into a rope, each about 14 to 15 inches in length.
• Braid the ropes as though you are braiding long hair. Don't braid too tightly so that the tsoureki can bake evenly.
• You will get two Easter loaves, or you could separate the dough into smaller sections to get a third loaf. Baking time will vary according to the size of the loaves. 
• At this point preheat the oven to 350° F. 
• Place each braid on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.  
• Cover with a towel and let rise for about an hour until it has doubled in bulk.
• Using a pastry brush, gently apply the egg wash and sprinkle with the almonds (or use sesame seeds for some of the loaves).
• Bake approximately 30 minutes until the tsoureki is golden in colour. Keep an eye on the oven because baking time varies with each oven.
• The tsoureki will be ready when the blade of a knife inserted into the centre of a loaf comes out clean. 
• Let the Easter bread cool for about 20 minutes to half an hour before slicing. 

Tsoureki can be stored in the refrigerator.  It can be eaten cold, at room temperature, or even toasted. You can even freeze some to have on hand later on.

Note: Information about mahlepi is found here.  

         Information about mastic is found here.