Tsoureki EN

Tsoureki is a sweet brioche bread we Greeks bake for Easter.

It's not an easy bread to make but it is delicious!

I ended with the following recipe after a small research.

Mahleb is an aromatic we use a lot:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahleb

Mastic is a resin from Chios island:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastic_(plant_resin)

Ingredientes:

1 kg flour for brioche or strong flour

25g dry yeast

200g milk

150g butter

120g natural orange juice

zest of 1 orange

14g mahleb powder

300g granulated sugar

3g mastic 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 medium eggs (200g strictly)

1 pinch of salt

50g melted butter 

Brushing mixture

1 egg yolk with some water and 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Almond fillet or/and sugar perls

Heat  butter and milk in a saucepan. We are only interested in melting the butter. Add the sugar and stir to melt well. Get off the fire.

Break the mastic in the mortar with some of the sugar. Add it to the hot mixture together with the orange juice and zest, the mahleb, the vanilla extract and the salt. If the mixture has cooled a bit, add the eggs and beat with a whisk (if not, wait for a few minutes). We need to have a luckerworm mixture.

Put flour and yeast in the mixer  bowl and mix.

Add the liquid mixture to the flour and knead for 6-15'.

Leave the dough in a protected place to rise for 3 hours.

Butter your hands with the butter and deflate the dough by pulling it lightly and folding it for 3-5'.

Let it triple in volume. This may take plenty of time! I left it on the kitchen table the whole night!

With the help of butter, if necessary, knit three or four buns and put them in molds with parchment paper.

Let the buns rise until they triple. Again it can take a long time, depending on the temperature of the room. We can preheat our oven to 40°C. Once it reaches the temperature turn it off and put the buns inside.

It took me 5 hours again.

Brush the buns with the yolk mixture.

Sprinkle with almonds or/and sugar perls.

Let them inflate for another 10 minutes.

Bake to 160°C for 30-35'. At the bottom of the oven, place a small pan with hot water so that there is adequate moisture during baking. We should leave space between the forms. I bake 2 long and narrow forms together and then I bake a bigger round one.

Let them cool on a rack and then put them in bags or wrap them with cling film.