GREEK EASTER BREAD/ TSOUREKI PASCHALINO

Susan from "wild yeast blog" is hosting this month's "Baking bread day #8" with a beautiful theme of "celebration breads". I am sending her a fragrant Greek Easter Bread/Tsoureki Paschalino to celebrate Easter. Thanks for hosting Susan!:)
Bread baking day event is started by Zorra, who is also celebrating her birthday this month.
"I wish you a very happy birthday Zorra, celebrate and have fun!!"


Easter in Orthodox Greek tradition:
According to author Gary Van Haas ;
"The solemnity of Holy Week in the Greek Orthodox Church ends with the commencement of Easter celebrations, where it glorifies the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Greek religion, every Sunday is dedicated to the Resurrection of the Lord, but one hundred days also are dedicated to Easter, 50 before its actual preparation, and another 50 after it in commemorating the glorification of the Lord. Easter is therefore considered, the "Feast of Feasts". On Holy Saturday, the ceremonies of whole week come to a close as people begin to break their fasts, savoring specially prepared dishes like 'margeiritsa' soup, made of lambs innards. The rest of the day is spent preparing for next day's big lamb feast at the Easter Sunday celebrations".

Although we personally do not have Easter celebration at home, I thought I would bake Greek Easter bread for this event and gift the large bread to a friend who celebrates Easter. Easter for Greek Orthodox falls this year on April 27th and for others including USA, Easter is celebrated on March 23rd . Easter bread is traditionally baked with red Egg which represents new life, is one of the delicacies they bake on holy Thursday before Easter Sunday. This sweetish bread is also delicious for breakfast or with Feta cheese for lunch. Enjoy!:)

Greek Easter Bread:
Greek Easter bread also called Tsoureki Paschalino in Greek, meaning Easter Bread. It's another eggy bread beautifully shaped and very fragrant with Aniseeds to bake for Easter. I just had one problem with this recipe, my colored Easter Egg disappeared in the center after the bread is baked, so I stuck a few Dove milk chocolate Eggs on top, had to rescue my poor Easter bread from a sunken Easter egg!:D
It's better to add the colored egg on the top after you bake the bread instead of baking the bread with egg inside it! Of course you can always learn by my mistakes so you don't have to go Easter egg hunting in the deep center of the bread like I did!! Hahaha!!

Greek Easter Bread, Mardi Gras bread and Twister Bread:
These are all made with one dough but you can bake two huge Easter bread loaves with this recipe too instead of making three! And yes, DO NOT try to take photos by a huge window on a very sunny day! ;D


This recipe for Greek Easter bread is adapted by "Williams-Sonoma" Kitchen library book called "Breads". I made one traditional Easter bread and two other shapes just to keep it interesting, it's up to you decide what you want to do. You can also freeze the half of the dough for later too! Click on the collage below to make it bigger to see the step by step pics.

To bake this bread, you need:
Spice mix:
1 bay leaf, (remove this after boiling the spice water)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon,
1 tsp crushed aniseeds,
1 tsp grated lemon zest,
1 cup water.
Liquid:
1/2 cup milk,
1/2 cup unsalted butter.
To add:
3 large eggs beaten,
1/2 cup sugar,
1 tsp salt,
1 pack or 2 1/4 tsp of Quick Rise Yeast,
4 cups of unbleached bread flour,
2-2 1/2 cups or less wheat bread flour as needed. (or just use 6-7 cups plain bread flour)
To top:
2 hard boiled and dyed red eggs (for two loaves,1 egg for each loaf),
or few chocolate eggs to top if you don't want to use hardboiled eggs,
1 egg+ 1tsp water to glaze,
2 tbsp sesame seeds to sprinkle on top.
Some colorful sugar for Mardi Gras bread! :D

To bake the bread:
1. In a bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients (spices+water) and heat for 2 minutes in the microwave, and discard the Bay leaf. Let the mixture cool to 110-115 F or until lukewarm. (Yeast will die if it's too hot or will not rise if colder than 110F!)
2. Heat milk and butter together for a minute in the microwave until it's lukewarm or 110 degrees. (Same applies here too, keep the temp at 110-115F)
3. On an electric stand mixer bowl with flat beater or by hand, beat the eggs first and then add milk mixture and spice mixture, then add in the sugar, salt and yeast.
4. Gradually add in 5 cups or more of bread flour until it becomes a soft dough and change to dough hook. Keep adding flour if needed up to 2 more cups or less and knead the dough until it's not sticky and pulls away from the bowl for 6-7 mins.
5. Brush the dough ball with oil, cover the bowl and let it rise to double in a warm place for an hour. When it doubles, punch down, place it on the counter.
6. Cut 1/5 of the dough and keep it separately. Shape the rest of the dough into two 8" loaves and place them on to two baking sheets, cover. (just make one loaf if you are using the other half of the dough for other shapes)
7. Cut 1/5 of the dough into 8 parts for 2 loaves and roll each part into a long rope, twist pairs of ropes together to make four twisted pairs of ropes.
8. Place 1 red egg on each loaf in the center (or save to add later) and criss cross two ropes over each egg and tuck in the end of the ropes underneath the loaf. Cover both loaves and let it rise for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Egg wash:
9. Beat one egg with water for egg wash and brush the egg mix on the loaves and sprinkle both loaves with sesame seeds and bake them until golden brown for 35-45 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer the loaves to a wire rack to cool. Store in a airtight bag and keep it in the fridge to reheat, if you are not using the bread immediately. Best when freshly baked!

Note: Add the colored egg on top to serve or place a few Chocolate eggs on warm bread for a yummy gooey treat. My son ate a slice topped with Duncan Hines chocolate frosting! :D

To make Mardi Gras Bread and the Twister bread!
For colorful Mardi Gras bread: With half of the above dough, cut into half. Shape one to a round loaf, brush with egg, sprinkle colored sugar on top, place a chocolate egg in the center. Cover and let it rise to bake.

For Twister bread: With the other half of the dough ie 1/4 th of the whole dough, roll into about 16" rope, fold in half in the middle and twist the rope around itself and seal the end. Place a chocolate egg on top in the center groove and let it rise to bake later.

Freeze: You can make one Easter bread loaf with half the dough, freeze the other half of the dough for another day! That's it, hope you try and enjoy this Easter bread! :)

Another look:



Happy Easter and happy Holi cerebration to all of you, have a fun and peaceful holiday. Enjoy the Spring, I will see you all again in May!:))