The Olive and the Caper: Adventures in Greek Cooking
Easter Bread with Red Eggs/Tsoureki
Page 139
Cuisine: Greek | Course Type: Breads
View photos (3)Tags: challenge easter 2013
Recipe Reviews
Queezle_Sister from Salt Lake City, UT
An excellent, rich, and slightly exotic flavored bread -- this one is a winner.
The dough came together nicely, and all the times (rising, etc) seemed accurate. I was unable to find Mahlepi, although my DH has now pointed out that we have a Mediterranean store on the opposite side of town, so I might repeat if I find it. I added a bit more mastic than called for because that was what I ended up with after grinding a large nugget. The loaves rose more than I had expected, and you will see that they cooked together (photo 3), but easily separated out of the oven.
I braided one load, and my 14 yr old daughter the other, and I bet you cannot tell them apart. I didn't bother with the egg wash (substituted milk) or the almonds, its quite yummy just the way it is. Very nice sliced, lightly toasted, with a cup of coffee on an easter morning.
(edited 31st March 2013) (3) comment (1) useful
Zosia from Toronto, ON
Delicious festive sweet yeast bread that was light and airy in texture but rich in flavour.
The dough was quite easy to make - once the sponge was combined with the other ingredients, it took only 7 minutes of kneading in a stand mixer and 7 cups flour. Fermentation and proofing times were as per the recipe. The dough made 2 large braids decorated with red eggs dyed as per the instructions on page 141 (which looked fine before baking, albeit a little more fuchsia than red) and sliced almonds. They baked in 30 minutes in my oven (to an internal temp of 202-206F).
The bread was lovely and soft while it was still warm from the oven but I preferred it a few days later when the flavour of the mastic and mahlepi were more pronounced. Family couldn’t get enough of it (a good thing since the loaves were huge) but I shared most of the bread with colleagues at work who raved about the flavour and texture.
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