Fancy something special? How about tsoureki, the Greek Easter bread? Thanks to its special ingredients such as mastic and mahleb (stone cherries), this yeast pastry is something very special.
Fancy something special? How about tsoureki, the Greek Easter bread? Its special ingredients such as mastic and mahleb (stone cherries) make this yeast pastry something very special.
Ingredients for a delicious tsoureki plait:
- 1.5 g finely ground mastic
- 1 heaped teaspoon of the finest stone mastic powder
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 20 g cane sugar
- 100 ml whole milk
- 2 teaspoons dry yeast
- 4 eggs
- 75g soft butter
- 450 g flour (type 405)
- 1 pinch of salt
- flaked almonds for decoration (optional)
Duration:
- Total: approx. 2 to 3 hours
- Working time: approx. 20 minutes
- Servings: approx. 10 to 14
Preparation:
- Finely grind the mastic in a mortar and mix with the stone softener powder and powdered sugar.
- In a saucepan, mix the milk, 20 g cane sugar, 3 of the eggs and 2 teaspoons of dry yeast. Heat briefly to approx. 35°C (no warmer!).
- Pour the liquid mixture into a mixing bowl. Then add the flour, 75 g of the soft butter and the sugar-mastic mixture and knead everything into a soft dough.
- Cover the dough and leave to rise in a warm place for approx. 1.5 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (top/bottom heat).
- After the rising time, divide the dough into three parts, shape each part into a long roll and braid it into a plait.
- Place the plait on a baking tray lined with baking paper, brush with a beaten egg (the leftover egg) and decorate with almond flakes as desired.
- Bake in the preheated oven for approx. 30 to 40 minutes until the plait is golden brown.