MYS RECIPE: Easter Edition

Tsourekia (sweet bread) with orange blossom water

Recipe by Mariana Papakonstantinou

Servings:

3 large or 4 medium buns

Preparation time:

50 minutes

Cooking time:

25-30 minutes

Waiting time:

2 hours & 30 minutes

We keep the buns covered at room temperature and consume them within a week.

Ingredients

1 ½ dry yeast (13.5-14 gr.) or 45 gr. fresh yeast

60 ml of lukewarm water

370 gr. sugar

3 eggs

300 gr. of lukewarm milk

1,200 gr. strong flour & extra for the table

2 tsp. salt

1 sachet fine Masticha or medium ground (5 gr),

1 sachet mahlep (8 gr)

150 gr. cow butter & extra 10 gr. butter for hands

1 tbsp. orange blossom water

Ingredients for coating

1 egg

2-3 tbsp. water

flaked almonds

Instructions

1. Activating the yeast
In a bowl, mix the yeast with the lukewarm water and 1 tbsp. sugar and let the yeast be fed (for about 10 minutes).

2. Sugar mix
Put the remaining sugar in the mixer bowl with a few tablespoons of milk and stir them for 1 minute with the wire.

3. Add eggs
Add the eggs and continue hitting for 2-3 minutes.

4. Flour preparation
Put the flour in a large bowl, make a puddle in the middle and add the egg mixture and salt, stir gently and set aside.

5. Flavoring ingredients
Break the masticha and mahlep until a fine mixture is made.

6.Warming the milk
Put the rest of the milk in a saucepan with the masticha, the mahlep and orange blossom water and heat in medium heat, until the milk is warm but not boiled.

7. Incorporating the yeast
Pass the milk mixture from a strainer in the bowl with the yeast, pressing well the remains left in the strainer. Stir, transfer to the bowl with the flour mixture and mix gently.

8. Add butter
Melt 150 gr. butter and transfer the whole mixture of flour to the mixer bowl.

9. Kneading
Add the melted butter. Place the bowl in the mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead on the lowest speed for about 20 minutes.

10. Proofing preparation
In the meantime, prepare the proofing: light the oven at 50-60 ° C in the resistors and place a glass or steel bowl with water at the base of the oven, in order to create humidity. This will help double the dough faster.

11. First rise
Lightly flour a work surface, transfer the dough there from the bowl (at this point it will be very soft and slightly sticky to the hands), work it a little in the flour so it doesn’t stick, and transfer it to a glass or stainless steel bowl.

12. Rest
We cover the bowl with a transparent film and put it in the oven with the proofing, for 1 hour until double in volume. We leave the oven a bit open. If proofing is not possible, leave it in a warm spot in the house for 2–3 hours or until the dough doubles in size.

13. Shaping
Melt 20 gr. butter and put it in a bowl. Put it on your hands, knead the dough for a while and shape it into a long- narrow lane. Cut the dough into 3-4 equal-sized pieces (depending on how many buns we will make).

14. Forming dough ropes
Divide each piece into four pieces and shape them into equal strips. We pinch the edges together and seal them well.

15.Braiding
We shape into a braid by putting the first strip above the third and fourth over the second. Braid the two strands together. We follow the same process until we have a large braid and close the four strips well in the end.

16. Second rise
Place the buns in the baking trays lined with parchment paper. Put it back in the oven again to double the size, at the same temperature as before, for another 1-1.5 hours.

17. Coating
Lightly beat the egg with the water for the glaze. Brush the buns very carefully without piercing them so they don’t deflate, and sprinkle them with flaked almonds

18. Baking
Bake in a preheated oven at 170°C:

25 minutes (medium-sized)

30 minutes (large)

19. Rest
Remove the buns from the oven and let them cool for at least 1 hour before serving.