Tsoureki - Greek Easter Bread

Although the Easter eggs disappear or are marked down a day or two after Easter Day, the season of Easter actually begins, not ends, on the festive Sunday. Fifty days of celebrations, from Easter to Pentecost, balance and even trump the forty days of restraint that was Lent.

Greek and other eastern Christians observe a different calendar which often means the fasts and feasts begin and end at different times from those of the West. This year Greek Easter was a week later than that kept by Catholics, Protestants and, well, the rest. For that day I made the Greek version of the yeast-raised buttery cake or bread that seems to appear in one form or another around much of southern Europe at Easter.

Tsoureki has varied forms and ingredients even within Greece, but is most familiar as a braided loaf, often decorated with dyed eggs, and flavoured with some combination of citrus, mastic, mahlepi and aniseed according to local custom or preference. This recipe draws from a number of versions, but started with that in Tess Malos, The Complete Middle East Cookbook (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1979).

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground mahlepi (substitute allspice if necessary)
1/2 tsp ground mastic (substitute 1 tsp ground crushed aniseed)
2 tsps active dry yeast
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon zest
4 oz/1 stick butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 dyed eggs (paskalina avga), optional
additional beaten egg to glaze.

Method
Combine beaten eggs, milk, zest and sugar. In a large bowl sift flour, salt and spices, and add yeast. Add milk mixture and stir to combine, then add melted butter gradually, stirring.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. More flour may be necessary. Return to cleaned and lightly oiled or buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave to prove for an hour or until doubled.

Punch dough down, knead for another minute or two then divide into three. Roll each portion into a long rope, about 30cm/12 inches. Lay in parallel and join the ropes at one end, pressing ends together, then braid loosely (right over centre, left over centre etc...), leaving room to insert two eggs if desired. Prove until doubled again - another hour or more.

Preheat oven to 190C/375F. Glaze bread with a pastry brush and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown - it should provide a hollow sound when tapped.

The result is a soft and even-textured fragrant bread with a golden colour. If it lasts more than a day it makes, like the similar challah bread, delicious French toast.

Yes, mine is a little overdone!