How to make Greek Tsoureki

I love baking during the holidays. I especially love the way my house smells as my creations take form within the oven.

When I think of Easter, I think of church, red eggs, tsourekia, koulouria and lamb!

One of the most popular delicacies during the Easter holidays is, of course, the tsoureki. The perfect tsoureki is one that is soft and fluffy. The most important characteristic of a good tsoureki is that it stays soft and fluffy for more than a couple of days!

My mother in law gave me the perfect Greek tsoureki recipe. She also taught me some of her secret techniques that I followed step by step. After everything was said and done, I got the perfect tsoureki!

I’m more than happy to share these secrets with you as well.

Here’s what you need:Ingredients

•2 kg flour

•3 cups of sugar

•1 and 3/4 cups of butter

•1 tbsp mahlep (can be found in most international grocery stores)

•Zest from one orange

•2 cups of warm milk

•10 eggs

•6 tbsp of dry yeast

•1 tea spoon of salt

Process

First, put the dry yeast in a cup of warm water (not hot water, just a little warm). Add 1 tsp of sugar and flour so that the mixture becomes a paste like substance (see photo on the right).

Cover the mixture with a towel and set it aside for at least 30 min.

Next, you need to use a stand mixer. Beat the eggs and sugar until they become very fluffy (keep in mind that you need to beat the eggs very well in order to eliminate their smell). Add the mahlep, salt, orange zest and milk.

Stir a little more and then start adding flour. This is a fairly large quantity of dough and it can make 5-7 tsourekia. Next, you need to use your hands. Add the flour slowly. My experience has taught me that you never add all the flour at once. You don’t really need all the flour (I had a 2 kg bag and I left about 1 cup in the bag). Add the yeast mixture and mix very well (you might need to grab some flour while you are doing this, especially if the mixture is too sticky).

Finally, add the melted warm butter, slowly, and start mixing again and pull the mixture until the butter penetrates into the mixture and your mixture becomes soft and not sticky. Now cover everything with parliament paper. Let it rest until it rises (I left mine for about 3-4 hours).

Start shaping your tsourekia into braids or circles.

Put the braids on a napkin sheet with parliament paper underneath and cover them. Let them stand again until they become fluffy, or double in size. Brush them with egg yolk and milk and bake them at 350 degrees for about 25-30 min, or until they obtain a nice brown color.

Here are a few more hints:

All ingredients have to be at room temperature and the milk needs to be warm. So does the water for the yeast mixture.Very good mixing/stirring is required. Preferably with your hands. Add the butter in the end and pull the mixture so that you create that nice fluffy look as illustrated in the photo.

Make tsourekia. It’s not that hard! Carry on our beautiful Easter traditions and teach them to your children as well!

To see more of our recipes, visit us at PinelopiCreations.com