Traditional Greek Easter Bread (Tsoureki) Recipe

This is perfect to bake for your Easter celebrations or over the holidays.

Traditional Greek Easter Bread (Tsoureki) Recipe

Preparation Time: 1 ¾ hrs
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Serves: makes 1 x large loaf

Ingredients

• 25g McKenzie’s Yeast powder
• 1.1kg plain flour (bread flour with a high protein content is preferred)
• 350g sugar
• 400ml milk (lukewarm) – 100ml + 300ml for 2 steps in the recipe
• 100g butter
• 150g dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• ½ tsp McKenzie’s Sea Salt Grinder
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 100g almond slivers or flaked almonds
• Egg wash: 1 egg whisked with 1 tbs water

Method

1.  Dissolve the yeast: in a small bowl or glass jug, combine the yeast with just 100ml of warm milk. Add just 50g of sugar and 100g of flour, whisk, and let stand for 10 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, melt the butter and keep aside.
3. In another bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, mixing until it’s smooth, and put aside.
4. In a large saucepan, gently warm through the remainder of the milk (300ml), sugar and oil until just warm. Remove from the heat and add the eggs, salt and vanilla. Transfer this to a large bowl and gently mix in the yeast mixture (from step 1).
5. To make the dough: Gradually add flour to this bowl mixing to form a soft dough, then slowly add the melted butter, kneading until it is incorporated well into the dough and no longer sticks to your hands.
6. Divide the dough into two equal parts. One half of the dough will remain vanilla flavoured and the other half will be chocolate. To half the dough, add the melted chocolate and knead for 3 minutes to incorporate it well.
7. Proof the dough: Cover each bowl with cling wrap, place in a warm spot and allow the dough to rise (first proof) for approximately 40 minutes.
8. Prepare the dough for plaiting: to get that lovely, plaited design in your Tsoureki bread, follow these steps:
   • Divide the vanilla dough into 3 equal portions
   • Divide the chocolate dough into 3 equal portions
   • Then divide each of those portions into another 3 equal smaller portions rolling them out into 40cm lengths. At this stage, you will have 9 vanilla lengths and 9 chocolate lengths of dough.
   • Now combine 3 chocolate lengths (pinched together) with 3 vanilla lengths (pinched together) and twist the two doughs to form a marbled length. You will end up with 3 marbled lengths of dough. Now plait the 3 lengths together to complete. 
9. Place this braid onto your baking sheet and into a warm place to proof again for 30 minutes and in the meantime, pre-heat oven to 160°C (fan-forced).
10. After this second proofing, brush the top of the bread with egg wash mixture, sprinkle with almonds, and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. To avoid the Tsoureki browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil halfway through the cooking time, close the oven and continue to bake.

Tip: to make the chocolate flavoured dough, use a chocolate spread (eg: 150g Nutella) in place of dark chocolate and oil if desired.