Tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread) #BreadBakers

Life is sometimes so unpredictable. 2 weeks back, when my Kiddo's school was closing for a Spring Break, I was quite happy... I thought I will get more time, and will explore more in different cuisines.. But, things never actually happen the way you want them too..

2 days of Spring break, was awesome.. And then, came the most dreaded days and nights for me and my Kiddo. She was already having cold, but then she was ok, and all the symptoms says it's a regular cold and cough. I was doing everything I could do to give her relief, but then suddenly on 3rd day, her fever started and she became dull... I called up on my Insurance Nurseline, they scared me, and asked me to take her to Urgent Care... Those first 3 days of her illness, was too scary... And slowly, she started coming back to herself again... My plans of all the cooking, went into vain, as I was completely concentrating on her.... Frankly speaking, I was too worried for her, to think about cooking... Well, time passed and she is doing fine now... Heard a saying, long time back, "All's well, if it ends well". And here we are, making, baking and cooking again.

Since, she was recovering, I wanted to make something which suits her taste buds... So, all the internet searching for this event, which also suits her taste bud, narrowed my search to this awesome bread- Tsoureki [Greek Easter bread]. While researching, I stumbled across this awesome recipe of Tsoureki by chow.com. I did some changes according to my requirement and ingredients available in my pantry. Well, I am happy, it turn out to be delicious.

Tsoureki is a bread, made by people of Greek's in Easter. It is basically made sweet, and is eaten after main meal, in the form of dessert. It is a braided, sweet, egg- enriched bread, and has roots in western and central asia. [ Got this information from Wikipedia]

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla has chosen breads from around the world that are traditional for Easter, Passover or Springtime. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's our International Easter/Passover/Spring Bread Basket, in alphabetical order...

• Bacci Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Casatiello by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Choereg - Armenian Easter Bread by Chef Mireille's East West Realm
• Colomba Pasquale (Easter Dove Bread) by Cook's Hideout
• Cornish Saffron Easter Bread by Pastry Chef Online
• Folar (Portuguese Easter Bread) by Passion Kneaded
• Hot Cross Buns by En la Cocina de Caro
• Hornazo De Salamanca - Spanish Easter Bread by Ruchik Randhap
• Hungarian Egg Twist by Hostess at Heart
• Hungarian White Bread by Magnolia Days
• Individual Braided Easter Bread by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Italian Easter Bread by La Cocina de Aisha
• Lambropsomo - Greek Easter Bread by Spice Roots
• Lithuanian Easter Raisin Bread by My Catholic Kitchen
• Matzo by A Shaggy Dough Story
• Mennonite Paska by Food Lust People Love
• Pääsiäisleipä - Finnish Easter Bread by Bakers and Best
• Pane di Pasqua - Italian Easter Bread Wreath by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Polish Bobka Easter Bread by Seduction in the Kitchen
• Russian Kulich by That's My Home
• Springtime Sweet Bread by Cooking club
• Strawberry Fritters by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread) by Simply Veggies

So, here is my recipe for the delicious Tsoureki bread -

Ingredients you will need-

1. Milk - 3/4 cup
2. Yeast - 1 packet [ 2 1/2 tsp]
3. All Purpose Flour- 4 cups
4. Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup
5. Salt- 1tsp
6. Butter - 8 tbsp+ 2tbsp
7. Eggs - 2 + 1 egg white
8. Orange [Clementine] - 1 [zest and juice]
9. Cinnamon Powder - 1tsp
10. Broken almonds - 2tbsp

Directions to follow - 

• Warm Milk and sprinkle yeast, on it, stir and let it sit for about  minutes.
• In another bowl, mix All Purpose Flour with Sugar, salt, zest of clementine and Cinnamon powder.
• In a 3rd bowl, beat eggs.. Melt butter in a microwave and mix it with eggs.
• Pour egg mixture to the milk mixture, and mix till blended.
• Little by little add flour mixture to the egg mixture.
• A tight dough will start to form.
• Add clementine juice to the dough,  and knead.
• Transfer the dough on floured surface, and knead it for 5 minutes.
• Spray oil on the dough, and cover it with  a warm kitchen towel, and leave it in a warm place for 2 hours, and let it rise.
• After 2 hours, add 2 tbsp of melted butter and knead the dough, till it becomes soft.
• Now, divide the whole dough in 3 parts, and roll all of them in a long strand.

• Join all 3 of them, from 1 end, and pinch them together, and press them inside towards down. I like to do on the wrapper of butter, as it works as a nice parchment paper.

• Start braiding.

• When reaching end, again pinch all the strands together and push them inside to give a finish look.

• Put it again in the warm place, and let it rise for 30-35 minutes.
• Brush it with an egg white.
• Press all the almonds decoratively on the dough.

• Bake it for 30 minutes, at 350 degrees in a preheated oven.
• Once out of oven, brush it with a butter.

• Slice and enjoy it warm, topped with a layer of whipped cream and honey drizzle all over it.
• Yummm, I am again hungry.