Greek Easter Bread (Tsoureki)

     It was Easter Sunday yesterday, and I am recovering.  I can't remember when I cooked as much as I have this past weekend.  We had three dinner parties this week, plus two brunches.  Food is such an integral part of a holiday, and one main reason I cook is so that my kids will have happy, specific memories of special occasions.  But it does take time - something I'm not very good at admitting to myself.
     So, I was adventurous this year.  I made our traditional Simnel cake, and hot cross buns,

but I also tried not one, but two new Easter recipes.  The first one was an Italian Easter cake, called  Colombo di Pasqua.  It is a yeast cake, and I have been dying to try for years now.  It is very similar to the Italian Christmas cake Panettone.  You have to let it rise three different times, so it is definitely something to do when you know you will be at home throughout the day.  The result was fabulous, but I would say it might be something to serve at tea time rather than for dessert after dinner:

 

 

     The second new recipe I tried was for a Greek Easter bread, sometime referred to as Tsoureki.  The Greeks do Easter in a big way, so I was all for borrowing some of their traditions, particularly when it comes to food.  But I must say that I was not prepared for how very happy it made me to bake a Tsoureki.  Take a look at how BEAUTIFUL this thing is:

 

  

   
     I LOVE the idea of baking bread with dyed eggs!  It makes it really quite special.  This was the perfect thing to serve for our Easter Sunday brunch, which I did.  The kids loved it. I did something a bit different, in that most recipes I read called for the eggs to be hard-boiled, and then dyed, and then baked.  I didn't want to go down that route, as surely the eggs would be inedible by the end of that process.  So, I dyed raw eggs, and put them in the bread.  The result - besides the bread - was 4 beautifully baked eggs - better than anything boiled.
     I didn't quite follow the recipes I used for this bread, so here is my version of Tsourki (never thought I would say that !):

Greek Easter Bread

4 cups flour
4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup milk
4 eggs
110 grams sugar
zest of three oranges
110 grams butter
1 tbsp. orange juice
2 tsp. vanilla

     OK - preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Warm the milk to 110 degrees F or so in a large bowl that attaches to a mixer.  Sprinkle on the yeast, and 1 tsp sugar.  Mix well, and then let it sit for 5 minutes.
     Mix again, and add 2 cups flour.  Mix well with the dough hook attachment, and let it sit again for a few minutes, until the mixture starts to bubble a little.  Then mix in the eggs, one at a time.  Next, add the sugar, orange zest, orange juice and vanilla, and mix well to combine.  Finally, cut the butter into little cubes and add to the dough, and mix again to incorporate.
     Add the next two cups of flour at little at a time.  The dough will be very sticky, but don't panic.  At this point, flour your hands and take the dough out of the mixer and onto a lightly floured surface.  We need to knead this dough now, even though it may seem like an impossible task because of the stickiness.  Slap the dough down, knead it, pick it up off the counter, and do that again and again.  As you knead, at some point - probably after about 5 minutes - the dough will develop into something beautiful and smooth.  Please don't be tempted to add flour, as this will make the bread heavy and plonky, rather than delicate and light.
     After the dough has become smooth, put it into a lightly oiled bowl, and let it rise until it has doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.  When it has, punch the dough down, and divide it in two.  Take one of the halves, and divide it into three pieces. Roll the pieces out into long, thin strips, and then braid the three strips together.  Form the braid into a wreath shape.  Let the braid rise again, about 20 minutes.  When it is ready to cook, carefully place three or four raw, dyed eggs into the wreath.  Brush the whole wreath with egg white.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until it is nicely browned on the outside but still soft in the middle.