Tsoureki 2

Stavros changed the original recipe (that you can find here) and made it better .😉

Now it's really similar to a Romanian Cozonac.

Makes one big loaf

Ingredients:

• 700gr white flour for bread (550D)
• 50gr fresh yeast
• 200gr lukewarm milk
• 120gr butter
• 180gr caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 shot orange liquor

Fillings:

•  raisins
• chocolate chips
• turkish delight

Step One - Prepare our Ingredients

To prepare our ingredients, we sieve our flour, measure the sugar, warm the milk to lukewarm temperature (~100℉/38℃), and ensure all rest ingredients are in room temperature.

Tip 1: You should not overheat the milk while warming it up
Tip 2: If you have no digital thermometer for the milk, your little finger should be able to sustain the heat, or else the milk is too hot. 

Step Two - Prepare our yeast

First, we need to activate the yeast. In a bowl, use 100ml of the lukewarm milk to dissolve slowly the yeast in it. You can lightly mass it or just mix until all of it is a uniform mix. To feed the woken up yeast, add a teaspoon of sugar, stir lightly, and stir in 150gr flour. Mix with a fork well until you get a sort of a uniform mix/paste. Cover and let it stand in a warm place for 20 minutes until it becomes frothy.

Tip 3: Yeast is very sensitive to the environment, the duration it takes to become active really depends on the temperature/humidity of the room. 
Tip 4: A colder room would only mean the yeast will take longer to work, no problems will be caused because of it. Yeast becomes completely inactive around 40℉/4℃, so anything warmer will do.
Tip 5: If you have no fresh yeast, you can use 25 gr of dry yeast, or 12 gr of dry rapid yeast.
Tip 6: Currently in our house it's too cold for the yeast to work quickly enough, so I warm up the oven to 90℉/32℃ and place the yeast mix inside. Be careful thought, yeast would die if warmed over 130℉/55℃. 

Step Three - Prepare the butter mix

 While the yeast is becoming active, place the butter in a glass bowl over a saucepan with barely simmering water. When the butter melts add the sugar and whisk well until the sugar is well dissolved Ensure the mixture is not too hot, and add the 3 eggs and whisk briskly. Add the remaining 100ml of milk. Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature and keep the heat very low. 

Tip 7: The butter might get to 130℉/55℃ even with very low heat. Remember that anything that hot might kill our yeast, so let it cool down, if needed.

Step Four - Prepare the dough

Add the sieved flour in a mixer bowl (with the bread kneading tool) and mix lightly while adding the butter mixture. Add the yeast mixture, mix lightly again and finally add the spices and the orange liquor. Mix everything together on the lowest speed for 3 minutes, and on medium speed for around 10 minutes. By the time you finish the dough should be lightly sticky, but not hard enough to unstick from the bowl and roll around as a solid piece. Place on a floured working surface and knead for 5-10 minutes, adding a bit of flour/water if too sticky/dry. By the time you finish the dough should be really uniform and elastic enough. Place the dough in a bowl and let it rise until doubles in volume. If placed in a warm place it should take approximately 1h. 

Tip 8: If there is no food processor, mix in a bowl by hand all ingredients, and knead the dough for ~30 minutes.
Tip 9: If you don't want to knead the bread by hand, you can check the dough for texture, (add flour/lukewarm milk if needed) and mix for an additional 2 minutes.
Tip 10: The dough will double faster in 80-90℉ environment ( 27-32℃).

Step Five - Plait the loaf

Remove the dough from the bowl, and split into 3 equal portions. Stretch each into a long flat shape, top up with the desired filling, and roll into a baguette shape. Plait the three portions together, use water if you have problem putting the edges together. Prepare a baking tray with grease-proof paper, and place the loaf in the middle. Cover the loaf and place it in a warm place until it doubles in volume. It should take around 1h. 

Step Six - Cooking

When the dough has doubled in size, Preheat the oven to 320℉/160℃. Breat the last egg and brush the top of the loaf with it. bake it for 45 minutes until golden. Place on a cooling rack and cover for 15-30 minutes. 

Tip 11: When taking out of the oven, the loaf would be very-very soft, almost falling apart, be very careful handling it. It should be as soon as possible to the cooling rack to take its final consistency. 

Tip 12: If you want it to become a bit more sparkly/glossy, you can brush it with butter the moment you take it out of the over, 

Enjoy!!