The Ultimate Tsoureki Guide: https://www.dimitrasdishes.com/the-ultimate-tsoureki-baking-guide/
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Ingredients
For the starter:
1/2 cup milk, lukewarm
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
The Dry Ingredients:
4- 4 and 1/2 cups (720 grams) bread flour
1 cup (240 g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground mahlepi
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mastic gum (optional)
The Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup (177 ml) lukewarm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
zest of an orange
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 ounces unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
The egg wash: 2 egg yolks plus 2-4 tablespoons milk
Optional Fillings:
dried cranberries, raisins, chopped nuts, candied fruit, ground cardamom, vanilla or almond extract
Instructions
Combine the starter ingredients together in the bowl of a tabletop mixer. Whisk and set aside for 10 minutes to activate the yeast. It is ready when a puffy cloud forms above the mixture.
In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, orange zest, salt, mahlepi, and mastic gum together. Mix well to combine.
Once the yeast is activated, add all of the remaining ingredients to the mixer’s bowl. Turn the mixer on low and knead for 8 minutes.
Add the softened butter and increase the speed to medium (4 on the Kitchen aid) and knead for 2 minutes.
Place some oil in the bottom of a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Toss around to coat and form a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in volume. About 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours.
Quick Rise Tip: My favorite place to keep the dough so that it rises quickly is in the dryer. Here is what I do:
1) I put 3-4 clean bath towels in the dryer and turn it on (high heat setting) for about 5-6 minutes.
2) I place the bowl with the dough into the dryer (on top of the warm towels) and close the door.
3) Make sure the dryer is OFF!!
4) Remove from the dryer when it has doubled in volume.
This trick usually cuts 30 minutes from the rise time.
Punch down the dough to remove the air. Cut into 2 equal portions.
Cut each portion in thirds.
Roll each portion into about 13 inch long ropes.
Form the 3 ropes into a braid and do the same with the remaining three ropes to shape 2 loaves of brioche.
Place both braided loaves onto a baking tray (18 by 13 inch) lined with parchment paper.
Cover with plastic wrap or with a clean towel.
Set aside for 30-40 minutes or until puffy. They should not double in size this time.
Preheat the oven to 350 °F, 180 °C.
Brush the tops of the brioche dough with the egg wash.
Optional: Place a hard-boiled, dyed egg in the braids or top with sliced almonds.
Bake in the center rack of the oven for 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool at least 30 minutes before serving.
Once baked and cooled, the bread can be frozen up to a month. Just make sure to wrap it well with plastic wrap.
Enjoy!
Notes
This dough can be prepared in a tabletop mixer or kneaded by hand in a large bowl or on the countertop. Using a mixer will require less kneading time. About 10 minutes. If making the dough by hand, knead it at least 15 minutes so that the gluten forms well to achieve the desired consistency and texture.
Music Used:
Greek Sun Time (With Intro)
ITEM ID: 66582698
By: tonyanthony
Its All Greek
ITEM ID: 84456733
By: LowNotes
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You are detail oriented in your instructions, so how is it that you don't have at least 100,000 subscribers. Keep up the good work & good recipes!
Another question, sorry…when I allowed the Tsoureki to rise for 2 hours, it looked like it rose enough, but when I punched it down it was still kind of sticky, I put it back and covered it again hoping it will rise and the dough will be like yours in the video…is this going to mess up my loaves?
I followed your recipe twice so far, the flavor is delicious, but why does the bottom always seem to burn? What am I doing wrong? I end up scraping off the bottom like I use to do when I was a kid and my mom burnt my toast lol
What other spices can you replace the two spices with instead?
Made this recipe several times turned out perfect each time. Thank you.
Does it only make 2 big braids?
Absolutely beautiful! I am sure it tastes great! Thank you, beautiful lady! I wish we had this level of quality in the tsoureki available in a few bakeries/shops here in Sydney but unfortunately they’re not as good. It’s seldom fluffy and I doubt they use any mastic resin. The desirable aroma is absent.
Hi Dimitra can you make this recipe with almond flour with baking soda / powder as a low carb alternative ?
Always excellent presentation. And reasons for everything explained, which is great. Thank you .
My dough came out sticky but I added little bit of oil and tried to save what I could. I did the recipe you have with 4 and 1/2 cups flour.
Praying it comes out perfect ❤
Hi Dimitria
I made your recipe 3 different times and followed the recipe to a T. My dough bounced back when I was trying to form the braid? All 3 times.. what could I be doing wrong?
I followed the recipe to exactly the way you were doing it but way too dry the mixture was crumbling
Soi added more milk
What went wrong
Thank you Dimitra!! I tried your recipe and it worked beautifully!!! My only problem is shaping. Definitely do not rush the process. Love you!!!❤❤❤
I've made this bread for 3 years now for Orthodox Easter. I am getting ready to make it again for this year's Easter! I find the cold method better for me. It's a big hit. My husband is Greek, and his family loves all the meals I make for our Easter gathering. All the recipes are yours. I make Tsoureki, Koulourakia (as gifts for everyone to take home), spanakopita, Tiropita, Greek Roast of Lamb and Pastitsio. Every year I change out one of your desserts. I tell everyone that your recipes are the go-to recipes for true authentic Greek dishes. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us. 💜 Have a blessed Easter!
I am going to try your recipe. Though my breads turn out fine, yours looks so much easier to make. And my breads do flatten out while baking.
Thanks for the tip on adding eggs. We didn't like the dye on the bread.
Thank you Dimitra appreciate your video
Lovely to see tradition carried on enjoyed your daughters laughter
Sharing this recipe
Thinking of trying this using airfryer
Do you have any feedback from others using airfryer
Probably best using oven
Get the colour and particular Crunch while being soft inside 👍
Thank you
Dimitra its sooo good!!! Xrestos anesti!
4 1/2 c of flour is 540 grams, not 720
Can I just use a regular hand mixer to make the tsoureki?
Cane I made it a day ahead
My crust came out a little hard. Did I use too much wash?
Mmm, yummy recipe, and lovely daughter by the way.
Brings a lot of good memories…
❤🎉
I used your recipe. I made little loafs.
Can you please correct your website recipe. It's shows 4 to 4.5 cup of bread flour / 720 grams. This is incorrect. Correct weight of 4 to 4.5 cups of bread flour is 480 to 540 grams not 720 gram
HELP! Well it's too late I'm sure but I'm trying for the first time watching the video and moving slowly. For some odd reason when I put in to mix with the hook it never got sticky like yours. The ONLY thing I can think of is perhaps I had it going too slow? but what I did do to try and get it a tad more soft I added more warm milk (still didn't get to yours) but it's now on the counter and I pray it rises, LOL – I have no family in America but my kids love this bread (we just bought from greektown, lol) I'll do an update tonight – I need you as my bff (she died on me too) – 🙁 but just watching you and your little girl touhes my heart ty! Now I'm going to try your lemon snowflake cookies while this rises! (I'm really trying)
Thank you am going to make it
I am getting ready to make this again. Please tell me if you updated this recipe after this video and I want to add dry cranberries or raisins but I don’t know how much to add ? Thank you 🙏🏼
making this right now…hmmm…not wet at all! decided to check recipe measurements…WRONG AMT FLOUR in grams. Should be 500g to 562g….NOT 720g…lets see how dense this turns out…majorally disappointed right now not to mention waste $$
Dimitra! If you were closer to NY I would give you the biggest hug! I made your recipe a couple of times. I wasn't happy with the attempt, but I knew it was my error. I kept at it, today I did it!!! And yes it's the BEST TSOUREKI! i I made a little change though as I was thinking of my Yiayia, and I added the butter with the spices in the milk while warming, I beat the eggs in that too. The taste was out of this world! Thank you, thank you thank you!!!
Ty for your awesome videos. You certainly educate all perfectly and explain well
Hello Dimitra. I made it and ended up with a perfect Tsoureiki, well risen and with perfect burgundy color. I had a disappointment when I was ready to leave it rise for 3 hours. My dough was very liquidi, though I used your proportions to the dot. The only thing I did different was include two Tablespoons of orange juice. Ultimately I had to add flour but this turned the texture a little thick. Also, I kneaded my mixture manually. I am very close though
Today. I'll try it today. My ingredients are all spread out
Vedut agg brad please 🙏🏽
you didn't zero your scale after putting the bowl on it. There is still no way 4.5 cups of flour = 720g.
120g = 1 cup of flour. You should be at 540g. Look it up online and you'll see dozens of references about what the weight of flour per cup is. By your measurement its 160g per cup but that can't be right.
Please please just try the measurement again. Please?
Or, just weigh your bowl, i bet you its right around 180g.
You can even see on the package of the bread flour that a serving was 1/4cup or 30g, 30g * 4 = 120g for 1 cup.
How much butter do you use? It looks like more then 2 oz in the video? My dough was not very sticky and looked drier then yours, and was a little hard to roll.
My tsoureki came out a Little dry and didn’t have much flavor.
I followed the recipe exactly,
Ps- I made your recipe last year and it came out perfect so I’m stumped.
I followed the recipe exactly.
I made your recipe last year and it was perfect so I’m
Preheat 150 in my oven than close and then I leave it the door open And I put the door inside there it's warm
Thank you for a great video & instructions. I made this today and it came out great. This was my first time making Tsoureki and I had never used Mahleb before so I went on a hunt for it yesterday. My apartment smells so good and the bread tastes delicious. My braiding needs work but the taste makes up for it. Happy Easter!
Very good recipe! I should say this is the best one. I made this last week and my family loved it 👍
Why does your written recipe only call for 1 y sugar ? That’s what I don’t like about YouTube chefs, their recipes almost always conflict with the written recipe!!! Ever heard of checking yourself
Just I can't hear you longer ..
Thank you for your wonderful recipe Χρόνια Πολλά! 💙🇬🇷💙🥰
Hi Dimitra, I was wondering if I can increase the amount of sugar in your recipe since I’ve a sweet tooth I’ll appreciate your thoughts Thank you
Very good clear instructions thank you