We teamed up with our favourite Barcelona bakery Funky Bakers and made a Greek Easter bread- the hero piece of your festive table. Lets get started!
Ingredients:
- 500 gm (2⅔ cups) plain flour
- 21 gm (3 packets) dried yeast
- 125 ml (½ cup) milk
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten, plus extra for brushing
- 50 gm caster sugar
- Finely grated rind of 2 oranges
- 2 tsp mahlepi (aromatic spice made from the seeds of a species of cherry, Prunus mahaleb)
- 75 gm softened butter, coarsely chopped, plus extra to serve
- 3 eggs for decoration
1. Combine flour, yeast and a pinch of salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, form a well in the centre, set aside. Add milk, eggs, sugar, orange rind, mahlepi and 100ml lukewarm water and mix until a soft dough forms (5-7 minutes). Gradually add butter, a little at a time, mixing until a smooth soft dough forms (3-5 minutes), place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size (40 minutes-1 hour).
2. Meanwhile, for the red Easter eggs, peel the skin off of an onion and put it in a cooking pot with boiling water. Add the eggs and let them rest.
3. Knock back dough and divide into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a 45cm-long cylinder, plait pieces together, then bring ends together to form a wreath and squeeze to join. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper and set aside to prove slightly (20 minutes).
4. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Brush wreath with eggwash, gently push red Easter eggs (unpeeled) into wreath and bake until wreath is golden and cooked through (25-30 minutes).
5. Cool on a wire rack and serve with butter. Tip: Greek Easter bread is best eaten the day it's made.
Enjoy!
