Love, my child hospitality, because it opens the gates of paradise. Being hospitable you can be rewarded with receiving angels. Hospitality is the greatest virtue.

Elder Amphilochius of Patmos

Having received many questions about baking Greek Easter bread from my IG post – I put together a little video while we were baking yesterday. I hope you find it helpful.

The recipe I use can be found here

A couple of hacks from over two decades of baking the Tsoureki

Pro Tip 1 | Don’t Rush the Rise : for a light and fluffy bread do not skimp on all the rising time.

Pro Tip 2 | Proof Your Yeast : Yeast has a shelf life. Keeping your yeast in the fridge can increase its shelf life. But eventually, it loses its vitality. Always proof your yeast before adding it to your bread. Proofing is adding your yeast to warm liquid and a little bit of flour for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. This often called the sponge. Some recipes call for adding sugar as well. This wakes the yeast up and gets it ready for action.

Pro Tip 3 | Use a Long Preheat : this ensures the oven is ready. Don’t be in a hurry to get your bread in the oven. With all the rise time in this recipe you have plenty of time to preheat the oven before putting in your bread dough for at least 30 minutes. We preheated ours for an hour abd baked all day. By the end of 8 hours of baking out last loaves our baking time was down 10 minute.

Pro Tip 4 | Use a Baking Stone : this ensures uniformity of heat and minimizes heat loss when the oven is opened. If you do not have a baking stone you can place a couple of bricks in your oven. I do not lay Tsoureki dough on the stone as I do not want a super crispy crust but for artisan breads I do.

Pro Tip 5 | Source your Ingredients : you can find MAHLEPI here

Greek Easter Bread Video Tutorial