Greek Easter Bread
 I'll share the best kept secret, the Easter Bread or Tsoureki. Two ingredients that give it the distinctive flavor are Masticha and Machlepi. Both can be found in speicialty store or from the online spice company, Penzys. Machlepi is ground cherry pits and maticha is a gum resin from a bush grown in Greece. If you can't find either, try a bit of almond extract.
2 envelopes yeast 1 Tb. sugar 1/3 cup warm water 1 cup unsalted butter 
1 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups whole milk 2 teaspoons machlepi (1 t. almond extract at most) 1/3 teaspoon crushed masticha 5 eggs 9-10 cups flour. red eggs (if desired), egg wash, sesame seeds and sliced almonds for decoration Mix yeast, 1 Tb. sugar in slightly warm water, cover and proof ( bubbly). Warm the butter, sugar, milk, machlepi and masticha in a pan until the butter melts and the suar dissolves. Cool. Beat 4 eggs until foamy. In a large bowl (or large mixer) put 2 cups flour, add cooled butter mixture, yeast mixture and eggs. Combine throughly. Add most, but not all, flour and continue beating until dough is no longer sticky. Knead for about 10 minutes. Cover and let rise about 2 hours. When doubled, punch down and divide into 4. From each ball form 3 ropes, oh, about that long. Braid together. You can put the braid into a 9" round cake pan if you want round form. Tuck at least one red egg in between the braids (if desired), brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds or sliced almonds. Cover with damp cloth and let rise 30 minutes. Bake 350 for 40-45 min, reduce heat to 250 and bake until bread sounds hollow. This is a wonderful sweet bread that makes a dynamite French toast! |
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Okay...just to clarify...is the hard boiled egg still in the shell? or peeled? is it red inside the shell if you boil the way you described in the other thread?  |
| ....in the shell, no, it's not red inside the shell.
BTW, I often color the water and add a dap of vinegar when hard boiling eggs so they take on a tint. That way I know which ones are hard boiled without having to spin them on the counter. |
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