A Greek brioche full of aromas, if you eat once you will never forget the taste!!!
Your kitchen will be filled with unforgettable aromas, and its unique taste will please young and old!!!
Ingredients:
5 eggs
1.5 kg of flour containing 12-14 / 100 proteins
500 gr. Sugar powder
zest of a whole orange
350 ml warm cow’s milk (30 to 35 degrees Celsius)
65 gr. cow butter
75 ml of sunflower oil
28 gr. dry yeast (4 sachets of 7 g)
2 vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoon mahalep powder
1 tablespoon. cardamom powder
a pinch of sugar
a pinch of salt
half a glass of warm water (30 to 35 degrees Celsius)
1 egg and 2 tablespoons of milk
Preparation:
Take the eggs out of the refrigerator several hours before, to bring them to room temperature. Weigh the flour and sift it. Gather all materials on your counter.
Add half a glass of warm water to a bowl with the yeast. (Our little finger can stand its temperature from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius). Be careful, if the water is hot you will destroy the yeast. Dissolve the yeast well with water to obtain a brown liquid without lumps. Add a pinch of sugar to activate the yeast enzymes. Stir and gradually add the flour from what we have already prepared for the entire recipe. Mix to make a smooth porridge (like making doughnuts). Cover the bowl well with a food film to retain moisture and cover with a cloth or small blanket to maintain the temperature. Let it double in volume. It’s ready when we see small bubbles on the surface. Use a bowl twice the size of the yeast at the beginning.
When the yeast is ready, heat the butter, sunflower oil and milk.
Put the flour in the bowl of the mixer, add the salt and orange zest and mix.
Dig a hole in the flour and put the yeast preparation, sugar, eggs, mahalep, cardamom and finally the hot milk and butter/ hot sunflower and mix with the mixer for 6-7 minutes. The dough will become soft and stick to your hands. That’s what we want.
Put the dough in a large enough bowl because the dough will double its volume, and work it by bending it, not kneading it by simply bending it from the outside to the inside. Seal the bowl with a food wrap, wrap with a cloth and cover with a blanket. Let the dough rest and lift. It must double in volume.
Once the dough is lifted, shape the tsoureki into the shapes and patterns of your choice.
Let the tsoureki rest and double in volume. The time they need depends on the ambient temperature. Calculate from thirty minutes to three quarters of an hour - 1 hour, depending on the ambient temperature.
When they swell (we will see that the dough shines, it becomes smoother) we brush them with a solution of a whole egg diluted with 2 spoons