Preparation of the dough for the Greek tsoureki(English version)

Delicious fluffy tsoureki with Nutella filling and plain

For the dough:

100 gr of dry yeast
50 ml of lukewarm water(not hot)
1,250 gr plain white flour
4 large eggs(the yolks only)
500 ml milk
250 ml vegetable oil
250 gr unsalted butter
14 gr pure mahlepi
a soup spoon of mastic(grated)
a soup spoon of vanilla extract
200 ml of fresh orange juice
the zest of 2 oranges(the ones with the thick peal)
200 gr of granulated white sugar

For the filling:

500 gr of nutella

For the topping:

2 yolks of eggs beaten with 1/2 teaspoon of water
300 gr of flaked almonds

We have all our ingredients in room temperature.We start with the butter.In a small casserole pan we warm our butter on a medium heat for about 3 minutes.When it starts to melt we turn the heat off before it comes to boil.The butter shouldn’t get hot.Then we add the sugar and we stir really good until it dissolves into the butter.We activate the yeast.In a small bowl we mix the dry yeast with lukewarm milk and we stir it good.We leave it aside for about 5-7 minutes until it rises up and doubles in size.In a big bowl we add the oil,the butter with the sugar,the flavourings and we stir.With a small fork we lightly beat the four yolks and we add them in the mixture.We pour the activated yeast into the bowl with the fresh orange juice and the zest of the two oranges and we stir really well.We add some of the milk that we’ve heated up in the microwave for 15 seconds and we start adding the flour slowly.Then we add the rest of the milk and we finish all the flour of our recipe.We gonna continue the rest of the kneading only using melted butter that has cooled down.We pour some butter into our hands,on our bench the area that we gonna be working and on the dough as well.We start kneading in a back and forth continuous motion for about 15-20 minutes until the dough is very smooth in texture,very soft and elastic.The dough should look like a giant chewy gum.We but some melted butter in a large plastic container,we form the dough into a big ball and we place it into the container and we put the lid on and close it good so no air will come in direct contact with the dough.We wrap up the container with a couple of thick clean cotton towels or a warm blanket and we let it rest for approximately 3 hours in a warm place where no one would go until it becomes double in size.In order to see if the dough is ready and has completed the resting time we dip our finger into a little melted butter and we dig it into the dough.If after a couple of seconds the hole formed in the dough disappears then it needs a little more resting time.If the hole created remains the same in the dough then it means it’s ready.We put baking paper onto the pan that we’ll be using for baking and we start forming the final shape of the dough.We make them round and long with traditional braids.If we want to make them with Nutella filling we add it now.The nutella is better to have it in the fridge before we use it.With a butter knife we cut the dough into equally same size pieces.We can make the tsoureki either long or round.We take three equal long pieces of dough,we flatten them out adding the nutella in the middle from top to bottom of the dough and we join the two edges together.We make sure to press inwards the two ends of the dough so it won’t open during the baking.If we make them plain without chocolate then we repeat the same process without adding any nutella.We cover them up with clean cotton towels and we’ll let them rest for about an hour in a warm place while we preheat our oven at 170 degrees C set to fan.When they’re double in size we put a blend of a beaten egg yolk with 1/2 teaspoon of water,we mix it well and we apply it on the surfaces of the sweet breads.We can sprinkle some flaked almonds on the the dough before baking.We bake for approximately 30-40 minutes depends how strong our oven is.When it’s brown in colour we take it out of the oven and we let it cool down completely.