Dining and Cooking
How to Make the Best Greek Tsoureki Easter Bread (all of your questions answered!)
In Breads and Bakery

How to Make the Best Greek Tsoureki Easter Bread (all of your questions answered!)



The Ultimate Tsoureki Guide: https://www.dimitrasdishes.com/the-ultimate-tsoureki-baking-guide/

The dough Scraper (affiliate): https://amzn.to/3xeIRrb

Ingredients
For the starter:

1/2 cup milk, lukewarm
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
The Dry Ingredients:

4- 4 and 1/2 cups (720 grams) bread flour
1 cup (240 g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground mahlepi
1/2 teaspoon salt
​1/4 teaspoon ground mastic gum (optional)
The Wet Ingredients:

3/4 cup (177 ml) lukewarm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
zest of an orange
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 ounces unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
​ The egg wash: 2 egg yolks plus 2-4 tablespoons milk
Optional Fillings:

dried cranberries, raisins, chopped nuts, candied fruit, ground cardamom, vanilla or almond extract
Instructions
Combine the starter ingredients together in the bowl of a tabletop mixer. Whisk and set aside for 10 minutes to activate the yeast. It is ready when a puffy cloud forms above the mixture.
​In another bowl, combine the flour, sugar, orange zest, salt, mahlepi, and mastic gum together. Mix well to combine.
​Once the yeast is activated, add all of the remaining ingredients to the mixer’s bowl. Turn the mixer on low and knead for 8 minutes.
Add the softened butter and increase the speed to medium (4 on the Kitchen aid) and knead for 2 minutes.
​Place some oil in the bottom of a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Toss around to coat and form a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in volume. About 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours.
​Quick Rise Tip: My favorite place to keep the dough so that it rises quickly is in the dryer. Here is what I do:
​1) I put 3-4 clean bath towels in the dryer and turn it on (high heat setting) for about 5-6 minutes.
​2) I place the bowl with the dough into the dryer (on top of the warm towels) and close the door.
3) Make sure the dryer is OFF!!
​4) Remove from the dryer when it has doubled in volume.
​This trick usually cuts 30 minutes from the rise time.
Punch down the dough to remove the air. Cut into 2 equal portions.
Cut each portion in thirds.
​Roll each portion into about 13 inch long ropes.
​Form the 3 ropes into a braid and do the same with the remaining three ropes to shape 2 loaves of brioche.
Place both braided loaves onto a baking tray (18 by 13 inch) lined with parchment paper.
Cover with plastic wrap or with a clean towel.
​Set aside for 30-40 minutes or until puffy. They should not double in size this time.
Preheat the oven to 350 °F, 180 °C.
​Brush the tops of the brioche dough with the egg wash.
Optional: Place a hard-boiled, dyed egg in the braids or top with sliced almonds.
​Bake in the center rack of the oven for 30 minutes.
​Remove from the oven and cool at least 30 minutes before serving.
​Once baked and cooled, the bread can be frozen up to a month. Just make sure to wrap it well with plastic wrap.
​Enjoy!
Notes
This dough can be prepared in a tabletop mixer or kneaded by hand in a large bowl or on the countertop. Using a mixer will require less kneading time. About 10 minutes. If making the dough by hand, knead it at least 15 minutes so that the gluten forms well to achieve the desired consistency and texture.
Music Used:
Greek Sun Time (With Intro)
ITEM ID: 66582698
By: tonyanthony

Its All Greek
ITEM ID: 84456733
By: LowNotes

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33 Comments

  7. A P

    In the video you just add eggs and mix when the recipe says milk too, im on my 4th recipe and trying this hoping it works. Please let me know of milk goes on

  11. bessie david

    Hi Dimitra. I will do your tsourekia recipe this week. What is the name of the store that you bought the mahlepi and mastica. I live in Toronto/Danforth area. Thank you

  13. Celeste Sol

    you are so lovely! thank you!! I was able to make the bread, you are a genius. The dough is caked, what can be my mistake?

    I can't make the braid without breaking it

  18. Denise Latif

    Hi Dimitra, I was wondering if I can increase the amount of sugar in your recipe since I’ve a sweet tooth I’ll appreciate your thoughts Thank you

  21. Julius H

    Why does your written recipe only call for 1 y sugar ? That’s what I don’t like about YouTube chefs, their recipes almost always conflict with the written recipe!!! Ever heard of checking yourself

  22. Marsela D

    Very good recipe! I should say this is the best one. I made this last week and my family loved it 👍

  23. Janette P

    Thank you for a great video & instructions. I made this today and it came out great. This was my first time making Tsoureki and I had never used Mahleb before so I went on a hunt for it yesterday. My apartment smells so good and the bread tastes delicious. My braiding needs work but the taste makes up for it. Happy Easter!

  24. ivone veloza

    Preheat 150 in my oven than close and then I leave it the door open And I put the door inside there it's warm

  25. Candice Scarpides

    How much butter do you use? It looks like more then 2 oz in the video? My dough was not very sticky and looked drier then yours, and was a little hard to roll.
    My tsoureki came out a Little dry and didn’t have much flavor.
    I followed the recipe exactly,
    Ps- I made your recipe last year and it came out perfect so I’m stumped.
    I followed the recipe exactly.
    I made your recipe last year and it was perfect so I’m

  26. Jason Folsom

    you didn't zero your scale after putting the bowl on it. There is still no way 4.5 cups of flour = 720g.
    120g = 1 cup of flour. You should be at 540g. Look it up online and you'll see dozens of references about what the weight of flour per cup is. By your measurement its 160g per cup but that can't be right.
    Please please just try the measurement again. Please?
    Or, just weigh your bowl, i bet you its right around 180g.
    You can even see on the package of the bread flour that a serving was 1/4cup or 30g, 30g * 4 = 120g for 1 cup.

  29. Rafik Baladi

    Hello Dimitra. I made it and ended up with a perfect Tsoureiki, well risen and with perfect burgundy color. I had a disappointment when I was ready to leave it rise for 3 hours. My dough was very liquidi, though I used your proportions to the dot. The only thing I did different was include two Tablespoons of orange juice. Ultimately I had to add flour but this turned the texture a little thick. Also, I kneaded my mixture manually. I am very close though

  31. Penny Abou Zaid

    Dimitra! If you were closer to NY I would give you the biggest hug! I made your recipe a couple of times. I wasn't happy with the attempt, but I knew it was my error. I kept at it, today I did it!!! And yes it's the BEST TSOUREKI! i I made a little change though as I was thinking of my Yiayia, and I added the butter with the spices in the milk while warming, I beat the eggs in that too. The taste was out of this world! Thank you, thank you thank you!!!

  32. Robin P

    making this right now…hmmm…not wet at all! decided to check recipe measurements…WRONG AMT FLOUR in grams. Should be 500g to 562g….NOT 720g…lets see how dense this turns out…majorally disappointed right now not to mention waste $$

  33. Zena G

    I am getting ready to make this again. Please tell me if you updated this recipe after this video and I want to add dry cranberries or raisins but I don’t know how much to add ? Thank you 🙏🏼

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