Okay, so if I shared our family’s recipe for Choereg with the public, my mother would probably murder me. But I don’t believe in hoarding nice things to myself. A traditional, slightly sweet bread cooked particularly for Easter is called choereg. With a wonderful cup of coffee for breakfast, it tastes delicious. It requires some skill, but anyone accustomed to working with yeast shouldn’t have any issues. Mahleb is available at Middle Eastern grocers, particularly during the Easter season. The spices will be there. It is this that gives it its distinct flavor and aroma, so please do not leave it out.
| Prep Time: | 6 hrs |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 6 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 30 |
| Yield: | 5 loaves |
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup margarine
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup lukewarm water
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes active dry yeast
- 5 eggs
- 6 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground mahleb
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, butter and margarine. Heat until butter and margarine are melted, but do not let it boil. Stir in 1 cup of sugar until dissolved, then set aside to cool to lukewarm.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, dissolve 2 teaspoons of sugar in warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface, and let stand until frothy, about 10 minutes.
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl, and stir a little to break up the yolks. Slowly pour in the heated milk mixture while whisking constantly, so as to temper the eggs and not cook them. Add the yeast mixture, and stir just until blended.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, mahleb, and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the wet mixture. Stir until it forms a sticky dough. Pour onto a floured surface, and knead in additional flour as needed to make a more substantial dough. Knead for about 10 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl, and set in a warm place to rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- When the dough has doubled, punch down again, and let rise until doubled. It will only take about half as long this time.
- Separate the dough into 5 even portions, then separate each of those into thirds. Roll each of those into ropes about 12 inches long. Braid sets of three ropes together, pinching the ends to seal, and tucking them under for a better presentation. Place the loaves onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Loaves should be spaced 4 inches apart. Set in a warm place to rise until your finger leaves an impression behind when you poke the loaf gently.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Brush the loaves with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until nicely golden brown all over.
- You may preheat the oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C) while mixing, and then turn it off and let it cool down to about 100 degrees. Place your dough in there to proof with the oven light on, and it will rise much faster.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 248 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 27 g |
| Cholesterol | 54 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 230 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 14 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Thank you Ani for baking these for my family last Easter! They were amazing! Double thanks for sharing the recipe! Mine didn’t turn out as amazing as yours but we love them! And now everyone has requested I make “Ani’s Bread” for Xmas too! I did add extra flour which I think made it not as light and fluffy as yours. I’m going to try it without the extra flour this time. We miss you and thanks for giving us this treasured recipe!- Stacey
First time making these, tried to replicate my Armenian grandmother’s creations which were never documented. My wife and loved it! I am not a baker, so my grandmother was looking down on me and provided some good luck. I cut the recipe amounts in half which made four loaves shown in the picture. I used only one full stick of butter and no margarine for health reasons, and we think more butter or margarine would be excessive. We plan to make this regularly! Thank you very much for sharing the recipe and for writing the steps so clearly for us novices.
I am sorry, but I have to give this recipe only two stars, and that many only because at least the steps were well presented. I cannot say the same about the ingredient list. I decided to try this recipe because it had received many very good reviews. When I looked over the recipe, I saw that the amount of butter and margarine – one cup each! – was about twice the normal amount for Choereg. I also noticed that the sugar was very limited given that Choereg is often pretty sweet, but that part does vary by taste. Despite my misgivings, I decided to give it a try. Not surprisingly, my dough was way too wet and yellow in color for Choereg. As others have said, I had to use much more flour than stated in the recipe, yet still the dough never looked or felt right. The end result was disappointing. As you can probably tell, I am familiar with Choereg, and I have to say this is not a recipe I would recommend for making Choereg.
Made it the first time two years ago. Came out great. Mahleb gave this a distinct taste. Everyone enjoyed it. My nephew, 29 yo at that time, stated, “It was the best Easter Bread I have ever tasted.” It was light & fluffy. This year, I plan on making this again. I’ve had several special requests! I will post a picture of the bread when completed.
Delicious. Tastes like a butter croissant (not too sweet but definitely a buttery flavor like a plain butter croissant). I added an extra 1 cup of flour when mixing the dough in the mixer. The dough is a greasy/buttery and wet consistency but this appears to be normal since it turned out great after I baked the bread. It is a buttery/rich bread that I would only make for special occasions (too buttery to have every day). Instead of making the 5 loaf, I made 5 small pastries with chocolate chips inside; I cut the 5th portion of the dough into small squares and placed chocolate chips on one end of each square and then rolled it up (almost like a chocolate croissant).
This is by far the best version of this bread recipe I have found. I’ve been using it for years. One note, 6 c flour is NEVER ever going to be enough. It always takes 10 cups to get to a nice soft workable dough. The dough works like a dream. I typically don’t let it rise 2x before shaping because of time limitations. If I do, then I make the dough the night before, let it rise once on the counter, and then put it in the fridge overnight and shape in the morning.
Cut this recipe in half and made 2 gorgeous loaves – it smelled amazing while it was baking!! A tender, slightly sweet bread. Really delicious.
Omg THANK YOU for this recipe! I did not change a thing…… except adding the water eggs on top! Delicious!
Made it twice and the results are great! Followed the exact recipe and it worked well for me. The smell in the house is wonderful!
This was absolutely delicious and my Armenian husband loved it! I used all butter and golden caster sugar, i used a lot more flour to get a good dough consistency maybe 2-3 more cups….it made 5 good sized loaves and was soft, fluffy and very moorish 🙂
Are used all butter, no margarine turned out great everybody loves it!
I have made this at least five e Times maybe more so needlessly say that I enjoyed making it. I have dexterity problems making the braid watched ton of video s. I gave up. My friend bought me a silicone three braid pan.. I had some difficulty finding the spice and decided to see amazon h a d it, they did and I received it in two days I love baking breads and cakes
It was delicious. I used 8 cups of flour to be more precise. It was so good that I got so many compliments!
The only change I made was subbed the margarine for butter (I think margarine is gross) and not sure what that did, but it came out dry and crumbly. I think there needs to be more kneading to develop gluten, and maybe an overnight ferment after the initial rise. I too found that this recipe is short on flour, weights and flour type would help. Not sure why this recipe gets such high ratings.
Thank you very much for this recipe. I made it with butter only. I tasted the dough as I loved eating it when my mom made it. I added a couple of tablespoon of sugar. They came out perfect. Everyone loved it and wanted the recipe. I will definitely make it again very soon. They are all eaten already. Great recipe!
This is honestly the most complicated thing I believe I have ever baked, but it was so, so worth it. I am not an expert at working with yeast or making bread, but I followed the directions EXACTLY as they were written (with the addition of a good amount of flour during the kneading process) and it came out AMAZING. I cannot believe I actually made something this delicious. I am in charge of the Armenian dish for my daughter’s kindergarten culture program and I think even the pickiest eaters there will LOVE it. Thank you SO much for sharing.
I followed the Direction and found the dough very liquidy, not workable. Here are my changes: 2 TBSP Mahleb 3 sticks of butter ( no margarine) Cut the salt into 1/2 TSP only, for a less salty taste One additional cup of flour (7 total) to be able to work with the dough Baked at 325F depending on your oven
Ok so I made this twice. I’m a reasonably good baker and when I read other reviews about needing more flour, in the first batch I added enough flour make a dough familiar to me (which was a fair bit). After baking it, I ended up with a beautiful bread that was like Challah’s twin. The second time I made the recipe exactly as written, and got this greasy mess of a dough that I thought would be terrible. It didn’t rise as well either. However, the finished bread is absolutely exquisite! It’s flaky but bread all a the same time…best way I know how to describe it. So, when you’re making it (and DO make it) don’t have a heavy hand when adding flour and don’t look for a typical bread dough. And, one last thing about the mahleb – first batch I made I didn’t include it because I didn’t have it and figured it would be hard to find. But a couple days later I saw it just sitting on the shelf at the grocery store so I put it in the second batch. Totally worth it! And, I hardly live in a major city or anything so check locally before deciding you won’t find it near you. All in all, this bread is amazing and exactly what you’d hope for when you invest time into making bread. It’s delicious, different, and beautiful on the table.
I would certainly give this recipe 5 stars for flavour and crumb as it is really delicious. The recipe calls for 6 cups of flour “or as needed”. I will keep this in my collection for special occasions but with the changes noted. Thank you.
This sounds VERY similar to my mother-in-law’s recipe. She was Turkish and used to call it “pita or peta” bread (not like the pocket bread). I made her recipe a long time ago using cardamom as I didn’t have mahleb. It was pretty close in flavor. I have not yet made this recipe but can’t wait to try it! My mother-in-law has passed away and my husband really misses her traditional Easter and New Year’s bread. Thanks so much for sharing!
I was amazed at the amount of butter (we used all butter instead of margarine) in this recipe–but it makes a very tasty bread! Thanks for this recipe–I think it’s going to become my standard Easter bread!