Greek New Year’s Bread is called Vasilopita. It’s made in memory of a lovely deed of kindness performed by St. Basil for his flock’s needy and underprivileged members. St. Basil had the ladies of his church bake sweet bread with pennies baked into them so that the poor would have money for the needs of life and knowing that they were proud people. He was able to offer them money in this way without in any way humiliating them. As a result, it is customary to incorporate a penny into the Vasilopita (St. Basil’s Bread). The recipient of the coin is thought to be extremely fortunate for the coming year.
| Prep Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 large loaf |
Ingredients
- ½ cup warm milk
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
- ½ cup bread flour
- 6 cups bread flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup butter, melted
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups warm milk
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon water
- ½ cup chopped almonds
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup milk, yeast and 1/2 cup flour. Cover and let the sponge rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
- Place 6 cups flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add the sponge, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, 3/4 cup melted butter, 3 eggs and 2 cups milk. Mix thoroughly to make a stiff dough.
- Transfer the dough into a greased springform pan. Brush dough with melted butter, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 60 to 90 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Beat egg with 1 tablespoon water to make an egg wash.
- When dough has risen, insert a clean silver coin into the loaf. Brush dough egg wash and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Bake in preheated oven until deep golden brown, about 40 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 339 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 18 g |
| Cholesterol | 153 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 15 g |
| Sodium | 355 mg |
| Sugars | 17 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This recipe was straight forward and if you have bread experience should not be a problem. My only concern is with the recommended cook time. The recipe says 40 minutes, but my bread was still wet in the middle at 40 minutes. I use an instant-read thermometer to check bread (s/b about 190-200). It took another 20 minutes to get to the correct temp. My oven is new, I will check to see if it is off. Other than that, it turned out well. I will use again.
In our family we use mahlepi and not cinnamon/nutmeg which is our tradition. I also used two smaller pans to make it easier to share, and cut back on cooking time. Perfect.
I prefer cake-y, not bready, vasilopita. But I decided to give this recipe a try anyways, just to try something different. Boy, was that a mistake! When making this recipe, I kept thinking, “This can’t be right. This can’t be right.” The only flavor in this cake comes from cinnamon and nutmeg, and a half teaspoon of each to over 6 CUPS of flour? The crust cracked and separated from the loaf (a symptom of overproofed dough, yet the dough hardly rose during the 90 minute proofing time.) This vasilopita is one of the ugliest cakes or breads I’ve ever baked. The crust is extremely tough. I split the dough into two round cake pans (I can’t imagine making this into just one gigantic cake, yet the recipe simply says “Put the dough into a pan,”) and let it proof for close to 90 minutes (yet it hardly rose – no small wonder as there was a huge amount of dough.) When I put it in the oven, it rose very tall. Despite rising so tall and being a rather voluminous cake/bread/whatever it’s supposed to be, it’s a strangely dense fluffy… thing.
Pretty simple recipe to follow. 40 minutes bake time was more like 60 to get the inside baked though.
It was very easy to make. I am gifting this to a local restaurant owner with best wishes for a happy and healthy new year. I just thought it would be nice to have someone serve them something (traditional) for a change. I only hope it tastes as good as it smells! Here’s hoping for the best…I used a foil pan that was roughly the same size as the springform pan the recipe called for. I even baked a pure ounce silver coin in it.
Delicious , came light and fluffy and tasty!!!!
Made the recipe as is and it was a huge hit! Just the right amount of sweetness. Perfect recipe and will be making again! Thank you.
I used 1 tablespoon of yeast, 3/4 cups of milk, 3 eggs, 1 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind, 1teaspoon almond extract, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 4 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 cup melted butter and 1more egg for glazing with the almonds. I made it like ordinary bread rising three times and baking it at 350. It turned out perfect.
This is a nice lightly sweet bread. Agree with others.. use 13X9 pan or be prepared for a mess in your oven. The texture is between a pound cake and a bread.. everyone enjoyed this
great sweet taste. also, really convenient b/c you don’t have to knead it. the texture leaves a little to be desired, but the taste makes up for it. the only problem is that this needs to be in a 9×13 cake pan. the 8×8 is entirely too small.
Makes good bread and wonderful toast! Had a bit of trouble with the recipe, because the first part instructs you to put milk, yeast and some flour to rise, but then it doesn’t specifically tell you to mix it in with the big bowl of flour. My dough was almost too much for a 9″ round pan. The flavor is really good, and it makes some of the best toast I’ve ever had! It’s close to my grandmother’s recipe, which I’ve been trying to replicate for several years.