Greek Easter Bread is a braided round sweet bread with decorative colored eggs baked right into the dough. Make sure to start this recipe ahead of time, as it needs a few hours to rise.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 5 hr 25 min |
| Prep: | 40 min |
| Inactive: | 4 hr |
| Cook: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 1 loaf |
Ingredients
- 1 envelope active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/3 cup milk
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing bowl
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg lightly beaten for egg wash
- 2 teaspoons ground fennel seed
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 3 hard-cooked eggs, dyed red
- Vegetable oil, for rubbing
Instructions
- Pour 1/3 cup water that is hot to the touch (about 110 degrees F) into the bowl of a stand mixer. Gently whisk in the yeast, 1 tablespoon of the flour and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Cover with a towel and set aside until bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes (depending on the temperature of the room).
- Meanwhile, heat the milk in small saucepan over medium heat until bubbles start to form around the edges, about 6 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter, remaining sugar and salt. Set aside to cool, about 5 minutes.
- Using the paddle attachment, stir the milk mixture into the yeast mixture. Stir in the 2 beaten eggs. Gradually mix in the remaining flour, fennel seed and almond extract, and beat until a soft dough forms. Increase the speed to medium-high, and beat until the dough pulls away from the sides and forms a ball, about 5 minutes (the dough will be sticky).
- Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead, adding more flour as needed, until the dough is as smooth as a baby’s bottom, about 5 minutes.
- Put in a lightly buttered bowl, cover and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Punch down the dough.
- Lightly flour a work surface. Place the dough on the surface and cut into three equal parts. Gently roll out each piece into a 16-inch-long rope. Line a wide-lipped cookie sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the ropes to the prepared sheet. Press the ropes together at one end and braid loosely. Arrange the braid in a circle. Press the ends of the dough together. Gently stretch the circle to make it 10 inches across and the hole in the middle 3 1/2 inches across. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Rub the eggs with a little vegetable oil, and then buff with a paper towel. Gently press the eggs into the dough, evenly spaced. Cover and set aside until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the bread with the remaining beaten egg. Bake until the loaf is dark golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped, about 45 minutes. Cool about 30 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 14 servings |
| Calories | 301 |
| Total Fat | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Carbohydrates | 46 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 83 mg |
| Sodium | 204 mg |
Reviews
I am a Greek American. A Yiayia to 6 grandchildren. I have made the Greek Easter bread many times and found this recipe to be very good. I did make 2 loaves, and increased the almond extract to 1 teaspoon Also added zest of one orange for some orange flavor. I did not use the fennel since I wanted a sweeter bread. I added red eggs which color represent the blood of Christ after baking as some of the other reviewers said to do. There should be 3 eggs to represent Christ, Theotokos, and Holy Spirit. It was delicious and I will be using this recipe again. Happy Pascha
Even being Greek American, this was the first year I made my own tsoureki. I added a bit of cinnamon and orange zest, and swapped 1/4 tsp almond extract for 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. About 5 minutes after I took the bread out of the oven, I scored the middle and placed a dyed egg there. Everyone loves it!
Why can’t you eat the eggs? We have always eaten them after we play the egg cracking game to see who gets good luck. I agree the dyed eggs pictured here are garish. We boil yellow onion skins to get a deep red color and then hard boil the eggs in the dyed water. If you want really red, use brown eggs! I also only use mastika for a spice and grated orange zest. Otherwise a good recipe to follow.
Yaya approved! Swapped vanilla extract for almond extract due to nut allergy.
We don’t use garish colored eggs in our Eastern Orthodox tradition. The other reviewer is correct- use natural dyed eggs and add them as the recipe states or add them at the end (poke holes in the bread). Really appreciate food network posting this recipe – but still not as good as my Baba’s recipe though 🙂
My husband’s mother and grandmother were both Greek. I made this for Greek Easter and my husband said the smell of the kitchen while it was cooking brought back memories. We were all going to “just have a test taste” before dinner but pretty much polished it off. It was wonderful. It took some time but wasn’t difficult. Followed the recipe except for a couple tweaks-used bread flour rather than all purpose flour and a dough hook rather than the paddle attachment. It was easier to remove the dough. This recipe is a keeper!
the directions state that I should let the dough raise a third time after braiding and rising. Is this correct?
This turned out fantastic. Instead of baking it into a round loaf I made it into two six-braided loaves, like Challah bread, and dotted the surface with sesame seeds. I covered it lightly with foil for most of the baking and uncovered it the last 20 minutes. My oven runs hot so I baked it at 325 degrees. It was perfectly browned, and gorgeous, the texture was soft and fluffy, the taste was wonderful. The only thing I would change would be to add an additional egg yolk for more yellow color. I did not put eggs into the outside loaf.
I have not made this bread recipe yet but it looks very good. Someone gave me a good hint years ago about the eggs and it works perfectly. Bake the bread without the eggs. After it’s done and cooled slightly cut little holes and put the eggs in then. None of the dye will run. Works perfectly. Hope this helps.
Good except dye from the eggs went into the bread, next time I’ll not use dyed eggs