"Galatenio" - Traditional sweet Easter tsoureki bread scented with mild spices

Beside the Easter red eggs (that I was telling you about yesterday) another traditional sweet treat made (usually) on Holy Thursday is the making of the Easter Tsoureki bread. A semi-sweet, yeasted bread full of taste and aromas of various spices. There are different versions of Tsoureki bread (which nowadays can be found in the bakeries all year round) depending on the region it is coming from as well as Lenten variations of it for those who want something nice during the fasting period. The Tsoureki bread we have today is a traditional recipe coming from Karpathos, one of the Dodecanese islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Its name "Galatenio" literally means "milky" and this specific recipe includes soured milk (which is widely consumed in Greece and other countries in Europe) instead of the classic milk and which of course has nothing to do with spoiled milk that has gone off naturally. Another difference from the classic Tsoureki bread recipes is that, beside the mastic, spices like cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon are added giving a special flavour to the bread. You'll see that the quantity of the ingredients is big in this recipe and it is up to you if you'll make plenty of smaller individual breads or a few bigger ones. Also the shape you'll give to the dough is up to you. Wreaths, twisted or braided will all look nice and they will be delicious 

Recipe of Evi Chalkia,

"Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper

Ingredients:

3 Kg of flour, type 70% (or other specifically for sourdough breads)
1 tea-cup of lukewarm water

1 bottle of soured milk, lukewarm

3/4 tea-cup of granulated sugar

2 tea-cups of cooking oil

2 tsp of salt

3 whole nutmegs, roughly ground

1 tbsp of ground cloves

1 tbsp of ground cinnamon

1 tsp of black pepper

1 tsp of ground mastic (mastic drops pounded with a bit of sugar)

3 sachets of dry yeast

½ tea-cup of butter, melted in very low heat

1 egg beaten with 1 tsp of sugar, to brush the breads with
boiled Easter red eggs to decorate (optional)

Method:

Mix in a bowl the yeast with the lukewarm water and 1 tbsp of the sugar and leave aside to rise and become frothy.

In a larger bowl put the flour, the rest of the sugar, the salt, the nutmeg, the cinnamon, the pepper and the mastic and stir. Make a small well on the centre and fill with the oil, the dissolved yeast, the butter and you start kneading gradually adding as much soured milk as needed so to have a soft and smooth, rather wet dough.

Cover the bowl and let the dough to rise until it is about double in size, at least for 1 hour in a warm place.

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and punch down. You will need to keep sprinkling the dough with flour to keep it from sticking. It will remain a loose, wet dough.

Divide the dough into as many equal parts as you want, depending on the size of the breads you'd like. Give to each the shape you prefer and decorate with boiled red eggs (see photo on top). Place the breads on baking trays and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Leave aside to rise again,

When they are ready carefully brush the breads with the beaten egg mixture.

Put in the oven and bake until they are nicely golden in colour.

Allow to cool down on metal racks before you store.