Tsouréki, Greek Easter bread

Name: tsouréki, Greek Easter bread
Total time: 245 min
Yield: 20
Ingredients: 500 g flour; 1 bag instant yeast; 1 anise stick; 1 teaspoon cardamom; 3 bag vanilla sugar; 1 orange; 4 tablespoon orange juice; 2 big eggs; 1 egg yolk; 200 g sugar; 125 g butter; 1 tablespoon kirsch; 120 ml warm milk; 4 egg; 1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the yeast, anise, cardamom, salt, vanilla sugar and orange zest.
In another container, beat the eggs with the sugar and the butter with the hand mixer with whisks into an airy and creamy mixture.
Mix this egg mixture with the hand mixer through the flour mixture.
Add half of the orange juice, the kirsch and the milk while beating.
Continue to beat until the dough is mixed well.
Then knead the dough on a floured surface for 5-8 minutes until it is supple and elastic.
Form the dough into a ball, put it back in the bowl.
Leave it covered with cling film in a warm place for 2 hours until the volume has doubled.
Knead the dough for a while, divide it into 3 equal pieces and form into 3 long rolls.
Make the rolls a nice braid and stick the ends together on both sides for an elongated bread.
For a round bread: bend the braid around and also braid the end together.
Place the braided dough on a griddle covered with parchment paper and push the colored eggs between the braid.
Let the dough loosely covered with cling film rise again for 1 hour until the volume has doubled.
Preheat the oven to 200 ° C.
Beat in a bowl the egg yolk with the remaining orange juice and brush the dough with it.
Slide the Easter bread in the middle of the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
Switch the oven temperature back to 180 ° C and bake the bread for another 20-25 minutes.
The bread then sounds hollow when it is tapped.
Let the Easter bread cool down.