Greek Passover Bread

11 items all together to prepare first and set aside.

Dry goods:

1. White wheat flour - 600 grams

2. White granulated sugar - 100 grams

Wet goods:

3. Pressed fresh yeast - 40 gram

4. Lukewarm water - 50 milliliters

5. 2% milk - 250 milliliters

6. Unsalted butter - 125 grams

7. Golden raisins - 100 grams

8. Zest of one lemon

9. Hard boiled eggs - 5 pieces

10. Vegetable oil - 1 Tablespoon

11. 1 egg yolk

Preparation time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Baking time: 40 minutes

3951 kcal according to my calculations using www.aqua-calc.com (I could be wrong !)

Rectangular baking pan

Two large mixing bowls

Brush

Mix yeast with water and 1 teaspoon of sugar, add 3 Tablespoons of flour and make wet dough base. Cover with clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes( last picture shows what it will look like after 15 minutes - you will see nice bubbles forming :)

Mix #1: Mix in a bowl softened butter, sugar, lemon zest and raisins.

Mix #2 Into the bowl with dough base add mix #1, warm milk, stir all to combine, and after that add flour GRADUALLY mixing well after each time and form a dough ball. Lay dough on floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes.

Let dough rest in a bowl covered for about 1 hour in the warm place to double in size.

Be patient !

I had nice temperature of 60 degrees F that day and it took no time for it to double, approximately 45 minutes in my case.

While you are waiting brush some vegetable oil on the boiled eggs.

Decorate some Easter eggs as well.

Preheat oven 180 C or 350 F, set the baking rack on the middle shelf inside the oven.

Take dough out on the flat surface and flatten it.

Cut into 4 parts: make three long dough ropes and twist them like a pigtail.

Roll last forth piece of dough and flatten it, put it flat on top of pigtail piece and press gently on top. Insert 5 eggs covered in vegetable oil on top to form holes.

Let rest for 15 minutes.

Brush dough with mixture of egg yolk and little bit of milk using a pastry brush.

Bake for 40 minutes, rotate pan after 20 minutes if heat is uneven.

Let cool on the baking pan and after that exchange hard boiled eggs with decorated.

Enjoy!

Happy holidays to all!