My recipe for Braided Greek Easter Bread is one of the very first recipes on the blog, since I started it in 2015. Many of you have written to share your good results, others have written with questions about the steps, and, several other friends over on Instagram have made it and posted photos of this recipe on their own feeds! So today I decided to revisit this favorite recipe and show you how to make easy Greek Easter bread (tsoureki)–this time with step-by-step photos.
What is tsoureki
For those of you who are new to my site, Greek Easter bread, or tsoureki, is a brioche-type of yeast bread made with eggs, milk, and butter in the week leading up to Greek Orthodox Easter. It is a delicious breakfast bread whose distinctive flavor comes from an aromatic spice called mahlepi, the ground kernel of the pits of black cherries. This spice is used for baking in Greece and in the Middle East, especially during the Easter and Christmas seasons.
The three-strand braid of this bread symbolizes the Holy Trinity and often a red-dyed, hard-boiled egg is pressed into the dough before baking, which symbolizes the Resurrection. Tsoureki is often given as a gift during Easter time and every family has its own variation, not only for the spices added, but also for the toppings and the shape of the braids themselves.
Step-by-step photo tutorial for the Greek Easter Bread (tsoureki)
— Mix the dough and let it rise in the bowl of the mixer. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and divide the dough into four pieces
— Divide each piece into 3 smaller pieces, form 3 long ropes and start forming a braid
— Continue until you have a braid – You can also make small swirls!
Place the braids on pans lined with parchment paper. Let them rest for a while. Just before baking, brush on a light egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds
— A short trip to the oven, a house that smells delicious, and the tsourekia are ready!
This braided sweet bread is usually eaten on Easter day morning along with the dyed eggs.
They are considered the traditional foods used to break the Easter fast.
Kalo Pascha (Happy Easter) to all my Greek friends and to everyone who is celebrating Easter this Sunday!
Christos Anesti!
A few more favorite Easter recipes from the blog:
Traditional Greek Easter cookies:
Greek Roast Leg of Lamb with Lemon Potatoes:
Steamed Spring Asparagus with Deviled Eggs:
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This bread is absolutely the best yet. I highly recommend it not only for Easter but all year long. Thank you for sharing and Happy Easter
You are welcome Cynthia! I am so glad you liked the Greek Easter bread – it is one of my family’s favorite treats!
Rating
I am working on bread,eggs and asparagus tonight! I look forward to all of it. I got a bunch of oniin skins from the bins in the grocery store! If anybody saw me, the probably wondered what I was doing! I loved the bread!!!!!
Oops onion…?
That’s so funny! I think that if I saw you, I would know that you are planning to dye eggs the natural way…. Those onion skins are gold, but I never think to start collecting them way in advance!
Glad you liked the bread Kathy!
Have you ever tried to freeze the dough after braiding it?
Hi Barb,
I have not tried to freeze the dough after braiding it, but you can easily freeze the baked tsoureki!