Greek sweet bread-Tsoureki

<strong>Preparation: </strong>

Mixture Α:

• In a mixer’s bowl, add the flour, water and yeast.
• Whisk by hand and set aside for XNUMX minutes so the yeast can activate.

Mixture Β:

• Whisk 1 tablespoon of sugar and mastic with a mortar and pestle until finely ground.
• In a bowl, add the mixture of mastic, milk, butter cut into pieces, orange peel, mahlab, vanilla extract and granulated sugar.
• Put on low heat and stir continuously until the butter is melted and all the ingredients are completely combined. Attention! You do not want the mixture to boil. You just want it to get warm.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
• Add eggs and salt. Whisk thoroughly.
• Attention - eggs should be 50 g, not larger. You want the eggs to weigh a total of 200 g.
• Add yeast-containing mixer to the bowl. Run for 5 minutes on low speed with the hook extension.

Mixture C:

• Add flour and continue beating for 10-14 minutes. Start knocking at low speed until all the flour has blended, and then you can speed up.
• Add melted butter and beat on low speed for 5-7 minutes, until all the butter is absorbed.
• When the dough is completely pulled from the sides of the pan, it is ready.
• Coat a separate bowl with a little vegetable oil and transfer the dough to it. Cover with a plastic wrap or towel and set aside for 1 - 1 ½ hours, until it doubles in size.

For assembling:

•Divide the dough into two parts and then divide each part in half again to create four equal sized pieces.
• Shape round strips about 50 cm high.
•Connect the four ends on one side so that you can create a braid.
• It will help you assign a number to each bar, 1-2-3-4.
• Fold tape 4 over tape 2.
•Strip 1 over strip 3.
• and remove 2 via strip 3.
• Repeat this process as many times as necessary to create a beautiful braid.
• Carefully transfer to a baking pan lined with parchment paper and follow the exact same process to make the second tsoureki.
• Preheat the oven to 150 * C (300 * F) fan.
• Cover both loaves with a towel and allow them to rise for about 30 minutes.
• Brush with egg wash (egg yolk diluted with water) and sprinkle with almond slivers.
• Bake for 50-60 minutes.
• Instead of 2 loaves of sweet bread, we can make 4 of them and bake them for 30 minutes.
•When ready, remove from oven, allow to cool and serve.