Greek cooking made easy - I hope!

 

Easter Bread

This is one of the breads baked during Holy Week, the week before Easter. It is normally eaten on Easter Sunday after the Church Service. The three dough plaits symbolise the Holy Trinity, and the red eggs symbolise the blood shed by Christ. This recipe can be made a lot quicker and easier if you have a food processor with dough hooks.
You will need:
10g dried yeast
75g castor sugar
525g plain flour
90g butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 and1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
250ml warm milk
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon finely chopped blanched almonds

Combine yeast, 2 teaspoons of the sugar and milk in small bowl, cover and stand in warm place about 10 minutes, or until, mixture goes frothy. Sift flour, salt and spices into large bowl, stir in the remaining sugar and yeast mixture, butter, eggs and lemon rind, and mix to a soft dough. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, stand in warm place for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size. Again knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Then divide dough into three pieces, and roll them into strands. Plait the strands together, and place them onto a lightly greased oven tray, shape into a ring, pinch ends to seal. Press red-dyed eggs firmly around ring. Cover, stand in warm place about 40 minutes or until dough is almost doubled in size. Brush with extra egg, sprinkle with nuts. Bake in moderately hot oven 10 minutes, the reduce heat to moderate, for a further 25 minutes or until browned.

 

Red-Dyed Eggs

1/2 teaspoon red food dye
250ml white vinegar
125ml warm water
4 eggs

Combine dye, vinegar and warm water in jug, and stir to dissolve dye. Wash eggs well, place in pan, cover with cold water. Bring to boil, pour in dye mixture, boil for 10 minutes. Remove eggs from pan and cool them before using.