Greek Recipes

Tsoureki… Greek Easter Bread Yesterday, in preparation for the Greek Orthodox Easter (or Pascha ) celebration, I made the traditional braided Greek Easter Bread known as tsoureki . I baked three loaves, one for my wife and I, one for our goddaughter, and one for our godson. As is typical, along with the bread, I dyed a dozen hardboiled eggs red. There is nary a Greek home anywhere on the planet that will not have these two elements present in the Holy Week to come. Easter is the most important religious celebration in Greece , and the customs and practices related to this period of the calendar are as diverse as the topography and regional differences within Greece . Yet, the dyed eggs and the plaited bread are universal. The reason we braid the tsoureki is to symbolize the Resurrection of Life that comes with springtime. The wedding of this symbolism to the Orthodox Christian Calendar and the figure of Jesus Christ is not a coincidence. The tradition of plaiting bread is old; ...