“Tsoureki” stuffed with hazelnut praline

The traditional sweet bread (“tsoureki”) with machlepi (mahlab) and mastic flavour is just perfect.. but you can always add hanzelnut praline filling!

Ingredient

• 1100 grams white hard flour
• 80 g Fresh cooking yeast
• 240 g milk full of lukewarm (30-35 degrees)
• 380 g sugar
• 1 ½ spoon of salt
• 8 g mastic beaten
• 10 g mahlepi beaten
• 4 large eggs
• 240 g butter melted lukewarm
• 500 g hazelnut praline cream for filling

For spreading

• 1 egg yolk whipped slightly with 20 ml of milk
• almond slivers

Execution

1. Prepare the barm: pour in a large bowl of yeast, after first breaking it into small pieces.
2. Add 2 spoonful of sugar, 2 spoonful from flour and 200 ml of lukewarm milk. Stir well, dissolving yeast in milk.
3. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and leave the yeast in a warm place for about half an hour.
4. The yeast should be inflated and doubled in volume.
5. Then put in the mixer bin, flour, sugar, salt, mastic and mahlepi. Stir with a spatula. We make a hole in the middle and add the eggs, the remaining tepid milk, half a butter and the infused barm.
6. Put the hook on the mixer and start working at low speed for the first 2 minutes.
7. We slowly pour the remaining butter and then we raise the speed slightly – from low to moderate – for about another 8 minutes or until our dough is smooth and elastic and peels away from the bin.
8. Then, dip melted butter and transfer the dough. Cover the pan with a clean towel and leave it in a warm place for about 3 hours or until the dough doubles in volume.
9. Put the dough on a clean working surface. Knead in hand for about 5 minutes. We divide into 2 straight pieces and then each of them into 3 cords.
10. Place them on different sheet-metal plates, join the 3 cords at one end and make a braid, but not too tight to have enough space to inflate.
11. Fold the edges inward. Do the same with the other three cords.
12. Cover with towels. Leave in a warm place for 1 – 1 ½ hour until it is inflated. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 ° C in the air. Pick the sweet bread with the yolk and sprinkle with the almond slivers.
13. Bake for about 40 – 45 minutes. Leave the sweet breads on the grill until they are completely cold. Just before serving them, cut them in half and fill them with the praline.