Vasilopita is a sweet bread very soft airy and fluffy. A delicious yeast bread made with butter and flavored with orange, vanilla, Mastiha, and Mahlep. Inside it contains a hidden coin and whoever finds it is to have good luck for the whole year!
This type of bread in Greece we call it Tsoureki. There's also a braided Tsoureki bread that we make for Easter. This is a recipe for Vasilopita Tsoureki, a sweet bread baked in a round cake tin. There's also a Vasilopita Cake Recipe.
What Is Vasilopita?
Greek Vasilopita is St Basil's bread. Saint Basil in Greek is called Agios Vasilios and pita means pie. Therefore, Vasilo-pita translates to Saint Basil's pie.
Traditionally made to celebrate his name day on the 1st of January hence why it's also called New Year bread. However, people in Greece cut a Vasilopita until mid-January.
Vasilopita is supposed to bring good luck for the New Year. Especially to the person who finds the coin that's hidden inside!
Greeks cut a Vasilopita at home but also in public places like school, work, etc.
How To Cut Vasilopita
When cutting a Vasilopita you point whose each piece you cut is.
To begin with, cut one piece for God, one for Saint Mary, one for Jesus, one for the Holy Spirit, one for the house, for the fields/land (in past years), and one for every member of the family starting with the older one.
You serve each person his piece right as you cut so they won't get mixed up. And now it's where the fan part begins when everyone starts to examine and search his piece for the hidden coin.
Vasilopita Ingredients
To make Greek Vasilopita bread you need the following:
- Bread flour
- Butter
- Milk
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Dry yeast
- Orange zest
- Vanilla extract
- Mastiha powder or Mastic tears
- Mahlep powder or you can use ground Cardamom or ground Anise instead.
To Decorate The Top:
Decorating a Vasilopita is a way of showing that it's a special occasion bread or cake. In the cake version, more fancy decorations are used than the Tsoureki bread version which is always more minimal.
The classic way of decorating the top of a Vasilopita bread is with sesame seeds. I also add a thin butter glaze with sugar and honey for extra sweetness. Some people arrange almonds to form the New Year number on the surface of the cake before baking.
Dusting icing sugar on top is also a classic way of decorating a Vasilopita. You can place paper numbers on the top of the cake, dust the top with icing sugar, and then remove the paper numbers to form the year number on the cake.
How To Make Vasilopita
To make Vasilopita bread you ideally need to use your electric mixer with the hook attached on. You can make the dough also kneading it by hand. If you don't mind the effort.
First, you need to heat the milk with butter, sugar, orange zest, vanilla extract, Mastiha, and Mahlep. And then allow it to cool down to lukewarm. In a bowl dissolve the yeast with lukewarm water. Then add both mixtures and the eggs and start mixing, adding the flour in gradually.
Knead the dough until it gets stretchy, soft, and elastic. This took me 15 minutes using a hand mixer. So it will take a little bit less if using a high-speed stand mixer and longer if you knead by hand.
Let the dough double in size inside a warm oven. Then press it down and let it double (almost triple) in size again. Brush the surface with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. And finally, bake it until caramel brown on top.
Placing The Coin
Add the coin to the Vasilopita before baking. Do this by pressing it in from underneath the dough, right before you add the dough to the cake tin for the second and final rise.
Storing
Keep Vasilopita at room temperature in an airtight food container for up to 5 days.
Recipe
Greek Vasilopita - New Year's Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
- 570 grams (4â…” cups) bread flour
- 120 grams (1 stick + 1tsp) butter
- 50 ml milk
- 140 grams (â…” cup) sugar
- 3 medium-sized eggs lightly beaten
- 18 grams (2 tablespoons) dry yeast
- 60 ml lukewarm water
- 1 orange zested
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ teaspoon Mastiha powder or ½ teaspoon Mastiha tears
- 2 teaspoons Mahlep powder may use Cardamom or Anise instead
- coin
To Decorate On Top:
- 1 egg white
- white sesame seeds
- black sesame seeds or poppy seeds
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Heat the milk, sugar, butter, orange zest, vanilla, Mahlep, and Mastiha (if using tears see Notes below) in a saucepan over low heat. Just until the sugar and butter melt. Then set aside to cool.
- Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water.
- Add both mixtures together with the eggs to the bowl of your electric mixer with the hook attachment on. Start beating over low speed.
- Gradually incorporate the flour. Keep beating until you get a stretchy and elastic dough (about 10-15 minutes).
- Place dough in an oil-greased bowl and cover with a dampened tea towel.
- Turn on the oven to 100°C / 210°F fan for 2 minutes. Then turn it off and place the bowl inside.
- Let the dough rise inside the warm oven until doubled in size. For about 1½ to 2 hours.
- Press the dough down to remove the air. Then transfer the dough to a working surface and shape it into a round ball first then flatten it to a disk shape. Press the coin underneath to insert it into the dough.
- Add the dough to a round 8-inch (20 cm) Springform tin greased with butter.
- Allow the dough to rise until doubled again. You may place it back in the oven.
- Remove the pan from the oven once the dough has doubled in size again.
- Preheat oven to 170°C / 340°F.
- Make the egg wash. Mix the egg white with one tablespoon of water.
- Brush the top of the dough with the egg white. Then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake for about 45 minutes, until nicely browned all over.
- Make the glaze. Melt the 1 tablespoon of butter together with the 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Pour it all over the Vasilopita.
- Cool. Place the cake pan on a cooling rack then allow the Vasilopita to cool inside the pan before removing.
- Cut and serve when the Vasilopita has cooled down to room temperature.
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