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Zakynthian Christmas Kouloura (sweet bread)
Zakynthos is an Island of strong religious character and what better way to celebrate the birth of our Savior with this Zakynthian sweet bread. The customs that go with this I have already posted in a previous blog.Zakynthian traditions.
The bread is eaten on Christmas Eve and is very symbolic to every Zakynthian.
What you will need.
1 kg flour for all purposes
3 sachets of dry yeast
1/2 to 1 cup warm water
2 cups red wine slightly warmed
Then you will need to add to the dough:-
1/2 cup. olive oil
1 cup. black raisins
1 cup. White raisins
1 cup. chopped walnuts
1 cup. sugar
orange zest and mandarin zest
50 g. of pine nuts
a pinch of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1tsp. aniseed (γλυκάνισο)
For the decoration.
Sesame seeds, chestnuts, sugar, confectionery or just icing sugar and caster sugar. Caster sugar, you can put a few drops of food coloring
Now for the preparation:-
Place in a large bowl the flour and mix it with the yeast.
Add the wine slowly but kneading the dough as you go and then add the warm water, so that the dough does not stick a lot to your hands.
Leave in warm place (near a radiator or in an oven at 50 degrees. However if you want to do it the traditional way, in a heated room, wrap the bowl with the dough inside in a woolen blanket or two, the women even say to get a pair of man’s pair of trousers to ensure the dough will double in size. which ever you choose make sure you leave it to rise for at least an hour.
Once doubled, then, add the remaining ingredients. Knead into a bread formation and put the mixture in a greased baking pan.
Allow 1 and 1/2 hours to rise again, no need to wrap it up this time just put it back in the warm spot and wait til it fills the baking pan, meanwhile preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Once the dough has filled the baking pan, bake for 1 hour and 15mins at 180 degrees. To check to see if it is ready, I usually stick a knife in the center to make sure it is cooked right through as when yo take the knife out there shouldn’t be any dough stuck on the knife.
Set aside to cool completely, when done so brush the surface of the bread with oil or honey and sprinkle over with the decorative confectionery, colored sugar, chestnuts, or whatever else you desire.
TIP:
Do not put more sultanas or currants than you should as the bread will turn out like mud.
Merry Christmas
