Traditional holiday baking
Ingredients
Flour (village) – 1 kg
Milk – 350 ml
Fresh anari cheese (unsalted) – 300 gr
Butter (or clarified butter) – 50 gr
Dry yeast – 1 sashet
Water – 100 gr
Sugar – 100 gr
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) – 1 teaspoon
Herbs and spices: cinnamon – 2 sticks, mahleb* – ¼ teaspoon, sesame – 100 gm, mastikha** – ¼ teaspoon, anise – 1 teaspoon, clover – 6 pieces
Cooking method
To prepare the sesame seeds: boil them in water that contains lemon juice for 3 minutes. Dry them thoroughly.
Melt butter over medium heat.
Grind all the spices and add 1 tea spoon of sugar.
Mix the dry yeast with water and add 1 tea spoon of sugar.
Mix all of the ingredients (ground up spices, flour, salt and melted butter) in a bowl.
Heat up the milk and sugar (without bringing it to a boil!) is a pot. Remove from heat and add anari cheese (which you need to first mince using a potato masher). Add the yeast and mix well.
Add the flour (with spices and butter) and mix well using a food processor. Spend about 10 minutes mixing everything.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can use your hands — in which case you’ll need to spend about 20 minutes on the dough. A bread machine would also come in handy, fi you bake using the «dough» setting.
Once you are done kneading the dough it shouldn't stick to your hands. Divide it into six pieces, which you’ll need to shape into six rolls. Cover them in sesame, connect the two ends, make slight incisions at the curves and make grid-like marks on the top.
Put the bread on a baking sheet, cover with a towel and let sit for an hour.
Bake at 150 - 180 °C for 45 minutes, or until a golden crust.
Serve hot or cool.
Footnote:
* Mahleb — aromatic spice produced from wild cherry seeds. The taste is reminiscent of bitter almond and cherry. The spice is used in the preparation of sweets in order to highlight their taste.
** Mastikha — is a food additive and a natural flavoring agent derived from Pistacia Lentiscus's tar. It is used in cooking as well as to make «Elma» gum, whose anti-bacterial properties are said to be very good for your gums and even intestinal health.
