AROUND GREECE
Politiki vasilopita
Ingredients
What you need:
- 9 cups of all-purpose flour
- 60g. of fresh yeast or 1 sachet of dried yeast
- ½ cup of tepid milk
- 2 cups of sugar
- 6 eggs slightly beaten
- 1 ½ cup of butter from milk
- 1 tbsp of pounded mahlab
- 1 tsp of powdered mastic
- 1 egg yolk beaten
- Some blanched almonds for sprinkling the top
Method
- Sift the flour
- Dissolve the yeast in 2 tbsp of tepid milk and 2 tbsp of sugar.
- Add a cup of flour
- Cover the mixture and let it rise for 2 hours.
- Beat the sugar and the eggs over a bain marie (double boiler).
- Heat the butter slightly (until lukewarm)
- Place the mixture of eggs, yeast, half the quantity of butter, mahlab and mastic in a bowl.
- Add gradually the rest of the flour while stirring and buttering your hands until all the butter is blended in the mixture.
- Cover and leave it to rise for 6 hours in a warm place.
- Re-knead the mixture, place it in a greased round baking pan, dress it with almonds, spread the beaten egg yolk on top and bake in a preheated oven at 170˚C for approx. 40 min.
