Grandma Euterpi’s traditional tsoureki

Το πολίτικο τσουρέκι της γιαγιάς Ευτέρπης
Grandma Euterpi's traditional tsoureki is what reminds us of our childhood, when we used to knead dough with our grandmother or mother and eat the tsoureki by nibbling it lightly, shortly after baking, dipped in a glass of warm milk or with a little fresh butter and homemade jam!

Grandmother Euterpi’s traditional tsoureki came as a hidden secret in her recipe book. It was a recipe passed down from mother to daughter, from grandmother to granddaughter, along with the traditional flavors of mahleb, mastic, and anise, which accompanied it over the years.

Το πολίτικο τσουρέκι της γιαγιάς Ευτέρπης

All these years, every year, but every year at Christmas and Easter, it’s the same story…
All the relevant websites and blogs showcase the best tsoureki, mom’s fluffy one, grandma Helen’s or aunt Kalliopi’s juicy one, the Politiko, the Smyrnaiko, the mastic one, the other heavy one with fibers, or without fibers, and lots of blah blah blah about who makes the best tsoureki in Athens and who has the purest ingredients and the right technique and where you can get the authentic Politiko, and recipes flood the internet and the place is filled with the smell of crushed mahleb and mastic… (mastiha in Greek)

Well, I think that the best tsoureki is the one that reminds us of our childhood, when we used to knead dough with our grandmother or mother and eat the tsoureki by nibbling it lightly, shortly after baking, dipped in a glass of milk or with a little fresh butter and homemade jam!

The story…

This taste stays in your mind, no matter how much you want to change, to move on to today’s modern, industrialized, elastic ones with chocolate and filled with nuts and meringues…
When you eat them, you will always say to yourself, “Oh, it’s nice, but it’s not like mom’s.”
So I recommend that you open your dusty recipe books, your mother’s or grandmother’s, and find the old recipe inside. Then, together with your children, if they are still young, or even older, gather around the kitchen table, knead the dough, and bake the tsoureki of your childhood, the flavors of your childhood.

And if you are one of the blessed ones and still have your grandmother and mother with you, even if they no longer have the strength to knead, you will have that magical aura from their aged eyes and the blessing from their soft, velvety, wrinkled hands…
Light the fireplace and dip it in a glass of milk and fill it with aromas, memories, but most of all the old taste, the one that has been imprinted on you and will remain unchanged over the years.

As for me, the best tsoureki is that of my mother-in-law from Politissa, Mrs. Euterpi, the heavy one with black sesame seeds and sesame seeds giving it a special flavor, sometimes thin and crispy and sometimes lively, soft, fragrant, tender because she still kneads it today with her own hands.
Grandmother Euterpi’s Polite tsoureki arrived as a cultural treasure with the persecuted Polites and Asia Minor Greeks and changed the course of Greek gastronomy, filling it with flavor and tradition…

Το Πολίτικο τσουρέκι της γιαγιάς Ευτέρπης
Grandmothers

Oh, you grandmothers with your white hair and heads full of knowledge.
With your stories from the past, your memories, your fairy tales, and your culinary knowledge and recipes that overflow and fill our lives with flavor and beauty.

Grandma Euterpi, a native of Therapeia, a long-time cook, with knowledge of dolmades, meat stewed with eggplant, imam, which she always adds a little cinnamon to, and of course, hunkar beyendi with its hidden secrets, just as she was taught by the great Greek chef of Istanbul, Pantelis Tsompanoglou, founder of the famous “Pandeli restaurant,” is also the absolute mistress of tsoureki.
And next to her is Grandpa Christos, the tireless servant, the tireless assistant, the tireless man…
Run and bring me some black sesame seeds, Christos, I’ve run out, and while you’re at it, bring some good flour so they’ll rise and turn out perfect. It’s for the kids…

Grandfather…

Grandfather Politis, (from Constadinople) Grandfather Christos, who would run all the way to the city, to the shop, so that his fisherman friend in Misir Tsarsi, below the shop, would cut him some fresh lacerda and pastirma…
To bring back warm baklava from his friend Gilioglou and fresh kaymak that had just come out, so that it wouldn’t even take ten hours…
He drove all the way from Istanbul to Athens in his old Turkish Lada so that everything would arrive fresh for the Easter or Christmas table, which we celebrated with all the goodies laid out!

Now you might ask me what the recipe for tsoureki has to do with baklava, lakerdas, and pastourma.
And yet it does, because all these things were made with love, and without love there is no tsoureki!
Love is the magical secret ingredient in Grandma Euterpi’s tsoureki…
And no machine will ever be able to make Grandma Euterpi’s tsoureki, which she kneaded with her hands for hours, talking to it, singing to it, caressing it as if it were a little velvety baby.

Ah, her tsoureki… What a taste, what an aroma, what a beautiful presence, what a rise…

Πολίτικο τσουρέκι
The wait

Every year, my children and I waited anxiously for Christmas or Easter. We waited for the tsoureki and koulourakia to arrive, fresh and delicious, from P. Faliro. Grandma and Grandpa would generously share them with love, proud and happy that they could still offer them. The tsoureki, along with the precious sweet lakerdas, finely chopped pastourma, and other meze for the authentic Politiko table.
Along with my mother’s bouffets, these were the basic sweets of the holiday.
The arrival of the tsoureki was the only reason to break the fast. To nibble on some fresh, almost warm tsoureki, along with milk and morning coffee, of course…
You would enter the house and it would smell like the city. It would smell like Grandma Euterpi’s traditional tsoureki.

Mahlep, mastic, and anise mixed with zumboulias from the jar next to it.
It is this smell, these aromas and flavors that I want to convey to you.
I don’t want them to be lost with the passage of time; I want them to bring back memories of all those years.
Let our children find them and our grandchildren taste them. Let’s not allow the ready-made, industrialised, tasteless and aroma-less plastic concoction with chocolate to alter our old taste.
Grandma Euterpi’s traditional tsoureki requires effort, hands to knead the dough, and love. It takes a long time to rise, it needs good flour and fresh, fragrant butter, it needs freshly ground mahleb, it needs, it needs, it needs…
But in the end, it will reward you, it will fill you with the love you gave it and it will fill your home with a wonderful aroma so that you can experience Easter in a different way!

τσουρέκι της Ευτέρπης
Euterpi’s tsoureki Ingredients


1 kg strong flour for tsoureki.
300 g melted butter.
400 g sugar.
6 eggs.
3 sachets dry yeast or
3 pieces 75 g fresh yeast.
1 tsp. baking powder.
1/2 cup lukewarm milk, approx. 150 ml.
2 tbsp. mahleb.
1 tbsp. crushed mastic.
3 tsp. crushed aniseed.
1 cup of coffee water with aniseed aroma.

For the topping

2 egg yolks, beaten with a little water (for brushing)
White sesame seeds and nigella seeds (black cumin)

Method of Preparation

The most important ingredients in this recipe are the flour and the butter.
The better the butter you use, the more fragrant your tsoureki will be.

As for the flour, you’ll need to find the right one through some trial and error. Ideally, choose a flour with a high protein content — around 13–14%. That way, your tsoureki will come out firm and full-bodied.
You can always find the protein content listed on the side of the package, in the nutrition box. Nowadays, most flour mills produce specialty flours specifically for tsoureki, so using one of those will give you a guaranteed success.

Before you begin making tsoureki, read the recipe carefully.
Weigh out all the ingredients, warm the milk, melt the butter, crush the mastiha and mahlepi.
It’s best to pound the whole mastiha and mahlepi in a mortar together with a teaspoon of the sugar. This way, you’ll draw out all the aromas — much better than buying them pre-ground.
And do choose fresh yeast if possible, as it gives the tsoureki a richer flavor compared to the easier dry yeast in a packet.

The Rising (Proofing)

In a large bowl, crumble the fresh yeast into small pieces.
Add 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, and the lukewarm milk.
Mix well with your hand, dissolving the yeast completely.
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and leave the starter in a warm place, away from drafts.

Grandma Euterpe’s politiko tsoureki was always kneaded by hand in the old enamel basin, with a very particular method.
First, she would add the sifted flour to the dissolved yeast mixture, then the melted butter, bringing them together to form, let’s say, a kind of “shortcrust” base.

Then she added the rest of the ingredients along with the milk, gently warmed. She kneaded for about 15 minutes, until the dough no longer stuck to her hands.
Meanwhile, in a small pot of water, she would place the crushed anise seeds, boiling them for 2–3 minutes to release their aroma.
From this fragrant water, she would take one cup and add it to the dough, kneading until it was fully incorporated.

Grandma Euterpe, with her large oven, would set it at 30°C (86°F). She placed the basin with the dough inside, covered with a white tablecloth. And over it all, she laid the old checkered blanket — as if tucking in a feverish child.

The Waiting

And now comes the time for patience — the telling of fairy tales to the children.
For the grown-ups, it was the time to reminisce about life back in the City — the luxuries, the glories, the summers in Prinkipo — and all those grandmother’s tales.

After 4–5 hours, the dough begins to call out, rising and swelling, wanting to escape the basin. It pushes the tablecloths and blankets upward.
It is time for shaping, for weaving the “cords of love” that will transform the lifeless dough into the marvelous, airy tsoureki. Grandma Euterpe’s politiko tsoureki is ready to take its final form.

The dough is divided into four portions. Each one into two or three smaller pieces to form the cords.
With swift movements, she sprinkles a little flour on the kitchen table.
With the skill of a professional, the cords are rolled out quickly thick, elastic, and magical.
Before your eyes, they come together into a beautiful tsoureki.

With gentle hands, she transfers it onto parchment paper, and then onto a baking tray. Back into the oven it goes, to rise once again.
Another hour to an hour and a half of patience, and the tsourekia emerge puffed up, ready to burst — but also ready for their final decoration and baking.

Now the oven is preheated to 180°C (350°F).
Always on conventional top and bottom heat, waiting warm and ready to embrace the wonderful tsourekia.

And Now, the decoration

Beat the two egg yolks at room temperature — never straight from the fridge. Add a little tap water or slightly warm milk, and gently brush the tsourekia on top, carefully so as not to break or deflate them.
Wait a bit, then give them a second coat with the egg wash.

Grandma Euterpe had her own trick with the sesame and nigella seeds: she would make little cones out of baking paper, fill them, and then sprinkle the seeds exactly where she wanted them — sesame here, nigella there, or even poppy seeds.
Other times, she used the classic sliced almonds, creating different designs and patterns.

The baking

The baking must be quick so that the tsourekia keep their moisture and do not dry out.
She baked two at a time on one baking tray, for about 20 minutes, always watching carefully so they wouldn’t catch and burn.
She then removed them, placing them with their parchment paper on a cooling rack, and continued baking the next batch.

This year, the torch was passed on to her daughter. All together — three generations, grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter — kneaded and baked the tsourekia. They shared love, aromas, and the craft of Grandma Euterpe, handed down to the next generations.
So that in future holidays, the scent and love that overflow the home every year will never be lost.

Perhaps the most authentic recipe of all: Politiko tsoureki from the Constantinopolitan grandmother Euterpe.
Rich in aromas that carry you to the streets of the City. Memories from the past that transport you to another time of flavor.

Happy kneading, happy baking!

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