Recipe of the Month – How to make the perfect Vasilopita

Recipe of the Month – January 2013
presented by Chef Apostolos Demou at The Romanos, A Luxury Collection Resort, Costa Navarino.

Preparation

• To prepare the first mixture for the dough heat the milk together with the 30gr of sugar in no more than 45C. Then add and disolve the yeast inside.
• To prepare the rest 300gr of sugar, you add the masticha, kakoule and crashed machlepi together with the fresh vanilla bean and some orange zest. You then let it rest.

Cooking

Chef’s Tips: The most important thing of this recipe is the resting stage of the dough where you really need to let it rest till doubles up in size.
Always use low speed at the mixer and don’t whisk at the highest speed.
You can add almonds before bake and can finish the decoration with some icing sugar.

• Place into the mixer the the prepared dough and add the 200gr flour and mix it until it becomes smooth.
• Then leave the dough rest for 20 minutes.
• After the dough is ready you add the prepared sugar, the salt and the butter and you place them in the mixer again.
• Once mixing for one round you start adding the aggs slowly in the mixer.
• Once the eggs have been added, you then pour little by little the 750gr of flour in low speed and mix for about 8 minutes.
• Then place the baking paper on the baking pan. Place the dough mixture in the baking pan and make sure you spread it equally from side to side.
• You leave the dough rest for 20 minutes and once ready you may “write” the year date on the dough.
• Disolve one egg yolk with water and brush the surface of the dough.
• Bake the mixture in the oven at 150C and for about 45 minutes until the color becomes golden brown.
• Once ready, let it cool for a while and remove from the pan.
• Finally add the icing sugar.