A unique Greek inspired muffin recipe made with aromatic tsoureki dough! Tsoureki is a very popular Greek sweet bread, which texture resembles a brioche, only much better!
Ingredients
Scale
For the muffins
65g butter, from cow’s milk, at room temperature (2.3 oz.)
To prepare these tsoureki muffins, add in a bowl the lukewarm water, a pinch of sugar and yeast and stir. Wrap well with plastic wrap and set aside for about 6-7 minutes, until the yeast rises and starts bubbling. Be careful not do add hot water, as it will kill the yeast, nor cold, as it will take forever for the tsoureki to rise. The water should be at the same temperature as your finger, so check it out sticking one finger in; you should feel no difference in temperature.
Use a pestle or a blender to ground the masticha and mahlepi, along with a pinch of sugar and set aside. (These aromatic spices will give this Greek tsoureki its distinctive taste and amazing smell. Watch out not to add any more masticha, as the tsoureki will turn out a little bitter.)
In a saucepan add the butter, sugar and milk. Place over very low heat and stir the mixture, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. The key is to melt the butter at very low heat, so that the temperature doesn’t ‘kill’ the yeast. Remove the pan from the stove and check the temperature. The mixture should be at the same temperature as your finger. If it is warmer, then leave to cool down for a a few minutes and check again.
Pour the butter mixture in a large bowl and whisk in the eggs. Add the yeast mixture and whisk to combine.
In the mixer’s bowl add the flour, the ground mastic and mahlepi, orange zest and the butter-egg-yeast mixture from step 4. Using the dough hook mix at first at low speed, until the ingredients start to combine and then mix at medium-high speed for about 15 minutes, until the dough doesn’t stick on the sides of the bowl. At this point the dough should be really soft, like seen in the picture and a little sticky. (Be careful not to add any more flour, as the tsoureki dough should be really soft and not firm)
Cover the tsoureki dough with plastic wrap and place in a warm environment, until at least it doubles it’s size (for about 2-3 hours). If the environment is cold, preheat the oven at 30C, turn off and place the bowl inside.
Butter the bottom and sides of the muffin tins and divide the dough inside them. Do not add too much dough, as it will rise again. Let the tsoureki dough rise for about 40-50 more minutes at room temperature or in the oven.
In a small bowl add the egg and 1 tbsp water and whisk with a fork. Brush the top of each tsoureki muffin with the egg, garnish with almond silvers and bake in preheated oven at 170C for about 20-25 minutes.
Two -three minutes before you turn the tsoureki out of the oven, start preparing the syrup. In a small pot add the sugar and water and bring to the boil. As soon as the sugar dissolves, remove the pot from the stove and ladle the hot syrup over the hot tsoureki.
Let the tsoureki muffins cool down and wrap with plastic wrap, so that they don’t become hard and dry. Store for up to 5-7 days at room temperature.
Enjoy these delicious Greek inspired tsoureki muffins, over a hot cup of tea or coffee.
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