Do you ever have a scent that as soon as you smell it you are instantly transferred to your childhood? To your safe place? This New Year’s bread wakes up all sort of memories for me! You see, I come from a poor family so my dad and mum had to work a lot so my siblings and I had the blessing to be raised by our grandparents. My grandfather introduced me to the magical world of books and fairy tales (he was deaf so this was his safe place I guess) but my nan initiated me to all the traditional recipes she brought with her when the Turkish invasion happened. Of course the recipes were all memorised, nothing was ever put down to paper because she didn’t know how to read or write. A part of me is very happy that I got the chance the learn from her and taste her authentic Cypriot food but at the same time I feel very sad that I didn’t get the opportunity to write down everything she knew before her memory stopped helping her.
This bread is yummy and festive and so tasteful that every mouthful is an explosion of Cyprus I guess in your mouth! It has cinnamon, and aniseed and sesame seeds that all work together to create a different bread experience. To top all of these, it is decorated with a Santa Claus to become ever more jovial!It is usually baked on New Year’s eve to be consumed on New Year’s day when all the family gets together. Traditionally, the New Year’s bread or cake contains a hidden coin which gives good luck to the receiver.
This year, I didn’t travel to Cyprus for Christmas so I baked this bread and Cyprus came to me! It’s funny how food has the special quality…
Right, let’s get baking my darlings!
INGREDIENTS
1 kg bread flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
lukewarm water
14 gr yeast
100 gr sesame seeds
5 tbsp aniseed seeds
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1
In a jug, add lukewarm water and 2 tbsp aniseed seeds. Let them infuse while preparing the flour mix.
Step 2
In your mixer bowl, add the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Stir to distribute everything in the flour.
Step 3
Once the water has been infused by the aniseed seeds, drain and discard the seeds. Start adding the water slowly in the flour whilst mixing on low speed with the hook attachment. Keep adding water until all the flour has been incorporated in the dough. Don’t rush though as you are not looking for a wet dough. This dough is quite hard in comparison to other bread recipes. Mix well for 10 minutes on medium speed.
Step 4
Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean surface. Knead for 5 more minutes by hand and place it in a bigger bowl, cover with cling film and let proof for 2 hours minimum.
Step 5
Whilst the dough is proofing, in a pan add the sesame seeds and the rest of the aniseed seeds and cover with water. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain and let them cool.
Step 6
When the dough has doubled in size, remove from the bowl and shape any way you like. In this case, I shaped the bread round and added the sesame seeds and aniseed seeds on top by tapping them gently to stick.
Step 7
Decorate the bread as you wish. I kept a bit of dough before shaping the bread and created a Santa Claus and placed on top.
Step 8
Bake in a pre heated oven at 190° for one hour or until bread is thoroughly baked.
♥ You can bake this bread any time of the year you prefer, it is really that special! I apologise for not giving you a precise amount of water but I have found that each flour brand requires different amounts of water. I know too complicated!!! But as I said earlier it’s quite easy to achieve this dough as you are looking for a hard dough and not a wet one so not a lot of water is required.
If you are making this bread for New Year’s day though, don’t forget to add a coin wrapped in foil before shaping the bread! The anticipation of who will be the winner is always very entertaining.
Happy New Year 2018 lovely people out there!
♥♥ I would like to dedicate this post to my yiayia Milia whose singing, dancing, nurturing and ranting I miss dearly!
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