Vasilopita

4 Reviews

Prep: 1 hr
Cook: 1 hr
Ready In: 2 hr

“The Vasilopita is a Greek New Year's Bread. It is made in honor of a beautiful act of charity by St. Basil to the poor and needy of his flock. In order to insure that the needy would have money for life's necessities, and knowing that the needy were also proud people, St. Basil had the ladies of his church bake sweet bread with coins baked into them. In this way he could give them money without demeaning them at all. It is therefore traditional to bake a coin into the Vasilopita (St. Basil's Bread). The one who receives the coin is considered to be especially blessed for the year.” - by ANNAV

Directions

In a small bowl, stir together 1/2 cup milk, yeast and 1/2 cup flour. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Place 6 cups flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add contents of small bowl, salt, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, 3/4 cup melted butter, 3 eggs and 2 cups milk. Mix thoroughly to make a thick dough.
Scoop the dough into a lightly greased 8x8 inch baking pan. Brush dough with melted butter, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
When dough has risen, insert a clean silver coin into the loaf. Brush dough with beaten egg and sprinkle with chopped almonds. Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 40 minutes.

Reviews (4)

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KZACK

Sep. 23, 2003

"Makes good bread and wonderful toast! Had a bit of trouble with the recipe, because the first part instructs you to put milk, yeast and some flour to rise, but then it doesn't specifically tell y..." See moreou to mix it in with the big bowl of flour. My dough was almost too much for a 9" round pan. The flavor is really good, and it makes some of the best toast I've ever had! It's close to my grandmother's recipe, which I've been trying to replicate for several years."

mariamou

Jan. 5, 2004

"I had to let this rise for at least an hour and a half in order for it to double in size. 30 minutes was not long enough as indicated in your recipe. I baked the loaf in a 9 X 9 in. pan for 40 minut..." See morees. This pan size is questionable as the bread did rise quite a bit during the baking period. I was afraid it would fall over. An 8 X 8 pan would have caused this bread to end up on my oven floor. It was a beautiful dark golden brown color when I removed it from my oven. Later the middle sank. The middle of the loaf was doughy. The flavor of this bread was nothing to write home about. We didn't think this bread was sweet or flavorful enough. The texture was interesting. It is between a cake and a bread. I would not recommend anyone to try this recipe until you perfected the instructions. I am giving this a one star since you need to tweek this recipe."

SINFONY_STAR

Oct. 13, 2003

"great sweet taste. also, really convenient b/c you don't have to knead it. the texture leaves a little to be desired, but the taste makes up for it. the only problem is that this needs to be in a 9..." See morex13 cake pan. the 8x8 is entirely too small."

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