Tsoureki (
Greek: τσουρέκι) also known as šurēk (شُريك,
Arabic), čöreg, čʿorek, katʿnahuncʿ (
Armenianչէօրէկ, չորեկ, կաթնահունց), çörək (
Azerbaijani), çyrek (
Albanian), kozunak (
Bulgarianкозунак), cozonac (
Romanian) or paskalya çöreği (
Turkish) is a sweet holiday bread made with flour, milk, butter, eggs, and sugar and commonly seasoned with
orange zest,
mastic resin, or mahlab. Lampropsomo, a variation of tsoureki commonly called "Greek Easter bread," is made by Greek communities during
Easter, not only in Greece, but also in other countries with Greek communities. It is also called Armenian Easter bread and gets eaten during Easter in
Armenia and the
Armenian diaspora.[2]
Etymology
The Greek word tsoureki is borrowed from Turkish çörek. Some dictionaries claim that this is derived from the Old Turkish root çevir- 'turn'.[3] The ancient Armenian name was "bsatir - պսադիր" ("bsag պսակ" - "crown" and "tir դիր", is the root of "tnel դնել" verb: "to put"). This Armenian name is in allusion to
Christ’scrown of thorns.[4][5]
Greek tradition
There are different variations of the Greek tsoureki holiday breads including a round Christmas loaf with a cross decoration called Christopsomo, a braided
easter bread with whole dyed eggs pressed into the dough called lampropsomo, and a loaf with a coin hidden inside for good luck called vasilopita that is baked for St. Basil's Day (New Year's Day).[6]
This bread is sometimes called "Armenian Easter bread".[12] In Armenian, the common name is choreg (չորեկ) or chöreg (չէօրէկ), from the Turkish, with the Armenian name gatnahunts (կաթնահունց) being less common. Before baking choreg, the surface is painted with egg yolk, and the heat of the oven browns it until it acquires a reddish-brown tone that represents the blood of Christ. Traditional Armenian choreg omits the dyed Easter eggs.[13]
Its
Turkish name is paskalya çöreği 'Easter çörek'. It does not include whole eggs pressed into the dough as decoration.[14][15] Some recipes substitute a neutral-flavored oil, such as
sunflower oil, and margarine in place of milk and butter.[16] The dough may be seasoned with orange zest,
vanilla, mahlep and slivered almonds.[17][18]
Sometimes tsoureki is used as a gift for special occasion, for instance, it can be given as an
Easter gift from children to their
godparents.
Christmas bread
Christopsomo (Χριστόψωμο), which translates as "Christ's bread", is a traditional Greek holiday bread that is sometimes decorated with whole
walnuts, sesame seeds and slivered almonds.[19] Also called Christmas
fruit bread, the tsoureki dough may include a combination of
raisins, dried
apricots, dried
figs, orange zest,
cinnamon,
allspice,
cloves,
cardamom,
Mastic (plant resin) and mahleb.[19][20][21] (Some recipes suggest marinating the raisins and dried figs overnight in wines like retsina or mavrodaphne).[22] Some of the dough is set aside for the loaf's cross-shaped decoration.[23]
The bread may be glazed with a syrup made from
honey, orange juice and slivered almonds.[22]
^Roufs, Timothy G.; Roufs, Kathleen Smyth (2014-07-29). Sweet Treats around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-61069-221-2.