Christopsomo: Christmas Bread Christopsomo which translates as...

Christopsomo: Christmas Bread

Christopsomo which translates as “Christ’s bread”, is a Greek bread decorated with an early form of the Christian cross with ends that split and curl into circles. Sometimes dough shapes representing initials, birth dates, ages and aspects of the family’s life and profession are added. Christopomo is a rich, round loaf scented with wine soaked figs, anise and orange. It sometimes contains such ingredients as nuts, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and mastic, a dried pine resin. The bread is sometimes served with honey on Christmas Eve. Families leave pieces of bread on the table believing that Christ will come and eat them during the night.

The preparation of Christopsomo is considered a sacred tradition in Greek Orthodox homes, and the care with which it is made is said to ensure the well-being of the home in the year to come. In earlier times, Greek cooks baked large quantities of bread to last for ten to fifteen days, so baking just one or two loaves of Christopsomo the night before Christmas had special significance. The cook would begin by crossing him/herself before starting baking.

CHRISTMAS BREAD

ingredients
350 gr. All-purpose flour
50 gr. Horio Soft Light Butter
50 gr. sugar
220 ml. water
5 gr. Instant yeast
¼ tsp Masticha from Chios island
½ tsp anise
¼ tsp salt
Almonds and cloves for decoration
Sesame

Directions

1. Sift the flour with the salt into a big bowl
2. Form a hole and inside add the butter, the sugar, the yeast, the anise and the masticha
3. Gradually add water
4. Knead until a soft dough is formed that does not stick to the hands.
5. From the dough, take a small portion of the dough, to use for decoration
6. Knead the remaining dough into a loaf and place in a pan, sprinkling it with sesame
7. Use the small portion of dough kept to the side to knead into two strings and place on tops of the loaf, adding almonds and cloves.
8. We leave to the side for 30 minutes in a warm place, where the dough will double in size
9. Preheat the oven and bake the Christmas-bread for 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius
10. Allow the bread to cool on a grill

from MY GREEKITCHEN http://mygreekitchen.tumblr.com/post/134938093951
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