Tsoureki is a sweet, light bread similar to Brioche and Challah bread but it is usually flavoured with masticha and mahleb or mahalepi.
Tsoureki comes from the Turkish word for çörek which stands for any type of bread leavened by yeast. The recipe may seem onerous but the tsoureki can be eaten in many different ways and enjoyed as is, sliced with coffee or afternoon tea.
This recipe makes two tsoureki but you only really need half of one for the dessert. You may also buy a readymade chestnut tsoureki.
The whole dessert serves 12-14 people.
I have used white chocolate shavings to decorate the mousse as well as marron glace and edible gold leaf but you could finish it with some roasted nuts, nut brittle, fresh fruit or even edible flowers.
For the tsoureki
- 500g plain flour
- 8g instant yeast
- 100g unsalted butter
- 150g caster sugar
- 5g mahleb
- 2 eggs
- 300g sweet chestnut puree
- 100g white chocolate, melted to drizzle the cooled tsoureki
For the chestnut mousse
- 7 egg yolks
- 100g caster sugar
- 4 gelatine leaves
- 500g mascarpone
- 250g sweet chestnut puree
- 500ml double cream
- 2 tbsp vanilla extract
Plus,
1 jar of peaches in Courvoisier
To serve
A few marron glace, gold leaf, chocolate shavings, all optional
Method
To make the tsoureki, melt the butter in a saucepan and leave to cool. Dissolve the yeast in 60ml tepid water.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, put the sugar, ¾ of the butter and mahleb and beat for a few minutes. Add the eggs one by one whilst mixing, the milk and the yeast and change the attachment of the mixer to a dough hook. Add the flour and beat at a slow speed for 3 minutes and then at a high speed for 10 more minutes. Add the remaining butter, reserving a tbsp to grease a bowl with. Continue beating the dough for a couple more minutes. Transfer the dough into the greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave somewhere warm for the dough to rise, at least to double its original size.
Roll the dough out into a sausage shape and cut into four equal sections. Roll out each one into a 30cm x 10cm rectangle. Spread each rectangle with a quarter of the chestnut puree and roll lengthwise ensuring that the chestnut puree is sealed. Twist two of the strands to make a tsoureki and repeat the same with the other two. Transfer to two tins lined with baking parchment and leave in a warm for 30 minutes to proof again.
Preheat the oven to 1500C and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until golden.
When the tsoureki is cold, drizzle with the white chocolate which you have melted in a bain marie or in the microwave.
Take the peach slices out of the syrup and cut in small dice. Keep to the side and reserve the syrup.
To make the mousse, use a standing electric mixer to beat the egg yolks until pale and fluffy. While the eggs are being whisked, put the gelatine leaves in a bowl with cold water to bloom. Once bloomed, squeeze out the excess water and melt in a saucepan over low heat.
Put the sugar in a saucepan with 60ml water and bring to the boil over medium heat. Using a thermometer take off the heat when the temperature reaches 115 degrees. Pour the syrup into the bowl with the egg yolks in a thin stream whisking all the time. Increase the speed and keep whisking until the eggs have tripled in size and have cooled down, approx. 8-10 minutes. Fold the melted gelatine into the egg mixture.
In another bowl whisk the mascarpone with the sweet chestnut puree and using a spatula fold this mix little by little into the cooled egg mixture, fully incorporating it each time.
In a clean bowl whisk the double cream with the vanilla extract to soft peaks. Transfer ¼ of the cream to a piping bag and fold the rest into the egg and mascarpone mixture.
Cut one of the tsoureki into thin slices and use them to line the base and sides of a trifle bowl. Use a spoon to drizzle the tsoureki with syrup from the peaches. Spoon half of the chopped peaches over the tsoureki slices in the bottom of the bowl and spoon over half the mascarpone and chestnut mousse. Scatter the remaining peach pieces over the mousse and finish with the rest of the mousse.
Pipe the reserved cream onto the mousse and top with some chopped marron glace, edible gold and white chocolate shavings.