Festive Bread

Total Time: 3 hrs Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 8 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 ounce yeast
• 1 cup soda water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 -3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups warm milk
• 1/2 cup butter

Recipe

• 1 put the yeast in 1/3 of the warm milk and add the sugar and 1/2 cup flour. stir and let rest until doubled.
• 2 in a deep bowl sieve the flour and make a well in the middle. add the salt, 1 whole egg and 1 egg , the risen yeast, the rest of the warm milk and the soda water.
• 3 knead until bubbles appear on the dough. make it into a ball, raise it and hit it strong 100 times on the table/counter top. (that's the secret to its amaizingly light texture).
• 4 knead again and divide into 3 equal parts. roll each part into a rectangle about 10 inches long.
• 5 brush the first rectangle with melted butter, place the second on top, brush with butter and place the third one on top, again brushed with butter.
• 6 roll the stack into a single roll and cut it into eight pieces. place one slice in the middle of the buttered baking tray, arranging the left seven pices around it.
• 7 cover with a cloth and leave to rest in a warm place until it doubles in size.
• 8 pour the olive oil into the remaining egg yolk , stir and brush the bread with it.
• 9 bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees f about an hour. after taking it out of the oven sprinkle with cold water and cover with a cloth.