Greek New Year's Bread

4.80 from 5 votes

Greek New Year's Bread is an oil-free sweet bread, almost like a cake made every New Year as a good luck tradition for the upcoming year. My daughter turned my family's Greek New Year's Bread into an oil-free vegan version of our family's annual tradition.

Prep Time1 30

Cook Time40

Total Time1 10

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Diet: Diabetic, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 359kcal

Author: Kathy Carmichael

Ingredients

2 packages active dry yeast
2 cups oat milk or almond milk
¾ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
7 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 flaxseed eggs 4 Tablespoon flaxseed and 12 Tablespoons of water
zest of one and a half oranges
4 tablespoons orange juice

Instructions

Warm 1 cup of oat milk so that it is warm to the touch but not hot. You don't want to kill the yeast.
Add the two packets of yeast and one teaspoon of sugar. Stir and let rise for 10-20 minutes.
Make the flaxseed eggs in a separate bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the remainder of the sugar, flour, and salt. Mix to combine.
Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add the other cup of oat milk (warmed), orange zest, and orange juice into the well.
Once the flaxseed egg has set and the yeast has doubled in size, add these.
Combine by stirring with a wooden spoon.
Flour a surface thoroughly.
Place the dough mixture on the surface and knead for 10 minutes.
Add more flour if it gets too sticky.
Add the dough to a large bowl.
Cover with a towel and leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours to rise until it doubles in size.
Once it doubles, punch the dough down and divide it into two portions.
Add a little flour to the bottom of 2 9 inch round pans (to prevent sticking)
Place one ball in each round 9" pans. Put in a warm place and allow to rise for 1 hour.
Flour your surface again and knead each dough ball for about 5 minutes, adding a quarter wrapped in aluminum foil as you knead.
Put in a warm place and allow to rise for 1 hour.
Score the bread with a design of your choosing.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
Then turn the temperature and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Let cool for 10 minutes.

Notes

Plan ahead; this recipe takes a long time to make. It's a commitment! Don't try to rush or cut corners, or it won't turn out right.

Wash the quarter and wrap it several times in plastic to keep the bread clean.

The plant milk must be warm for the bread recipe.

Allow the flaxseed eggs to sit so they thicken properly before adding to the other ingredients.

The optimum rising temperature for most doughs is around 22 °C to 25 °C or 72 °F to 77 °F. The yeast or sourdough starter is sufficiently active at this temperature to raise bread, pizza, or bun dough. At higher temperatures, the raising agent is too active, and the dough does not have enough time to develop.

Nutrition