Type what you have

Ingredients

• ✓ mastic
• active dry yeast
• water
• all-purpose flour
• butter
• shortening
• milk
• sugar
• salt
• egg
• almond
• water
• egg
• egg
• almond
• sesame seed

Instructions

1. 1 Pour yeast into a small bowl; add warm water and 1/4 cup of flour. Stir, cover with two damp kitchen towels, and leave in a warm place until bubbly, about 2 1/2 hours.
2. 2 Combine butter, shortening, and mastic in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
3. 3 Stir milk and sugar together in another saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm. Remove from heat.
4. 4 Pour 2 cups flour into the butter mixture and stir well. Add salt, then stir in the yeast mixture. Add 2 more cups of flour and stir well. Stir in 3 beaten eggs. Slowly add the milk mixture and 1 cup of flour and stir well. Add the room-temperature water and the last cup of flour and stir until the dough is not sticky.
5. 5 Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 20 minutes with lightly floured hands. Form dough into a ball. Cover with damp towels and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
6. 6 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease two baking sheets.
7. 7 Divide dough into two pieces and separate each piece into three strands. Braid each of the 3 strands together to form 2 braided loaves. Place on the baking sheets. Nestle the red-dyed eggs between the strands. Brush the dough with the remaining beaten egg. Sprinkle the tops with almonds and sesame seeds.
8. 8 Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

By Jacolyn