Easter Loaves

Preheat oven at 200° C.

1.  Make the leaven (very hard) using almost half of the flour and then place in a wooden bowl.

2.  Burn the oil and when it cools down spread it over the rest of the flour in the wooden bowl; the flour reacts to the hot oil.

3.  Stir very well and create a crater where we pour the rest of the liquid ingredients: the orange juice, the lye, the cognac, the oil, the cinnamon … add the sugar and stir until it turns into dough.

4.  Shape piece by piece the dough into long strips making them approximately a finger thick. Using your imagination and creativity shape the dough into various forms.

• The most often used shapes are a dragon, a hat, a grape, a small bag, the letter A, the number 8, a braid etc.

5.  Then place the shaped dough on a flat surface in order to complete the decorations.

6.  Wet the edge of a red painted Easter egg to place it on the dough wherever you believe it would fit best to complete the decoration.

7.  Then shape with the dough a long thin strip and wrap it around the egg up to its middle.

8.  After it is decorated we place the dough in the warmest room in the house and cover to maintain it warm.

9.   Once it has risen and is soft and ready  we immediately put it in the oven. Bake.

•  If we wish to give it a golden brown colour then we wipe the top with a piece of cotton that has been dipped in a mixture of beaten egg with sugar.