Christopsomo Bread

Christopsomo is a Greek Christmas tradition and translates as 'Bread of Christ.'

Today we're making this lovely bread using a sourdough base.

Let's head to the kitchen to get this great bread underway.

You will need:

• 500 grams of flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 90 grams of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of ground aniseed (roughly two whole star-pods)
• 200 grams of Sourdough Mother Culture
• 4 eggs
• 120 grams of butter

Use a mortar and pestle to grind into a powder the star anise pods.

Dump the flour into a stand mixer bowl then add the salt, sugar and ground star anise. Stir these together, then make a well in the center of the bowl (I used my fist). Pour the sourdough starter into the well then mix with the dough hook attachment in your machine.

Lightly whip the two eggs with a fork then pour these into the flour mixture and continue mixing until it forms a dough.

Cover your dough with a damp cotton cloth or tea-towel and leave overnight for the sourdough to work through the mixture.

Take a portion of the dough and separate into two. Roll each individual ball into a short snake then flatten and place on top of the main ball of dough.

Quick factoid: Sometimes a Christopsomo bread has an 'X' formed on top. The letter 'X' is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ.

Using cooking scissors, cut a small slit down the middle of the length of dough, then curl these around as shown in the photo.

Cook the bread for 45-60 minutes at 200 C (395 F) keeping an eye on it.

I hope you enjoy this bread!