Toast your New Year with New Year’s bread

Press, 28 December 1987, Page 10

Toast your New Year with New Year’s bread

By

Anne Doornekamp

Christmas has its cake and mince pies, but in New Zealand we don’t have traditional foods for New Year. However, we can borrow from other countries’ celebrations. This New Year’s bread, with the number of the new year spelled out in almonds on the top, is based on a traditional Greek recipe. New Year’s bread is a round loaf, rich with milk, butter, and eggs, spiced with orange rind, cinnamon and nutmeg. Aiu.r baking, a coin is pushed into the loaf through a slit underneath. Traditionally, the bread is cut at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The person who finds the coin will have an especially lucky new year. With rising and baking time, the bread takes four hours. Make it in the early evening on New Year’s Eve.

New Year

Bread You will need: % cup milk 3 tsp active yeast y 2 cup melted butter 3 eggs

li/ 2 tsp finely grated orange rind % cup raw sugar about 4i/ 2 cups flour y 2 tsp cinnamon y 2 tsp nutmeg y 2 tsp salt egg for glazing blanched almonds

Heat the milk until lukewarm, pour out y 4 cup, scatter with yeast, stir, and leave to bubble. Pour the remaining y 2 cup milk into a'bowl, melt the butter, and add, Stir in the beaten eggs, orange rind, and sugar. Add the yeast, stir well then beat in 2 cups of flour. Cover the bowl with plastic film. Place in a sink _of hot water. Leave to rise for an hour. Mix in the spices, salt and remaining 222y 2 cups of flour.

Turn on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic. Shape into a round loaf. Place on a buttered baking tray. Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours. Heat oven to 170 deg. C (325 deg. F). Glaze loaf with beaten egg and arrange blanched almonds on top in the number of the new year. Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.