Greek Celebration Bread: BBA Challenge

The bread of the day for the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, is Greek Celebration Bread. This is an enriched bread made from a master formula that utilizes a wild-yeast starter or a poolish.



Several different breads can be made from the master formula: Greek Celebration Bread, Christopsomos, and Lambropsomo. I chose to make the basic bread. 

The formula uses a wild yeast starter, along with a little commercial yeast, to create an authentic-tasting, yet manageable, bread. If you don't have a starter, you can replace it with an equal amount of poolish. The fermentation and proofing times remain the same. I chose to utilize the poolish method.

If you're interested in learning how to make a different type of Greek Celebration Bread, check out this Greek Easter Bread.


Day 1: Prepare the Poolish
 
Make the poolish the night before and put it in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. Or, if you want to make the bread the same day, do what I did and start the poolish in the morning before work (7:30 am) and make the bread after work. 

Here is what the poolish looks like after fermenting at room temperature for several hours. You can see it's bubbly and foamy. I think it's really cool the way that works!




Evening Day 1: Prepare the Dough and Bake the Bread

Here is the big beautiful loaf in the oven.  I just love that big ball.



Here is the finished loaf cooling on a wire rack. It's huge and beautiful! I probably should've made two loaves, but from the way this looks, I don't think it will last long anyway.


I brushed the loaf with a sugar/water glaze as soon as it came out of the oven.



Then I sprinkled the loaf with sesame seeds.




Here is the sliced loaf. I was right! It is delicious! My son likes it too! Definitely won't last long.


Thanks for joining us this week in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge.

Stay tuned for Day 3 of the Bread Baking Challenge. Next time, we'll be making bagels.

Happy Baking!
Cathy