Vasilopita: New Year’s Sweet Bread

A delicious sweet bread with a fun tradition!

Watch the Video:

Vasilopita is the Greek New Year’s sweet bread with a coin baked into it. Whoever gets the slice with the coin in it is considered lucky for the next year. It’s a fun tradition that we do every year, and the kids really enjoy it. I even like to have a goodie bag made for whoever gets the coin. It’s fun to see who ends up with it each year. This is the bread version but click here if you’d like to try the cake version. They are both delicious!

You’ll make this every year!

• Soft cake-like
• Sweet brioche-style bread
• Orange zest you can see
• A special, delicious, and fun sweetbread to bring in the New Year!

Sweetbread ingredients

• Whole milk, lukewarm
• Sugar
• Active dry yeast
• All-purpose flour
• Eggs, at room temperature
• Sugar
• Pure vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Ground mahlab
• Ground mastic gum
• Zest of 2 oranges
• ​Salt
• Butter softened and cut into cubes
• Sesame seeds or sliced almonds for garnish
• Powdered sugar for dusting
• A coin wrapped in foil

Egg wash:

• 1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons milk

Optional fillings:

• raisins, cranberries, candied citrus peel, chocolate, nuts

How to make Vasilopita –New Year’s Sweet Bread

1. In the bowl of a tabletop mixer, combine the milk, yeast, sugar, and flour. Let it sit for 10 minutes until the yeast is activated-a cloud will appear over the top of the mixture as soon as the yeast is activated.
2. Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt in a separate bowl. Then, add the orange zest and ground mahlab and mix well.
3. Add the eggs, remaining sugar, and vanilla extract to the activated yeast mixture.
4. Then, add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and knead for 15 minutes. The dough will look more like a batter.
5. After kneading, add the softened butter cubes and knead until it is all incorporated into the dough. If adding other fillings, add them now and knead until it’s all incorporated.
6. Transfer the dough to a large bowl that has been greased with two tablespoons of olive oil.
7. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and set aside for 2 hours to rise until doubled in size.
8. Grease and line a 10 inch round by 3-inch deep baking pan with parchment paper.
9. Then, punch down the dough to release the air and transfer it to the prepared baking pan.
10. Cover a coin with aluminum foil and place it somewhere inside the cake.
11. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap, and set it aside to rise for 30 minutes.
12. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees °F. 180 °C.
13. Brush with egg wash and top with sesame seeds or sliced almonds.
14. Then, bake for 1 hour or until it becomes a deep mahogany color on top and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
15. Allow it to cool completely—about an hour.
16. Remove from pan and add the new year numbers.

Don’t forget the year!

Vasilopita usually has the upcoming year’s date on it. You can do this by decorating your sweet bread, writing the numbers with icing, using a stencil to dust the date in powdered sugar, or creating the date in almonds or sesame seeds. I tried to use the dough to make the numbers in my video, but they melted into the bread. You could kind of see the numbers, so if you want to leave the top clean to show the beautiful color, this would be an option. Make it your own, and let me know how you added the year!

Happy New Year!

Vasilopita is usually served on New Year’s Eve. I serve it with butter and hot Greek coffee because the creamy butter goes so well with it. It’s the perfect dessert to bring in the new year. Add your family’s favorite fillings and have fun waiting to see who gets the slice with the coin. Kali Orexi!!

More Vasilopita Recipes:

• Rose & Pistachio New Year’s Cake
• Vasilopita Spiced Cake: Greek New Year’s Eve Cake
• Chocolate Swirl Vasilopita Wreath
• VASILOPITA CAKE: NEW YEAR’S CAKE (NO YEAST)

Continue to Content

VASILOPITA: NEW YEAR'S SWEET BREAD (GREEK PANETONNE)

Yield: 1 (10 inch round) Vasilopita

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Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup whole milk, lukewarm
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 and ½ cups (650g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground mahlab
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mastic gum
• Zest of 2 oranges
• ​1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 oz (113g) butter softened and cut into cubes
• Sesame seeds or sliced almonds for garnish
• Powdered sugar for dusting
• A coin wrapped in foil

Egg wash:

• 1 egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons milk

Optional fillings:

• raisins, cranberries, candied citrus peel, chocolate, nuts

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a tabletop mixer combine the milk, yeast, sugar, and flour together. Let it sit for 10 minutes until the yeast is activated. A cloud will appear over the top of the mixture as soon as the yeast is activated.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the orange zest and ground mahlab and mix well.
3. Add the eggs, remaining sugar and vanilla extract to the sponge mixture.
4. Add the flour mixture. Knead for 15 minutes.
5. Add the softened butter and knead until it is all incorporated into the dough. Add the dried fruit, if using and knead until it's all incorporated.
6. Transfer the dough to a large bowl that has been greased with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
7. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and set aside for 2 hours to rise until doubled in size.
8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees °F. 180 °C.
9. Grease and line a 10 inch round by 3 inch deep baking pan with parchment paper.
10. Punch down the dough to release the air and transfer it to the prepared baking pan.
11. Cover a coin with aluminum foil and place it inside the cake. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap.
12. Set aside to rise for 30 minutes.
13. Brush with egg wash and top with sesame seeds or sliced almonds.
14. Bake for 1 hour or until it becomes a deep mahogany color on top and the center is cooked. You may check by inserting a toothpick in the center.
15. Allow to cool completely. About an hour.
16. Remove from pan and dust with confectioner’s sugar.
17. Kali Orexi and Happy New Year!!

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