Thursday, May 21, 2009

Christopsomos

As the second bread in our Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge, we were to tackle a Greek Celebration Bread, Artos. There are several variations of the basic bread. One of them is Christopsomos, a beautiful, decorative bread full of lovely flavors! For the recipe, please see Google Books.


We start with a poolish of water, flour and yeast. Allow it to rest overnight for a few hours at room temperature and then in the refrigerator. It will be all lovely and bubbly the next day.


Then add the rest of the flour, butter and lovely spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves), yeast, oil, honey and eggs. I left out the allspice because I couldn't find them in the store, and instead increased the quantity of cinnamon (because I just love cinnamon!).

This is the basic Artos bread. To make the variation, add dried fruit (cranberries/dates/figs/cherries), walnuts and raisins. I used dried chopped dates, walnuts and golden raisins. Be sure to include these in the final stages of kneading the dough before the bulk fermentation.


Allow the dough to double in size (about 90 minutes).


After the bulk ferment, divide the dough into 1/3rds and 2/3 rds. Wrap up the smaller portion and put it away in the refrigerator. The larger portion is shaped into a boule, then lightly oiled and allowed to proof at room temperature for about an hour.


When you are ready to bake the bread, take out the smaller piece and divide into half. Roll each half into a rope. Cross the ropes on top of the boule and let the ends hang down. Split each end and roll up to form a fun decorative pattern. If you're having trouble making the ends stick to the boule, apply a little bit of water.


Bake at 350 deg F for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan for even baking, and bake another 20-25 minutes. While the bread is baking, make a glaze of water, sugar, honey and lemon extract (I left this out because I didn't have it).

Brush the glaze onto the bread after you take it out of the oven and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.

The bread was absolutely delicious. I made it on Mother's Day and my mother loved it. The crumb is soft and filled with the deliciousness of raisins, walnuts and dates.


The crust is sweet and sticky with the glaze and the sesame seeds.


I'll definitely be making this bread again!

22 comments:

Susie said...

Very nice loaf.
Glad to be baking along with you.
:)
Susie

Victoria said...

Wow, you did a great job of making the decorative "octopus." I was too scared to try!

Indhu said...

WOW! the bread looks awesome... it looks extremely professional!

Anonymous said...

Your Christopsomos is gorgeous! I wish I had put the glaze on mine, but I didn't - I'm filled with regret!

Unknown said...

Love the shape of the bread and the addition of dates and raisins!

Poornima Nair said...

i just got the book from the library...urs looks eaxctly like the one in the book...awesome.

Rachel said...

and that is just perfect...

Bharti said...

Nice work! Looks awesome.

Raaga said...

you were to bake me loads of stuff... and you ran away :(

lovely bread

Devany said...

Really beautiful loaf of bread!It also looks like it would be great for bread pudding! I am baking mine on Saturday.

Deepthi Shankar said...

I guess that did take quite a bit of effort .. looks good

Suparna said...

Hi
I don't know how I missed so many of ur posts :( just glanced through the missed ones :) will come back for a detailed read.
U've made a beautiful sounding and gorgeous looking bread.
Ciya!
TC

Sia said...

for once it looked like, ahem, tortoise to me!!! I know I need to get my eye tested ;)

CurryLeaf said...

Absolutely Gorgeous.Love it.Perfect Mothers Day Gift to your Mother.No Words to describe the beauty.

bee said...

so so pretty!! and the aroma must have been divine.

Dragon said...

Your bread turned out amazing! I hope mine turns out half as good as yours.

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

Looks very pretty, Arundathi.
I opted out because I didn't have the book. I also just bought a lot of baking books recently and have to work my way through them.:)

Parita said...

Wow that looks perfect...superb!!!

♥Rosie♥ said...

Beautiful looking bread!

Anonymous said...

oh man!! u make the nicest looking breads!!

Shari said...

Wasn't this an amazing bread! Such wonderful flavours! I also will be making it again but meanwhile, it has been fun experimenting with Bagels!! Great job!

Arundathi said...


Thank you all so much!