My favorite part of New Year's Eve is...when I wake up the next day and eat vasilopita! Real talk - I think NYE parties are totally overrated. My favorite NYE to date was NYE 2000; my younger siblings had already gone to bed and my parents let me stay up until midnight. I sat in my inflatable chair (every 90's girl's dream) drinking what I thought was a "virgin strawberry daiquiri" (I'm pretty sure it was a strawberry smoothie) as I fought to keep my eyes open to ring in the new year for the first time. Frankly, no NYE has ever topped that one!
Regardless of how fun or lame NYE turns out, I always look forward to my mom's freshly baked vasilopita. Just like tsoureki (Greek Easter bread), there are all sorts of variations of this recipe and I am 100% convinced my mom's recipe is the best. Some people make vasilopita as more of a cake, but our family has always enjoyed this sweet, dense bread.
As if it isn't already exciting to enjoy a delicious slice of bread, there's another element to vasilopita: there's a coin hidden inside! Each person gets their own piece, and our tradition says that whoever finds the coin will have prosperity in the new year. You can learn more about the Greek Orthodox tradition behind baking vasilopita on my friend, Destinie's blog: Ascetic Life of Motherhood.
Vasilopita
(Makes 1 large bread or 2 small breads; contains gluten, dairy, eggs)
Ingredients:
5-6 Cups All Purpose Flour (or 00 flour, my favorite! Plan to use more flour if you use 00)
1 ¾ Cups Granulated White Sugar
½ Cup Lukewarm Milk (whole milk, 2%, skim, or almond work well)
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter + more for greasing the bowl/pan
6 Eggs, lightly beaten
2 Packages Yeast (4 ½ teaspoons), dissolved in ½ cup warm water
½ Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon Nutmeg
For the top of the bread:
Blanched Almonds (whole or slivered)
Sesame Seeds
1 Egg Yolk
Method:
1. When I bake, I make sure to carefully prepare and measure out my ingredients first. (This helps the whole process feel less overwhelming and keeps me from forgetting anything!) Warm your milk on the stove or in the microwave. Melt your butter on the stove (careful not to let it burn!) or in the microwave. Note: you don’t want the butter or milk to be hot – they should just be lukewarm! You don’t want to accidentally scramble your eggs in the dough. Lightly beat your eggs in a small bowl. Dissolve your yeast in warm water by sprinkling it on top of the water, letting it sit for a couple of minutes, and then stirring with a spoon until it has dissolved.
2. Sift 5 cups of flour into a large bowl. Add the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir with a wooden spoon until completely combined.
3. Using your hands, make a well in the flour. Pour in the milk, yeast/water mixture, butter, and eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough starts to come together.
4. Get ready to knead the dough. Dump the dough out onto a clean, floured board or counter and begin kneading it with your hands. The goal should be for the dough to come together as a smooth, firm ball, and it will take a few minutes of kneading. If the dough is sticky, add more flour as needed, a little at a time, until it all comes together smoothly.
5. Grease your bowl with some melted butter and brush the dough with melted butter as well. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and then place a kitchen towel on top of that. The dough will rise best in a warm place. If your kitchen is cold, my favorite trick is to warm up the oven on its lowest setting, and then turn it off. That creates a nice, warm spot without it being too hot that it’ll kill the yeast. (Note: do not use a plastic bowl if you are going to let it rise in a warm oven!) Let the dough rise for 2 hours – no peeking!
6. After 2 hours, it’s time to knead the dough again. It should ideally be doubled in size. Dump the dough out onto a clean surface with some flour – this can be a counter, cutting board, or even a table. Using your hands, knead the dough a few times, and then you’ll insert the coin! Wrap a coin (my mom always uses a quarter, but I’ve seen people use all different coins) tightly in aluminum foil and bury it into the center of the dough. (When the dough bakes, the coin will move around and won’t end up right in the middle.)
7. This dough can be baked into one large round on a cookie sheet or as two small breads in two 8-inch cake pans. Choose your pan/s and grease it with butter or cooking spray. Alternatively, you could line your pan with parchment paper. Place the dough in the pan let it rise again, in a warm place, for an hour. (I like to cover it with plastic wrap and a towel again here, just so it doesn’t dry out.)
8. Preheat your oven to 350 (if your dough is rising in the oven, take it out first and let it finish rising on top of your oven). When the dough is finished rising for the second time, use a pastry brush to brush the top of the dough with a beaten egg yolk to help it get golden brown in the oven. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over the whole top of the dough, and then arrange the blanched/slivered almonds into the numbers of the date of the new year.
9. Time to get baking! The baking times will vary between ovens, so always err on the side of less time and add more time if needed; for the large bread, it will likely take about an hour. Start with 45 minutes and check the bread to make sure the top isn’t burning. If it starts to look brown early, cover the top loosely with tented aluminum foil. Continue baking in five-minute increments, until the top of the bread is golden brown. If you aren’t sure whether the bread has baked through in the middle, you can use a toothpick or sharp knife to carefully check inside of it. **If you are baking two smaller loaves, start your timer at 25 minutes and follow the same baking instructions, with the final time ending up closer to 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven.
10. Let the bread cool completely before cutting into it. It usually works well to bake it during the day on New Year’s Eve and cut into it just after midnight or in the morning of New Year’s Day.