Greek Easter Bread - Tsoureki

My first tsourekia! I'm so proud. I used a bread machine for the working & rising of the dough. I added flax & swapped in almond milk, they look and smell amazing.
Here's the recipe I used WITH my modifications. Eventually I will try to tweak it to use wheat flour, a sugar substitute and an egg substitute as well to make it as vegan as possible. All in good time.

Oh, and my Yiayia (grandmother) who lives across the street was in competition with me to see who's tsoureki will turn out better. She is doing her's "old school" no machine, by hand and a slightly different recipe. Papou (grandfather) came by & he thinks mine looked better....we will find out how they taste in a few days :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Almond milk
• 4 cups bread flour (King Arthur)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast (Fleischman's)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon mahlepi (found in mediterranean stores)
• 1 teaspoon masticha from Chios (where my mother's family line is from, also can be found in mediterranean stores)
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large eggs (plus 3 Red dyed Easter eggs for decoration, if you like)
• sesame seeds for decoration
• 1 egg yolk (whisked with 1 tablespoon water for glaze)

Directions:

Prep Time: 4 1/4 hrs

Total Time: 5 hrs

1. 1 Place the milk, 2 cups of flour, and yeast in the bread machine pan and process on the dough setting. (Mine takes around 1.5 hours).
2. 2 While the machine is working (no rush here - you have plenty of time) mix the other 2 cups of flour with the sugar, salt, mahlepi, masticha and the flax seed. 
3. 3 Once the dough cycle is completed, add the flour mixture, olive oil, and eggs. Process again on the dough setting. 
4. 4 Once the second cycle is completed, remove the dough to a well-floured surface. Punch down and form into a ball.
5. 6 Now, divide the dough into three parts. Roll each piece into a rope and braid, working from the center to the ends. Pinch the ends together and turn under.  Although it's in Greek, this video does a great job of showing how to do different designs, braids etc. http://youtu.be/PEQ2n43STKQ
6. 7 Embed the dyed eggs (optional) in the folds of the braid. Cover and let the dough rise until doubled in bulk - about 1 hour.
7. 8 Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the dough has risen, brush it lightly with the egg wash. Then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
8. 9 Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Mine started to darken quickly so I draped some aluminum foil 15 minutes into the baking.
9. 10 Cool on a rack. Store in a brown bag for up to 3 days. (When it starts getting stale - if it lasts that long - you can make french toast with it. I recommend this recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/dennys-style-french-toast-90674 So good!).