Wizards of baking!

You’ve heard of ladies who lunch.
Well how about this ? Ladies who bake!

Part of our preparation for Easter is baking all those delicious delightful tsourekia (Easter breads). So the weekend of 5-6 April was a-buzz with baking, 

Yes we have our beloved Greek mamas who can conjure up these pillowy braided breads that are such a major part of our Easter feast .

Tsoureki is a traditional, Greek Easter bread, similar to challah or brioche, but slightly sweet and flavored with marvelously aromatic spices like mahlepi (ground cherry pits) and mastic (a pine resin).
Tsoureki is braided and often decorated with red-dyed hard-boiled eggs, which are a symbol of the blood of Christ.

How do I explain why this bread is so special?
Well one way is you’ll have to join us at Easter to try it for yourselves or I can tease your tastebuds like this …….

The bread is soft and tender on the inside with a crunchy glossy crust covered in sesame seeds.
It’s yummy deluxe eaten just as is, tearing bits off or you can use it to scoop up dips or even better, it is simply magic toasted.

We usually eat it on Easter Sunday after our long Lent fasting period is over.

The ladies who bake are a force to be reckoned with. They turned out trays upon trays of these golden-crusted breads that will be sold to raise funds for the church.

Then they also held a baking class at Espresso Bakery in Paarden Eiland where they taught us how to make tsourekia and believe me, that was girl power on steroids!

So all the Easter-orientated activities you’ll be seeing on these posts as we enter Holy Week are part and parcel of our Path to Pascha.
It’s a time when we enjoy all our paschal and cultural traditions as a community.

Community spirit means taking pride in your community. The key to having a spirited and lively community doesn’t rest in the size or the wealth of the community but rather the enthusiasm and energy of the members.
Well we are definitely not short on either of these !

These lovely ladies you see here are both seasoned troupers and not-so-sure newbies who are meshed into the community by joining these informative, entertaining and very worthwhile workshops held throughout the year according to the ecclesiastical calendar.

These are not just to teach but also a vital social scene where non-stop hilarious chatter and Greek-style laughter is a kind of camaraderie you don’t see much of in this mad modern world of online this and viral that.

These women are coming together to BE together and to learn from each other while having a really good time as well.

It’s that precious generational handing down of treasured traditions which is the glue that holds a community together. And we certainly cherish these marvellous matriarchs who hold the secrets of the delicious dough!

Setting up various events throughout the year to bring the community together provides us all with opportunities to become involved and feel loved and needed and help build pride within our community giving members a place they are happy to come home to.

You can’t separate us from our culture and traditions – we are one and the same. If we lose our culture we lose our intrinsic ID.
So that’s why we love to go through the rituals and keep handing down the things that define us.

Here’s my parting gift straight from the hands that roll the dough that lets go!
If your dough (any kind of dough) is sticky and difficult to work with don’t keep adding flour. Just wet your hands with a drop of olive oil and you’ve aced it! XXX

(Text  and photos: Pepe Sofianos)