Syrian Orthodox Easter Bread

Name: Syrian Orthodox Easter Bread
Yield: serves 4-6
Cuisine: Syria
Ingredients: 1½ teaspoons dry yeast (about half the normal packet); 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 teaspoon ground spices (most importantly cinnamon, perhaps cloves and allspice too); 4 oz salted butter; 5 tablespoons warm water plus another 5 fl oz; 1 lb plain white flour; big pinch bicarbonate of soda; 1 beaten egg to glaze

Preparation info

serves
4-6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Independent Cook

By Jeremy Round

Published 1988

About

The Paschal lamb served with roast potatoes and two veg has always struck me as rather shocking in its insensitivity to symbolism. Eastern sects take a more sophisticated approach to the emblematic.

Overlooking the northernmost plains of Mesopotamia, the Syrian Orthodox monasteries and churches around Mardin and Midyat start their Easter liturgy either an hour before midnight on Saturday or at dawn on Sunday, depending on the curfew. After the service, the community, which still spe