FOR THE FLOUR ROUX:

1. Add flour and milk to a saucepan set over medium-high heat. Cook the mixture, whisking constantly until it starts to thicken. Once the mixture is a thick slurry, remove pan from heat and scoop roux into a small dish. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and set aside to cool.

FOR THE YEAST MIXTURE:

1. Add warm milk & water to a large bowl, whisk in the yeast, followed by the sugar & bread flour. Once mixture is relatively smooth, cover with a damp kitchen cloth and leave to rest in a warm place for 45 minutes.

FOR THE DOUGH:

1. Once the yeast mixture is done resting, prepare your other ingredients. Add 1 tbsp sugar + 3g mastiha tears to a small mortar and pestle and grind until mastiha is as fine as the sugar.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk 300g of sugar with 3 eggs until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. To your large bowl with the yeast mixture, add the flour roux, whisked eggs & sugar, mastiha sugar, mahlepi, orange zest, orange juice & melted butter. Whisk until well combined.
4. Slowly add the flour to the bowl, about 2 cups at a time, whisking between each addition. When the mixture, after 4 cups of flour has been whisked in, remove the whisk, add the remaining flour and start to mix by hand.
5. Once all of the flour is well incorporated, dust your surface with flour, remove the dough from the bowl and begin kneading with floured hands. The dough will seem sticky at first, but resist the urge to add more flour.
6. After 15 minutes of kneading, the dough will feel nice and smooth.
7. Place dough back in the bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled – it should take about 2 hours.
8. Once the dough is doubled, punch it down and divide it into three evenly sized pieces (you can use a kitchen scale to ensure your pieces are all the same weight).
9. Cover & reserve two of the portions. Divide the remaining portion into three evenly sized pieces and begin to shape into roughly 14″ long ropes. Bring the three rope ends together and pinch to seal. Braid the loaf by gently wrapping alternating ropes over the middle rope until you reach the other end. Press, fold & tuck the rope ends under each end of the loaf. Move to a parchment lined baking sheet and loosely cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Repeat the above process with the reserved dough portions.
10. Leave your braided loaves to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Pre-heat your to oven to 350°F 30 minutes into your loaves rise time.
11. Once your loaves have risen, brush them with egg wash & sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in the center of the oven for 35-40 minutes (alternating baking sheets half way through). The loaves should be nicely browned and golden on top.
12. Place finished loaves on a rack to cool before eating. Enjoy with softened salted butter, hard boiled eggs & coffee :)