Cypriot Flaounes (Easter Cheese Bread from Cyprus)

Flaounes are a traditional cheese-filled pastry meant to be enjoyed for Easter after weeks of giving up dairy and eggs for Lent. 

This bread originates from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, and is flavored with some ingredients that are unique to the region, such as mahlab, mastic, and a special traditional fresh Cypriot salty goat or sheep's milk cheese called paphitiko. 

Kozunak (Bulgarian Easter Bread)

Kozunak is a slightly sweet enriched celebration bread often served Easter morning in Bulgaria.

Kozunak is similar to many celebration breads of Europe, especially eastern Europe, and is enriched with eggs, oil, and sugar. It reminds me of brioche, pandoro, or Pane di Pasqua, except that it calls for oil rather than butter.

Crescia al Formaggio | Italian Easter Bread

This Crescia al Formaggio is an amazing cheesy Italian Easter bread. It's definitely a cheese lover's bread. 

I admit it. I'm always drawn to cheese bread. Given a choice between savory or sweet bread, I gravitate for anything savory.

Ciambella Mandorlata | An Italian Easter Bread

 

Ciambella Mandorlata is an Italian Easter bread that is shaped like a ring and coated with a cinnamon sugar and sliced almond glaze. 

This Ciambella Mandorlata is a wonderful breakfast bread. It's enriched with eggs and butter, and very similar to a sweetened brioche bread.

Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

This Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole is layered with eggs, ham, cheese, sautéed onions, and jalapeños. 

I made this ham and cheese breakfast casserole to test it for Easter brunch, and it was a huge hit.

Romanian Easter Bread | Cozonac

This month, the Bread Baking Babes are making Romanian Easter Bread.

I posted my braided dough on a bread baking group, and a sweet person posted, "Cozonac! It looks perfect! I'm Romanian and I know!" How cool is that? I'm pretty sure she is referring to Elle's (the Bread Baking Babes' kitchen of the month) bread, which I also posted, but I still beamed with pride. Bread geeks do that.

Pane di Pasqua - Italian Easter Bread Wreath

This Pane di Pasqua is a southern Italian traditional bread for Easter, and is typically baked with colored hard boiled eggs nestled into the shaped loaves.

This bread is made from an enriched dough, and is somewhat sweet, with a faint orange vanilla flavor from Fiori di Sicilia, or "flowers of Sicily." The dominant flavors are vanilla and orange, so if you don't have Fiori di Sicilia, you can use a combination of orange oil and vanilla to achieve a similar flavor.

Potato Leek Pie

Potato Leek Pie! With a puff pastry crust and Gruyere cheese. I had a slice for lunch, but I think it would also be perfect for a Sunday brunch or a meatless dinner.

It's Secret Recipe Club time again, and this time I was assigned Christie's blog, A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures. She has an amazingly extensive collection of recipes on her blog, and I had quite a few picked out to consider for this month's post... until she posted this potato pie recipe just two weeks ago. Thank you Christie. I needed this potato pie in my life!

According to Christie, the kitchen is her zen place, to which I can totally relate. She's also been on Emeril Live!! How cool is that? Please visit her site for lots of tasty looking recipes.

This Potato Leek Pie is really, really good. It's kind of like potatoes au gratin, but with a puff pastry crust and sautéed leeks.... and Gruyere. The best cheese ever.

Leftovers of this pie are also delicious.. in fact, maybe even better than when freshly baked. The crust is extra crispy the second time around. If you are planning a brunch, you can bake this in advance and refrigerate it. Once you are ready to serve the potato pie, slice it and reheat the slices in the oven at 350 degrees F on a foil lined baking sheet, preferably with convection heat.

This pie disappeared pretty quickly in our house.

Potato Leek Pie

Ingredients

One sheet of frozen puff pastry, defrosted, or make your own as I did here

1 tsp butter

1 C thinly sliced leeks

2 pounds of Russet potatoes

3/4 C half and half

1 large egg

1 T chopped fresh thyme

1 heaping tsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 C coarsely grated Gruyere cheese

Instructions

1. Line a deep dish pie pan or nine inch springform pan with the puff pastry. Cut off the corners and patch the sides that are missing crust so that you have a round pastry crust. 
2. Saute the leeks in the butter over medium heat for about five minutes. 
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Peel the potatoes and slice them very thinly by hand, with a V-slicer,  or with a mandoline. 
5. Whisk the half and half with the egg. 
6. Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the pie pan. Top with 1/3 of the leeks. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the thyme and 1/3 of the garlic salt and pepper mixture. Top with 1/3 of the cheese.
7. Repeat with the potatoes, leeks, thyme, salt and pepper, and cheese. 
8. Layer with the final third of the potatoes, leeks, thyme, garlic salt, and pepper. Pour the half and half/egg mixture over the potatoes and top with the final third of the cheese. 
9. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Pizza di Pasqua - Easter Pizza

This Pizza di Pasqua is traditionally served only on Easter morning in areas of central Italy (at least according to the interwebs). It is incredibly ethereal and light. In fact, as I researched this bread, I was continuously reminded that "this bread is very delicate." (With all of those warnings, I was a little nervous after my "collapsed savarin incident" that I'm trying to forget).