Italian Easter Bread is traditional. You can make your own changes to personalize it.
Working with yeast bread is a little temperamental but you just have to know a few tricks.
I enjoy watching the dough rise and double in size.
The two main things to know about working with yeast are don’t let it touch the salt before it’s all mixed together or it won’t rise and don’t have your milk too warm or the yeast will die.
To personalize your Italian Easter Bread you can add orange zest or any combination of herbs that you like.
One thing that you absolutely have to include is the colorful sprinkles and eggs.
Some people boil their eggs first but I find that they come out quite nicely and fully cooked when I put them in the oven raw.
While the dough is rising is a great time to color your eggs. Then leave them out to dry because they will do better if they are room temperature when you put them in the oven.
My house wasn’t very warm the day I was making the bread so I placed my bowl on a heating pad to make it rise better.
Italian Easter Bread
Ingredients
- 1 package rapid rise yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 1 1/4 cup warm milk
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 6 dyed eggs
- 1 egg for egg wash
Instructions
- In a small bowl heat the milk in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes.
- Check the temperature to make sure it isn't over 130F degrees and then add the yeast.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, butter, salt, eggs and milk mixture. Mix the ingredients until combined.
- Add 2 cups of flour and mix with dough hook attachment for about 2 minutes at medium speed.
- Add the remaining flour and mix at low-medium for approximately 14 minutes until the dough attaches to the hook.
- Shape the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl with a cover for about 1 hour until doubled in size.
- While the bread is rising color 6 eggs and let them dry until it's time to bake.
- Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll them out with your hands into long strands about 14 inches long.
- Twist two pieces together and form a circle by pinching at the ends.
- Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet three at a time. Cover with cling wrap and let rest for another hour.
- Brush each circle with egg wash and cover in sprinkles. Place a colored egg in the center of each.
- Bake at 350F degrees for approximately 20 minutes.
Notes
If your bread starts getting too brown before it is done then cover it loosely with aluminum foil.
If you don't have a convection oven then you might want to bake each sheet separately.
Having the colored eggs at room temperature when going into the oven will keep them from sweating and messing up the dye.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6 loavesServing Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 605Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 341mgSodium: 237mgCarbohydrates: 84gFiber: 2gSugar: 17gProtein: 21g
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