Have You Tried Making This Traditional Easter Bread Before?
It’s Easter! What Easter desserts are you making this year? If you’re still looking for Easter recipes, look no further. This Traditional Easter Bread is one that you have to make! It will be a perfect addition to your Easter dinner.
What Is Easter Bread?
I’ve always wanted to try making this bread. Easter Bread is an Italian and Greek traditional bread made during this time of the year. It’s a soft, sweetened, yeasted dough shaped as a wreath with colored eggs baked right into it!
Where Did I Find This Recipe?
There are so many Easter Bread recipes out there. The recipe I used is by Babyccinokids and it’s so good! The recipe is for 2 breads, but I halved the ingredients to just make one. Either way would be great.
How Is It Made?
Make the colored eggs the night before so they have time to dry. I used food gel, vinegar and water to dye them. But you can use natural dyes like red cabbage like the recipe states. I also pre-boiled the eggs to make the handling easier. It didn’t seem to effect the bread in any way.
For the bread, start by combining warm milk, sugar and orange zest in a bowl. Add in yeast and let it sit for 10 minutes. Then add in the flour, orange juice, egg yolks, salt and butter. Just using the eggs yolks made the bread so rich and gave it a nice color. Knead by hand or in a stand mixer with a dough attachment. Let us rise in an oiled bowl with plastic wrap on top for an hour. If making this the day before, place into the refrigerator overnight.
If making it the same day, after the dough has risen, divide into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope. Pinch the ends of the rope together and braid. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and make the braid into a circle pinching all of the ends together. Brush the top with a beaten egg, then add 3 colored eggs to the dough spaced out evenly. Nestle them into the braid to keep them in place. Let is rise for and hour, then bake.
It really isn’t as hard as it sounds. It’s definitely an easy Easter Bread recipe that you have to try!
Here are other Easter Dessert Recipes:
Easter Bread
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 whole eggs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 egg yolk + 1 tsp water for the egg wash
- 3 eggs that are dyed
Instructions
Dough
- Place the flour in a large mixing bowl, set aside.Heat the milk in a small saucepan over low heat, or in the microwave stirring occasionally, until it is warm to the touch. The temperature of the milk should be between 110 and 115 degrees F. While the milk is warming, place the sugar in a small bowl and add the orange zest. Once the milk reaches the correct temperature, stir in the sugar and zest mixture. Add the yeast, stir, and let sit for 10 minutes. Add the milk and yeast mixture to the flour and begin to mix it into a dough. Next, add the melted butter and continue to mix. Then, add the orange juice to the dough and mix to combine. In a small bowl, use a fork to lightly beat together the eggs and salt. Add to the dough and continue mixing. Once you have a sticky ball of dough formed, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 – 10 minutes, or knead in a stand mixer with dough hook attachment Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning to coat, and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap to prove. Place in a draft-free area and allow to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Or in the refrigerator overnight. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Shape the Bread
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface. Then divide into 3 similar size balls. Roll the dough into 24-inch long ropes. Loosely braid the ropes together. Transfer the braided rope to the prepared baking sheet and bring the ends together to form a ring, twisting and pinching the ends together to seal. Brush the top of the dough with the egg yolk mixture. Then tuck the dyed eggs into the braids. Cover the bread loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise until nearly doubled in size, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until golden brown on top, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
