Easter Bread
Easter Bread is not something that I have made in years past but it is a tradition for many. I actually first heard of Easter Bread on the Great British Baking Show and I have wanted to make it since. The bread with the colored eggs provides a festive, fun and colorful centerpiece. It also gives you something to do with all those eggs you dyed! Turns out, Easter Bread is also pretty taste. I think it can most easily be likened to a brioche and is just sweet enough where you aren’t sure if it is savory or a dessert. I plan to serve mine with Easter dinner this year along side some cinnamon butter.
Gather your ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 package instant yeast
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 3 dyed and cooked Easter eggs
- colored sprinkles or pearl sugar
Start by heating the milk and butter on the stove until the mixture reaches 110-120 degrees F. Stir in the sugar and the yeast. Let bloom for 5-10 minutes. You want this to smell nice and yeasty.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups of the flour and the salt. Add in your yeast mixture and stir with the dough hook until just combined. Then add your two eggs and the rest of the flour (2.5 cups).
Knead the dough with the dough hook for about 8 minutes. You want it to be pulling away from the bowl and be smooth and shiny.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for 1 hour at room temperature. Should almost double in bulk during this time.
Turn it out onto a floured surface and divide into 9 equal pieces. You really want to be sure they are equal. I went as far as weighing each of the pieces to make sure they were. If one strand is significantly bigger than the others your braid will bake oddly and rise unevenly.
Roll them out into 12 inch logs and braid them together to form 3 strands. Turn the strands into circles by pinching the ends together.
Place on a parchment lined sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 350 and put the rack in the upper position. This helps the loaf from getting too crispy of a bottom. Use the beaten egg to brush an egg wash on the loaves. Use either sprinkles or pearl sugar. I chose to use pearl sugar after seeing that the sprinkles’ color ran a little bit and didn’t create as polished of a look. But the sprinkles definitely give it more flair! Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown on top. Immediately remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Place colored hard boiled eggs in the center.
Enjoy the same day!
Easter Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 package instant yeast
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour divided
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg beaten
- 3 dyed and cooked Easter eggs
- colored sprinkles or pearl sugar
Instructions
- In a small pot, heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted and it reaches 110-120 degrees.
- Stir in the sugar and sprinkle the yeast on top of the warm milk mixture. Let bloom for 5-10 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups of the flour with the salt. Add in the yeast/milk mixture. Stir with the dough hook until combined.
- Add the 2 eggs and the remaining 2 1/2 cups of flour. Knead the dough on medium for about 8 minutes until it is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl and looks smooth and shiny.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour.
- Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and divide it into 9 equal pieces. Roll out the pieces into 12 inch logs and then braid 3 logs together. Attach the braid ends to create a circle and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Create all 3 loaves.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the top half of the oven. Whisk one egg and use a pastry brush to coat the tops of the loaves with the egg wash. Add sprinkles or pearled sugar.
- Bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden brown, checking the bottom to avoid burning. Cool before eating and enjoy this bread the same day.
