This weekend Luca has been at home with us and so I thought it would be nice to do some traditional Italian Easter baking together. When we were in Tuscany for Easter a couple of years a go we made some lovely Italian Easter Biscuits which I also hope to add to the blog soon, but for now I really wanted to share these with you, they are so pretty and would look so fantastic served up at Easter.

Since Easter is the end of the Lent season, food plays a big part in Italian celebrations. Traditional Easter foods include lamb or goat, artichokes, and special Easter breads that vary from region to region. Pannetone and Colomba (dove shaped) breads are often given as gifts as are hollow chocolate eggs that usually come with a surprise inside.

This bread is so much fun to bake and Luca loved dying the eggs. The biggest problem I had was finding white eggs which hadn’t been printed on with sell by dates! Luckily our local farm shop stocks white duck eggs, at 49p each, they were a little expensive, but it was well worth it. However, as the eggs do go to waste, apart from at Easter I will make these without them, dribble over a water icing and lots of sprinkles. If you fancied a really sweet treat, or to give as a gift, why not add a Cadbury’s Cream Egg once the bread has cooled down.

Below you will find the recipe for the lovely bread and also instructions on how to dye the eggs.

Buon Pasqua

 

6 white eggs (The eggs cook when the bread bakes, dye the eggs straight from the fridge, without hard boiling them. Just be careful they don’t crack!)
vinegar (plain white)
small bowls or cups, we used glasses so that Luca could see the eggs
water
food colouring

Fill your containers with on cup of water.  Don’t fill to full or when you put the eggs in it will overflow.

Add 1 tsp of vinegar (for every 1 cup of water.

Add drops of food color until you’re happy with the colour.

Put your eggs gently in to the cups with a tablespoon & leave for about 3 minutes, or until you are happy with the colour.

Remove carefully and allow to dry on a wire rack (place kitchen paper underneath to catch any drips) to dry.

 

Dough ingredients
1 packet of Fast Action yeast
1.25 cups (296ml) scalded milk, cooled to room temperature
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (76g) butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup (64g) sugar
3.5 cups (476g)  flour (approximate)

Egg wash
1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon of water

To decorate
6 dyed Easter eggs
sprinkles

In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast, warm (not hot) milk, salt, butter, eggs and sugar. Add about half the flour and beat until smooth with dough hook.   Slowly add the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Don’t worry about how much flour it ends up being, just keep adding until the dough is not sticky anymore.  Knead until smooth with either dough hook attachment or turn out on floured board and knead. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.

Punch the dough down, divide into 12 pieces. I weighed my dough and then divided by 12, then weighed out 12 exact pieces, sad I know, but it works for me. Roll each piece to form a 1 inch thick rope about 14 inches long and, taking two pieces, twist to form a “braid”, pinching the ends,  and loop into a circle.

Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about an hour. Brush each bread with the beaten egg wash. Put on the sprinkles and in the middle of each bread ring, gently place an egg, making an indentation with the egg.

Bake at 350F/ 176C/ Gas Mark 4, until golden – about 20 – 25 minutes. Cool on rack.