Traditional Italian Easter Bread
This Traditional Italian Easter Bread is a soft sweet brioche dough formed into wreaths or braided. Coloured eggs are baked into the bread and the bread is sprinkled with lots of nonpareils. Festive and bright for the Easter Holiday.
Another very popular yeast bread is a recipe called Casatiello Napoletano which is a savory stuffed bread.
I absolutely love Brioche Bread and of course this Sweet Soft Bread is a must in any Italian home on Easter. I wanted to find a true Traditional Italian Recipe and I came upon this recipe Brioche di Pasqua from a fellow Food Blogger, Chiara from Chiarapassion.com.
How to make An italian easter bread
In the bowl of a stand up mixer whisk together the flour, salt, zest and sugar, make a well in the centre and add the milk and yeast, mix together with a fork.
Then add the egg. With the dough hook attachment knead just to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic and let rise in a warm draft free area.
Fold both ends into the middle, repeating 4 times.
When the time has passed add the butter a little at a time at medium high speed with the dough hook, knead to just combine all the butter, then let the dough rest. Knead again until the dough is smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic and refrigerate.
Move the dough to a lightly floured flat surface. Divide the dough into 4 parts. Roll each part into 2 ropes, join the 2 ropes at the top.
Twist the ends one over the other join the ends to form a wreath (circle) repeat with the remaining ropes. Place the wreaths on the prepared cookie sheet, cover and let rise in a warm draft free area until doubled in bulk.
Before baking an uncooked dyed egg can be placed in the dough, then the dough is brushed with a simple egg wash and covered in sprinkles (nonpareils) and baked.
Immediately move the baked bread to a wire rack to cool.
How to know if the dough is proofed perfectly
Proof your dough with the “poke test”. With a fully proofed dough, you should be able to poke it and leave an indent that slowly starts to fill back in but doesn’t spring back completely.
If your dough is under-proofed, it will spring back almost immediately, if your dough is over-proofed it will not spring back at all.
Tips on making the best Easter Bread
- This Italian Easter Bread is a yeast bread which means you need time and patience. It’s not difficult just time consuming but absolutely worth it.
- This dough needs to rise 3x, the first time the dough (without the butter added) is placed in a bowl for 2 hours. Every 30 minutes the dough needs to be folded over.
- The second rise is done once the butter has been added to the dough and then refrigerated for 1-2 hours.
- Believe me they are worth every minute of your time!
This bread is very popular all over Italy. Sometimes I like to make an Easter Bread from the South of Italy, it is a much drier bread and is used as a dunking bread in your morning caffe latte or afternoon espresso or this Easter Sweet bread from the North of Italy. But the most popular Easter Bread which is called Colomba or Dove Bread is also worth a try.
How to colour eggs with Natural Dyes
If you decide to use coloured eggs in your bread and you don’t want to use regular dyes then there are Natural Dyes that you can use. Vegetables and spices are great for dying eggs especially red onions, paprika, dill seed and even red cabbage.
What is the significance of Easter Bread?
Italian Easter Bread when it is baked in the shape of a wreath it is to symbolize the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ. When the dough is braided with three pieces it represents the Holy Trinity.
Adding an egg to the bread represents rebirth, Christ rising from the dead.
How to Store Italian Easter Bread
Be sure to store the Brioche Bread in an air tight container or bag for up to 5 days. The breads can also be frozen again in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 2 months. Just be sure to remove the egg before freezing.
So if you would like to surprise your family and friends with a delicious soft Italian Easter Bread, then I hope you give this a try and let me know how you like it. Enjoy!
Traditional Italian Easter Bread
Ingredients
BRIOCHE DOUGH
- 1¾ cups +2 tablespoons all purpose flour (234 grams total, if you double or triple the recipe double or triple this amount)
- 1 pinch salt*
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup lukewarm milk (I used 2 % milk)
- 1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 eggs (room temperature) (slightly beaten)
- ½ cup butter (room temperature)
If using unsalted butter add ¼ teaspoon of salt.
EGG WASH
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
TOPPING
- 2-4 eggs (uncooked and dyed whatever colour you like)
- 2-4 tablespoons sprinkles* (if desired)
Instructions
BRIOCHE DOUGH
- In the bowl of a stand up mixer whisk together the flour, salt, zest and sugar, make a well in the centre and add the milk and yeast, mix together with a fork. Then add the eggs. With the dough hook attachment knead for approximately 1 minute just to combine.
- Cover the bowl with plastic and let rise 2 hours, every 30 minutes fold both ends into the middle (repeating 4 times).
- When the time has passed add the butter a little at a time, on medium high speed with the dough hook, knead just to combine all the butter, then let the dough rest 10 minutes. Knead again for 5-6 minutes until smooth and the dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Move the dough to a lightly floured flat surface. Divide the dough into 4 parts. Roll each part into 2 ropes (10-12 inches / 25-30cm), join 2 ropes at the top and twist the ends one over the other (see photo), join the ends to form a wreath (circle) repeat with the remaining ropes. Place the wreaths on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, cover and let rise in a warm draft free area for 1-2 hours or doubled in bulk.
- 15 minutes before rising time has finished pre heat oven to 390F (195C).
- Add a dyed uncooked egg (if desired) to the centre of the wreath then brush the wreaths with the egg wash (be careful not to brush the eggs) and sprinkle with the sprinkles. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until golden, or when tapped on the bottom and there is a hollow sound. Immediately move the baked buns to a wire rack to cool. Let cool before serving. Enjoy!
EGG WASH
- In a small bowl beat together the egg and water.
THEY TASTED LOVLEY AND HELPED ME DO MY HOMEWORK
Hi FDG, thanks glad I could help. Take care!
I’ve made these several times now and every time they come out perfect. Thanks for the great recipe.
Hi Suzanne, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Take care.
Excellent recipe ! Was looking to make a sweet Italian Easter bread . Had misplaced an old recipe. This came out beautiful. Took a bit to incorporate the butter in the recipe but the results were beautiful and tasty. Made two. Gave one to my neighbors for Easter. They loved it! Only thing I did different was I used orange zest in place of lemon
Hi Karen, thanks so much, so glad you and your neighbours enjoyed it. I like it with orange zest also. Take care.
Made them for the first time this year. I’m very proud of them. The instruction and directions are super simple to follow.
Hi Brenda, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it. Take care.
I had to double the flour to get a workable dough. Any idea of what went wrong?
Hi Cynthia, I don’t know maybe you used a different type of flour, did you add too much butter or milk? Did you watch the video?
Probably you weighed out your flour. I did that and this dough totally didn’t work for me. This recipe works be more helpful with weights of ingredients.
Could I make this recipe into one larger braided loaf? I’d like to make it for a gift for a neighbour.
Thank you! I’m anxious to try it.
Hi Sheila, yes you can, bake it for a bit longer. Check with the bread in the middle with a thermometer to be sure, it should measure 190F. Happy Easter.
Loved the recipe all the steps went so well up until baking. After 8mins my top were so brown already but bottom not At all hollow. My bread was already on lowest rack had to lower temp down but def too over cooked on top.
Hi Sasa, if it browns too much and it still isn’t baked, then just cover it with foil and continue baking.
Can zest be substituted with lemon juice
Hi Donna, yes it can, 1-2 tablespoons should be enough. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Easter.
How much should the dough rise
Hi Nick, let the dough rise until doubled. Happy Easter.
Hello, this is my first time making Easter Bread. Which type of butter do you recommend, unsalted or salted?
Thanks for your time
Hi Amber, you can use either, I use salted because I can’t find unsalted in Italy. If you use unsalted then add 1/4 teaspoon of salt instead of a pinch. I hope you like it. Happy Easter.
Need to make resepies printable .
Hi Rodgen, they are all printable, under the photo in the recipe card it says “print recipe”. 🙂
Wanted to try this because my mom’s receipt is from Sicily…and although it is dryer, i think it had a better taste. This needs a little more sugar for my liking…but the texture is wonderful.
Nina
Hi Nina, if it is dry it could be it was slightly over baked. Glad you liked it. Happy Easter.
Hi! When you mention it can be stored in the fridge overnight and baked the next day, at what point should I refrigerate it? After mixing in the butter or after shaping into wreaths and resting? Thanks!
Hi Kathleen, I would probably refrigerate the dough overnight after it has been shaped. Bring it to room temperature for about an hour or 2 and then bake. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Easter.
Thank you, Happy Easter!
Can I double this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Filomena, yes you can double it. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Easter.
Hi! At what point do I put the dough in the fridge if I’m refrigerating it overnight? Should I do it after I add the butter or after I’ve shaped the dough into wreaths and let rise?
Hi Eileen, I would probably refrigerate the dough overnight after it has been shaped. Bring it to room temperature for about an hour or 2 and then bake. I hope you enjoy it. Happy Easter.
The eggs were kind of runny. What can I do to fix this?
Hi Ann, you could boil them to cook them through, but it is strange after all that time in the oven they didn’t bake. Let me know.