Italian Easter Egg Bread, Minis or Large

A very festive and impressive Easter bread with colored eggs on top! The bread is soft and delicious and worth the effort!

4 from 1 vote

Prep Time30

Cook Time28

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 20

Calories: 219

Ingredients

FOR THE BREAD:

6 cups flour
1 cup sugar heaping
2 packages (1/4 ounce each) yeast
2 teaspoons lemon peel
1 teaspoon salt
1½ cups milk
6 tablespoons butter
3 eggs

FOR THE EGG WASH:

1 egg for the egg wash on top of the dough
1 tablespoon water

FOR THE DECORATIVE EGGS:

eggs raw, for decoration, use 3 -6 eggs, your choice

FOR THE EGG COLORING:

liquid coloring your color choice, optional

FOR THE GLAZE:

2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 -4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
sprinkles optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease it or use non-stick spray.
In a mixer on lowest speed, or by hand, combine 2 cups of the flour, sugar, yeast, lemon peel, and salt. Set aside.
In a saucepan on top of the stove, heat the milk and butter to 120 – 130°. Use a candy thermometer to get an accurate temperature. Add it to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until moistened.
Add the 3 eggs and mix until smooth.
Change to a dough hook attachment, add the remaining 4 cups of flour and mix it on low speed until it forms a soft dough that is smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Alternatively you can knead the dough by hand. This can be kneaded by hand instead.
Place the dough into a large greased bowl, turning it once over to grease the top of the dough.
Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough into thirds.
Shape each dough portion into a 34-inch rope. ( If you are making 4 mini breads, divide the dough into eighths. Roll them into a 12-inch rope. Use 2 ropes to twist into a ring. Seal the ends together with moistened fingers.)
Place the ropes onto the prepared baking sheet and braid the ropes. Bring the ends together, pinch them with moistened fingers to seal and form a ring.
Gently separate the braided ropes to tuck in the decorative eggs into the openings. (For the mini breads, tuck a raw egg into the center of each ring.
Cover the bread with a tea towel and let it rise until doubled, about 20 minutes.
In a small bowl, make an egg wash by beating together the tablespoon of water and one egg. Use a pastry brush to brush the egg wash over the dough.
Bake at 350° for 28 – 32 minutes or until golden brown.
Place the pan on a wire rack for a few minutes. Remove the bread from the pan to the wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes.
Using a paper towel and food coloring, squeeze a few drops of food coloring onto the paper towel and then rub the tops of the hard-boiled eggs. Be careful not to touch the bread with the food coloring.
When the food coloring is dry on the eggs, use a knife around edges of the pan to loosen the bread and carefully invert bread upside down on a wire rack, then quickly invert bread onto a serving plate.
In a small bowl, mix the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the bread, being careful not to have the glaze touch the eggs. Add sprinkles on the glaze if you'd like.
Store the bread covered at room temperature.

EXTRA TIP:

MINI BREADS: You can make 4 or 5 mini breads instead of one large one. Follow the instructions in the directions for the mini breads.
EGG DECORATION: You can color the entire eggs beforehand if you prefer. Just be sure they are completely dry before tucking them into the dough. And you can use hard-boiled eggs instead of raw eggs.

YEAST: You can use any active dry yeast or any rapid-rise yeast.

Nutrition