Italian Easter Braids

These Italian Easter Braids are made by twisting and looping the braids to form a circle just big enough to hold an Easter egg in the middle.

I was inspired to make these Italian Easter Braids when a friend of mine asked if I had any Easter bread recipes for Challah with dyed Easter eggs.

Well, it just so happens that I have a recipe for Greek Easter Bread, but I was hesitant to share that one with her because of my hilarious mishap a few years ago.

Greek Easter Bread is challah (or braided bread) with red-dyed eggs inserted between the folds of the braids. I made it for a family get together and to save time, I decided to transport the shaped, but uncooked braids (with the cooked eggs in them) to my sister’s house while they were on their final rise.

While in route to her house, the baking sheets the braids were on proceeded to slide off the car seat.  I was able to catch the breads before they slid off of the parchment paper and onto the floor, but in the process, some of the eggs cracked and the shaped braids were completely ruined.

I was so upset I almost went home. Then, I remembered, it’s only bread, and I started laughing at myself. I took the messed up loaves to my sister’s house, reshaped the braids and baked them.  The bread was a bit over proofed and looked a little worse for wear, but it tasted great.

So when my friend asked about a Easter challah recipe, I had a flashback of braided bread flying off the car seat and decided perhaps I should recommend a different recipe.

The recipe for these Italian Easter Braids had recently found its way to my inbox so this was a good excuse to make them.

I really enjoyed this method. The round Easter braids are fun and easy to make. The braids are smaller so they are easy to work with and you don’t even have to hard boil the eggs beforehand.  You color the eggs, then bake them nestled within the bread rounds.  How cool is that!

And the best part, no mishaps this time.

Traditional Italian Easter Braids

Makes:

6 Braids

Adapted from: https://www.keyingredient.com/

Ingredients

• 1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
• 1¼ cups scalded milk, cooled to room temperature
• pinch of salt
• ⅓ cup butter, softened
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup sugar
• 4.5 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for kneading)
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon of water
• 6 dyed Easter eggs
• sprinkles

Note

: The Easter eggs do not need to be hard boiled before dying them. They cook when the bread bakes. Just be careful not to crack the eggs while you’re dying them.  The eggs below were taken right out of the refrigerator, dyed, and left to try before inserting in the braids.

Directions:

1) In a large mixer bowl, combine yeast, warm (not hot) milk, salt, butter, eggs and sugar. Add about 3 cups of flour and beat until smooth with dough hook. Slowly add the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Add enough flour so that the dough is not sticky. The original recipe called for about 3 1/2 cups of flour. I used 4 1/2 cups plus a little extra for kneading.

2) 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.

3) Punch dough down, divide into 12 pieces.

4) Roll each piece to form a 1 inch thick rope about 14 inches long.

5) Take two pieces and twist to form a “braid”.

6) Pinch the ends, and loop into a circle.

7) Place on a greased baking sheet.

8) Cover and let rise until double, about an hour again.

9) Brush each bread with beaten egg wash. Put on the sprinkles. In the middle of each bread ring, gently place an Easter egg, making an indentation with the egg.

10) Bake at 350 degrees until golden – about 20 – 25 minutes. Cool on rack.

This bread has been YeastSpotted. Visit Wild Yeast to view all of the breads in the roundup.

 

This bread is delicious!  It is an enriched and sweet dough so it could be eaten as dessert.  I was concerned that the egg wouldn’t get cooked all the way through, but it baked really well and tasted great.

I gave several of the loaves away.  They’re too cute and taste too good to keep for myself.

 

Happy Easter!

Cathy