Easter Bread – Spend With Pennies

This beautifully baked bread is as delicious as it is pretty!

Easter bread is a sweet yeast bread with a buttery texture and a hint of citrus flavor. It’s baked with jewel-toned eggs nestled on top.

Easter is the time to bring out the family’s favorite recipes and make room for some easy, soon-to-be-favorites!

What is Easter Bread?

Easter is a celebration and it’s the first major holiday of the year when families come together to celebrate Spring and new life.

• This is a favorite bread recipe, tender and sweet with a hint of citrus flavor. The recipe is slightly adapted from an old church recipe I have.
• The texture of the bread is buttery, almost like a brioche.
• There are spiritual meanings to this classic holiday bread. The sweet, yeast dough is made with eggs and adorned with colored hardboiled eggs which are the symbol of new life.
• Easter bread braids can be shaped into circles (the crown of Christ), and the three strands of the braids represent the Holy Trinity. This is a variation of Italian Easter bread however, there are many other variations including different meanings and shapes of the dough.

Ingredients & Variations

YEAST DOUGH Moist and sweet this bread starts with a rich dough containing both eggs and butter. It’s lightly sweetened with sugar and very flavorful.

FLAVORINGS Fresh lemon and lime zest give Easter bread a citrus flavor. Other optional add-ins include raisins, currants, chopped nuts, cinnamon, almonds, a little saffron, or cardamom.

EGGS While large eggs are preferred for the bread dough, medium or small sizes look best for the colored decorative eggs in Easter bread.

I use uncooked eggs for adding to the bread as they will bake in the oven along with the bread.  Once baked, the eggs will be almost hard-cooked (still very slightly soft) and they will still cook as the bread is cooling.

How to Make Easter Bread

Nothing is better than warm bread fresh from the oven and this Easter egg bread tops the list.

1. Combine yeast with warm milk and sugar. Let rest.
2. Mix in eggs, vanilla, and zest and knead in flour until dough forms.
3. Let the dough rise then punch down and divide into three ropes.
4. Braid together and add uncooked colored eggs. Cover and let rise again.
5. Brush with the egg wash and bake on a parchment paper lined pan (per the recipe below).

Cool the bread on a wire rack.

How to Dye Eggs with Food Coloring

For our Easter eggs, we dye hard-boiled eggs with whipped cream but in this recipe, I place them in food coloring uncooked. Let them soak in the color while preparing the dough.

1. Fill a cup with about 2/3 cup water and 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar.
2. Add a generous amount of liquid food coloring and add the eggs.
3. Let them soak until they reach the desired color. Remove from the water and let dry completely before using in the bread.

Tips

• You can use eggs that have not been dyed if you prefer. Hard boiled eggs can also be used if you’d like firmer eggs.
• Ensure all ingredients (including milk) are at room temperature.
• The bread can be kneaded with a dough hook attachment on a stand mixer or by hand.
• Form the loaf on parchment paper and slide the parchment paper don’t a baking sheet.
• The loaf can be glazed and sprinkles can be added if you’d like.
• The eggs will usually leak a little bit of color into the dough, this is expected.

How to Store

Once Easter bread has been served, remove the eggs and store them in the refrigerator in a bowl for up to 4 days. Keep the bread in a covered container or zippered bag at room temperature for up to 4 days.

More Bread Recipes

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