A pretty, sweet Italian Easter Bread with naturally dyed eggs, a sweet glaze and sprinkles. A perfect way to display Easter eggs!
Welcome to the forth and final week of Nina's Bread Month! As an end to the month, I thought we should make some Easter treats since it's just a month away. I came across these very pretty sweet breads online and thought they were such a nice treat. I hope you enjoy making this pretty sweet bread!
Just to review, we have made some wonderful breads this month - dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls and hot cross buns. We also did a review on baking with yeast.
So, how do I make this Italian Easter Bread?
This recipe starts with a sweet bread. It is such a fluffy, slightly sweet bread, and is a perfect accompaniment for these naturally dyed eggs. I have seen so many recipes that call for unnaturally dyed eggs and I didn't care for that as the dye seeps onto the bread when it bakes.
Dye your eggs when they are fresh. You do not want to dye the eggs hard boiled as they will bake in the oven with the bread. Just be super careful dyeing them as they can break very easily.
Once the bread comes out of the oven, pour a sweet glaze over them and decorate with pretty sprinkles. This is a perfect topping for such a wonderful Easter treat. I didn't do a thick enough glaze for these pictures but the recipe has a thick glaze for you. 🙂
I would love to see everyone’s hot cross buns! Take a picture and tag it #ninakneadstobake on Instagram so I can see it!
Italian Easter Bread
Ingredients
Bread
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ¼ cups whole milk warm
- ⅓ cup butter room temperature
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 4 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teasoon salt
Eggs
- ½ red cabbage diced
- 1 onion skins only
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 6 cups water
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
Glaze
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- sprinkles
Instructions
Bread
- Place yeast, sugar and milk into a large bowl of a stand mixer. Add butter and eggs and mix until incorporated.
- Measure out the flour into a small bowl. Add ¾ of the amount of flour to the large bowl. Add salt to the large bowl. Knead the ingredients together with the dough hook attachment, adding 1 tablespoon of the remaining flour at a time until the dough comes together and cleans the sides of the bowl.
- Place the dough into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm environment until doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare dyed eggs.
Eggs
- Prepare 3 saucepans with 2 cups of water in each.
- In one saucepan, add red cabbage, in the second, add in onion peels, and the last, add ground turmeric.
- Place each saucepan over medium heat and cook until boiling point is reached.
- Cool completely and then add 2 tablespoon vinegar to each saucepan; stir until combined.
- Add 2 eggs to each saucepan and let sit, turning occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until desired hue has been reached.
- Punch down dough and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 1-inch rope about 14 inches and "braid" 2 pieces together, pinching the ends and forming them into a circle.
- Place each ring onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover and allow them to rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Place a dyed egg into the center of each ring. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Glaze
- Mix icing sugar and milk together in a small bowl. Pour over each bread and decorate with sprinkles.
- The Easter Italian Bread is best eaten the day it is made.
Did you try this recipe? Comment below to let me know :)