Colored Easter Egg Bread Recipe - An Italian Holiday Tradition (2024)

Posted: Mar 31, 2017 · Updated: Mar 23, 2024 · By Chrysa

Not only does this beautiful Italian Easter Egg Bread recipe add a holiday flair to an Easter meal with colored Easter eggs, it tastes GOOD too!

If you have ever spent Easter in an Italian-American household, it’s likely you may have seen a pretty braided bread featuring colored Easter Eggs gracing the table.

Not only does the bread add a beautiful Easter flair to a special holiday meal, it tastes GOOD too!

This Colored Easter Egg Bread Recipe comes to us fromChef Sal Scognamillo of Patsy’s Italian Restaurant in New York City.

While the Italian Easter egg bread I have had at Easter meals has always come from the bakery, Chef Sal’s recipe makes it easy enough for you to bakeat home.

Colored Easter Egg Bread Recipe

Makes 1 Large Loaf, About 10 Servings
*Can be found in Patsy’s Italian Family Cookbook

Ingredients

SWEET DOUGH

• 1 cup whole milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon instant (also called bread-machine) yeast
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons anise seeds
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, as needed
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, at room temperature, plus softened butter for the bowl

MISC

• 6 colored eggs (see Note)
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon whole milk, for glaze
• 2 teaspoons nonpareils (colored sugar decorations) for garnish

Frontier Natural Products Anise SeedWilton Spring NonpareilsKitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Qt. Stand MixerNatural Easter Egg Coloring KitNordic Ware Natural Aluminum Commercial Baker’s Half SheetReynolds Cookie Baking Sheets Parchment Pape

🥣 How to Make

1. To make the sweet dough: combine the milk, sugar, eggs, yeast, lemon zest, anise seeds, and salt together in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Mix with the paddle attachment on low speed until combined. Gradually add 3 ½ cups of the floor to make a thick batter. One tablespoon at a time, beat in the butter, waiting for the first addition to be absorbed before adding more. Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough that cleans the bowl. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed, occasionally pulling down the dough as it climbs up the hook, until the dough is smooth, shiny, and slightly sticky (do not add too much flour), about 8 minutes.

To make the dough by hand: whisk the milk, sugar, eggs, yeast, lemon zest, anise seeds, and salt together in a large bowl. Gradually stir in 3 ½ cups of the flour to make a thick batter. One tablespoon at a time, stir in the butter, waiting for the first addition to be absorbed before adding more. Gradually stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that cannot be stirred. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead, adding more flour as necessary, until the dough is smooth, supple, and slightly sticky (do not add too much flour), about 10 minutes.

2. Butter a large bowl. Gather the dough into a ball. Turn the dough in the bowl to coat it, leaving the dough smooth side up. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 ¼ hours. (Or refrigerate the dough for at least 8 and up to 24 hours.)

3. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or use a Silpat baking mat. Divide the dough into thirds. Roll each piece of dough underneath your palms on the work surface into an 20-inch rope, tapering the ends. Line up the ropes next to each other. Starting from the center, braid the ropes to each end, pinching the rope ends together to shape into a tapered loaf. Transfer the braid to the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm draft-free place until almost doubled in volume, about 1 hour (or about 1 ½ hours for chilled dough). During the last 15 minutes of rising, distribute the eggs evenly over the top of the braid, nesting them in the seams.

4.Preheat the oven to 350⁰F

5.Brush the braid lightly with the egg glaze and sprinkle with the nonpareils. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing.

How to Color Eggs for Easter Egg Bread

To color the eggs, you can use a pre-packagedcoloring set, or make your own egg color.

For each shade, combine 1 ½ cups boiling water and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar in a large glass.

Tint the liquid as desired with food coloring gel (which has deeper colors than liquid coloring, although you can use liquid).

Dip each hard-boiled egg in the coloring mixture, and let stand for at least 2 minutes, or until the desired color is reached.

Remove the egg from the coloring mixture and let dry on a wire cooling rack set over a baking sheet.