Italian Easter Braids

The other day, a friend of mine asked if I had any Easter Bread recipes for Challah with dyed Easter eggs. I do, in fact.

A couple of years ago I made Greek Easter Bread, which is challah (or a bread braid) with red-dyed eggs. There’s a story behind that bread. I made it for a family get together and to save time, I decided to transport the shaped, but uncooked braids (with the eggs in them) to my sister’s house while they were on their final rise. While in route, the baking sheets that the braids were on, proceeded to slide off the car seat.  I was able to catch the breads before they slid onto the floor and were completed inedible, but some of the eggs cracked and the braids got smashed. I was so upset I almost went home. Then, I remembered, it’s only bread. So I took the messed up loaves to my sister’s house, reshaped the braids and baked the loaves. The bread looked a little worse for the wear, but it tasted great. 

When the recipe for this Traditional Italian Easter Bread came across my inbox, I decided to give Challah with dyed Easter Eggs another chance. As it turns out, I really like the preparation for this version. The braids are smaller so they are really easy to work with and the eggs are not cooked before coloring.  You color them, then bake them with the bread. This made much more sense to me; however, I was a bit skeptical the eggs would get cooked all the way through.

This is a fun and easy bread to make. I didn’t have to transport these braids anywhere so no mishaps this time.

 

Traditional Italian Easter Bread

Makes: 6 Braids

Adapted from: http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/7281099/traditional-italian-easter-bread/ 

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.  Please visit Wild Yeast to view all of the lovely breads in the roundup.

 

This bread is delicious!  It is an enriched and sweet dough. 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

Italian Challah for BBD#46

For Bread Baking Day #46, Noor of Ya Salam Cooking encouraged us to Bake a bread from a place you would love to visit. There are lots of places I would love to visit so I had a hard time deciding which country and what bread to make. I thought about making Irish Scones from Ireland, or a flatbread from the Mediterranean, but I finally settled on Italy and Italian Bread. I love Italian Bread and Italy is definitely one of the places I would love to visit.

This Italian Challah is another bread that’s really easy to make and doesn’t take much time. I like that!  This is the BOM (Bread of the Month) for January for the Artisan Bread Bakers FB Group.  This is a family recipe that was handed down to Anthony, one of the members of the FB group so it sounded like a neat bread to try and fit the bill perfectly for BBD#46.

Instead of shaping this challah in the traditional freeform 3-strand braid, I opted to place it in a loaf pan as the recipe suggested.  I’m so glad I did. I loved the way it turned out. I love braided breads and it’s fun to try different methods.

This bread is made with olive oil instead of butter and only includes a little bit of sugar so it makes great sandwich bread. Another sandwich bread; that makes three this month: Sprouted Spelt Bread, Cuban Bread and this Italian Challah.

 

Nana’s Egg Bread or Italian Challah

Ingredients:

• 500g all-purpose, unbleached flour
• 215g warm water
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk*
• 15g white sugar (I used raw sugar)
• 15g extra virgin olive oil (added a little extra during the kneading because the dough was too dry)
• 11g kosher salt
• 10g active dry yeast (I used instant)
• 1 large egg (for egg wash) (*I used the leftover egg white for this part)

 

Equipment Needed:

• 9"x5" bread pan (optional)
• Digital scale
• Cooking spray
• Plastic wrap

 

Directions:

1) Mixing the Dough

Scale out your flour, salt, yeast, olive oil, and sugar into the bowl.

Crack the eggs (separating the one) and add to bowl. Scale out your water (separately in case you mess up), and then add it to the bowl.

2) Kneading the Dough

Use the dough hook on your mixer and mix the dough on the lowest setting for 2-3 minutes until everything pulls together. Depending on your mixer, put it up to the typical speed that you're comfortable mixing bread doughs at. Whatever that is, allows the dough hook to knead it for 15 minutes. (If it strains at all, turn it down a notch.)

 

3) Bulk Fermentation

When your finished kneading, place the dough in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap (I sprayed a bit of vegetable cooking spray on it just in case it proofs up and touches the plastic wrap). Allow it to proof until doubled.

Once doubled (dimple test it), remove the dough from the bowl for shaping.

4) Shaping the Challah

You can shape this as a regular pan loaf by rolling it out (whether with a rolling pin or just by hand) to about 1/2 inch in thickness. The width should be no wider than the bread pan you intend to use. Then, roll up the dough tightly and make sure it seals well at the end.

I decided to braid the loaf, then bake the braided loaf in a loaf pan. I began the process by dividing the dough evenly into 3 balls.

Then I rolled each ball into a long rope and placed them side-by-side on the counter.

 

I overlapped the ropes in the middle of the loaf and braided one end and then switch to the other end to finish the braiding. 

 

For detailed instructions, including a photo tutorial, on braiding breads, refer Making Braided Bread: Challah.

 

This braid was the perfect size to fit in a 9”x5”-inch loaf pan.  However, if your braid ends up being a bit too long, just tuck the ends of it under to fit it in the pan.

 

5) Proofing the Loaf

Cover the braid with plastic wrap and allow it to double in size (should crest nicely above the rim of the pan). This will take 45 minutes to an hour.  If you decided to make a free-form braid, just cover it with plastic wrap and allow it to double on the sheet pan.

 

6) Preparing the Loaf for Baking

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and place an empty steam pan on the bottom rack.

Whisk the extra egg (or egg white) and add a couple of teaspoons of water to make an egg wash.

Once the loaf is doubled, and just before placing in the oven, brush on the egg wash. Be sure to get the sides and make sure it's got a nice even coat.

 

7) Baking the Challah

Add hot water to the steam pan and transfer the loaf to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, turning half way through baking until it's a rich golden brown.

Remove the loaf from the pan at the end of 20 minutes and see if the lower crust is browned enough. If it is not browned enough, put it back in on a sheet pan or pizza screen for another 5 minutes.  When I removed the loaf from the pan, it was a bit soft on the bottom so I put it on a baking sheet and placed it back in the oven for a couple of minutes until the bottom sounded hollow when I thumped on it.

 

8) Cooling and Slicing the Loaf

Allow to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This bread has been YeastSpotted. Please visit Wild Yeast to view all of the lovely breads in the weekly roundup.

 

9) Enjoy! 

This egg bread reminds me of Brioche (without all the extra butter). It makes a fabulous grilled cheese sandwich.  I served it with some kosher dill pickles.  Sorry I didn’t take a photo of that part, but I enjoyed it immensely.

This bread probably freezes really well, but I don’t think that will be necessary this time. I’m enjoying it too much!

 

 

 

Thanks to Noor of Ya Salam Cooking for encouraged us to Bake a bread from a place you would love to visit as the theme for BBD (Bread Baking Day) #46.

 

 

 

 

 

I also want to thank Anthony of the Artisan Bread Bakers for choosing this Italian Challah for the January BOM. It’s a wonderful bread!  Thanks for sharing your family recipe!

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy