Italian Easter Bread (Pane di Pasqua)
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Easter would not be complete without this bread on the table! This sweet treat is delicious and makes a beautiful centerpiece for your Easter breakfast or brunch! Italian Easter Bread (Pane di Pasqua) is one of the three traditional holiday breads in my kitchen every year celebrating their respective holiday. Panettone for Christmas, King cake for Mardi Gras, and Pane di Pasqua for Easter!
A few important things about the eggs before you make this recipe. The eggs that are going to be used in the dough need to be at room temperature, along with the milk and butter. Adding cold ingredients to a yeast dough will either prolong your rise time, or prevent your yeast from activating.
Traditionally the eggs on top of the bread are dyed the bright colors usually associated with Easter. I chose not to color my eggs, since I used fresh eggs from a local farm. The natural colors on these eggs are beautiful. The eggs that are nestled into the dough should not be hard boiled! The eggs will cook in the oven with the bread. If you chose to color your eggs, you can use food coloring or purchase an Easter egg dye kit. Carefully color the 5 raw eggs. Set them aside to dry and come to room temperature while you make the bread dough.
This dough could be made by hand, but I prefer to have the mixer and dough hook do the work. There’s a little kneading by hand at the end before the dough rests. The dough comes together quickly, starting with some of the dry ingredients, then the wet ingredients, then finished with the remaining flour and add-ins if you’re using them. Adding the eggs one at a time, and allowing time for each to combine into the dough before continuing will ensure the dough becomes this beautiful bright yellow color.
Pane di Pasqua is fluffy with just a touch of sweetness. This bread is the perfect canvas for those light spring flavors such as orange and anise. One of these two loaves is flavored with orange zest and anise seed, and the other has citron and anise seed. When using the orange zest, I like to zest the orange right into the granulated sugar, then mix it together until the sugar takes on the fragrance of the orange. This method also ensures that the orange flavor and zest are mixed into the dough more evenly.
If you’re using citron or another dried fruit, I’d suggest that you stock up at Christmas, when it’s more easily accessible. It seems to be a little harder to find this time of the year. Or just substitute the citron for orange zest and anise seed, equally delicious!
You could also add up to 1/4 cup of almonds or your favorite nut to this dough. I would recommend chopping them finely, to avoid weighing down this fluffy dough.
The steps to making the final wreath look so impressive, are truly very simple. Once the dough rises, you will simply divide the dough into two equal pieces (you can weigh or just eyeball the size of each half), roll each piece into a log, then twist them together. This is very similar to the steps used to shape the Mardi Gras King Cake.
Twisting the dough into a wreath is the way that I learned how to make this bread. Easter bread can also be made by dividing the dough into three equal pieces and braiding them into a larger log. Similar to a traditional loaf of brioche. The wreath symbolizes the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. When the dough is braided with three pieces of dough, it represents the Holy Trinity. Decorating the top of the bread with eggs represents rebirth, Christ rising from the dead.
Normally, I would say dive right into a loaf of bread while it is warm, but this is NOT the type of bread you want to dive right into. This bread and the eggs need to settle, that is done by letting this rest on the parchment, on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes. Do not cut into the bread while it is warm to try to transfer the bread off of the baking sheet. Once cooled, gently transfer the bread to a serving platter, drizzle with the frosting and add your sprinkles.
This beautiful loaf looks like it was made by a bakery, but it is so easy to pull off at home. I hope you’ll try this recipe!
Italian Easter Bread
Ingredients
Instructions
- Following the directions on your favorite Easter egg dye kit, carefully color the 5 raw eggs. Set them aside to dry and come to room temperature while you make the bread dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a small bowl, add the granulated sugar and the orange zest. Stir the mixture together until the sugar starts to turn a bit orange and is fragrant.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix 1 cup of flour, sugar with the orange zest, salt, anise seed, and yeast.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add both the room temperature milk and melted butter to the dry ingredients. Beat on low for 2 minutes. Scrape down bowl as needed.
- Add eggs one at a time, beating in between to ensure each egg is incorporated into the batter. Scrape down bowl as needed.
- Gradually add 2 cups of flour (there should be 1/4 cup of flour remaining). Beat at medium speed for two minutes, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. The dough should be thick and elastic.
- If using, stir in dried fruit and nuts. The dough should be soft and lift away from the sides of the bowl. If it appears to be wet or sticky, add the additional 1/4 cup of flour.
- Turn out onto a lightly floured board, shape in a ball, and knead for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
- Put the ball into a greased bowl, turn the dough around so that it is covered in oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place free from drafts for one hour or until doubled in size.
- Punch dough down, turn onto a lightly floured board and knead for two minutes. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 24-inch log. Twist the two logs loosely together. You will need five "loops" to secure the raw eggs.
- Transfer the twisted log to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and form a circle or oval. Seal and join the ends of the log being careful to maintain the five loops that were created when the dough was twisted together. Arrange the raw colored eggs into the loops. The eggs need to be tucked securely into the loops so that they do not roll off the dough when it rises.
- Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly brown on top.
- Cool on a baking rack.
- In a medium-size bowl, add powdered sugar. This can be sifted beforehand, or lightly whisked to remove any clumps.
- Add anise extract and milk. Whisk until frosting is smooth and shiny. You should not be able to see any clumps of sugar.
- When the bread is cooled, spoon the frosting on the bread avoiding the eggs.
- While frosting is still wet, add sprinkles.
Notes
Traditionally the eggs on top of the bread are dyed bright colors. I used eggs from a local farm, I think the natural colors from these eggs are beautiful!
There is yeast in this recipe, which means the ingredients need to be at room temperature, to ensure the yeast activates and the dough rises.
Substitute 1/4 cup of candied orange peel or the same amount of citron or mixed candied fruit for the orange zest.
The almonds can be substituted for any nut or left out of the recipe completely.
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