Easter Bread
The perfect festive bread for the Easter holiday
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Rise Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minute
- Total Time: 2 hours 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 loaves 1x
- Category: bread
Ingredients
Units
Scale
For the dough:
4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) instant yeast
1 cup whole milk, warm (110-120 degrees F)
2 large eggs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon lemon zest
For the egg wash:
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
For decoration:
6 dyed raw Easer eggs
Nonpareils
Instructions
- Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Run the stand mixer for about 30 seconds to mix everything together.
- Add the warm milk, eggs, butter and lemon zest to the bowl and knead with the stand mixer until the dough starts to pull away from the edges of the bowl. Knead for another 5 minutes until the dough is smooth. It should be tacky, but not sticky, if the dough is too sticky and not pulling away from the edge of the bowl add more flour.
- Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for 1-1.5 hours until it doubles in size.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, press it into an even rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece of dough into a 12-inch long rope. Twist 2 ropes together at a time and pinch the edges together to make them into a circle (you will make 6 circles).
- Place the circles on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap or tea towel and let it rise for another hour, until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water for the egg wash. Brush the circles with the egg wash and then place 1 dyed Easter egg into the center of each dough circle.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 18-22 minutes, until the bread is golden brown. Let cool completely.
- In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice until smooth. Add extra lemon juice to get to desired glaze thickness.
- Drizzle the glaze over the baked breads, then sprinkle with nonpareils as desired.
Find it online: https://jesslovesbaking.com/2025/04/08/sweet-easter-bread/