Italian Easter Bread

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Step-by-Step Guidance - If you're intimidated by baking with yeast, please don't be! This Italian Easter bread recipe is incredibly detailed to set you up for success.

Perfect Texture/Flavor - This anise-flavored yeasted bread has the most amazing soft and fluffy texture, similar to other enriched breads like challah and brioche. The braided dough also has a hint of lemon and just enough anise in its flavoring to be present but not overpowering.

Make-Ahead Tips - With two rises required, there's no getting around a lengthy total recipe time. I've also included instructions on starting the process the night before to get one rise out of the way and save time on the day-of baking.

Recipe Ingredients

• Flour: All-purpose flour is used here, and a lot of it. While it's ideal to measure flour in grams for precision, if going by cups be sure to use the scoop-and-level method detailed in the recipe card below to prevent adding too much to the recipe.
• Yeast: One envelope (2.25 teaspoons, 0.25 ounce) of active dry yeast is used here. Make sure it's fresh (not expired/old) for the best rise.
• Eggs: While the two eggs required in the dough itself are pictured above, you'll need six additional dyed Easter eggs if you'd like to place one in the center of each ring before baking. The center eggs are optional.
• Lemon zest: One tablespoon is used, about one large lemon.
• Anise extract: This recipe calls for anise extract found in the baking aisle, though anise oil or anise seed would be fine substitutes (see more on this in the FAQ section below).

Step-by-Step Instructions

There's no getting around the fact that there are a lot of steps in making Italian Easter bread. Thankfully the steps aren't that difficult, rather they just take time. This is an overview - all of the details are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

See the section below the instructions on a way to simplify the process by starting this bread the night before.

1. Step 1: Whisk together the sugar, yeast, salt, and one cup of flour in the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Step 2: Heat the milk and butter until melted and the liquid reaches about 105-115°F. If it's too hot, take the pan off the heat and let it cool until it's in this range.

3. Step 3: Pour the milk/butter into the stand mixer bowl over the dry ingredients. Whisk it well to combine as it froths up.

4. Step 4: Add two eggs, lemon zest, and anise and vanilla extracts. Using the paddle attachment, mix for two minutes.

5. Step 5: Add three cups of flour. Use the dough hook to knead for 10 minutes as a ball of dough forms. Add a couple of extra tablespoons of flour, as needed, until the dough is only slightly sticky.

6. Step 6: Place the ball of dough in a large greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.

7. Step 7: Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a work surface. Knead it briefly, then let it rest for a few minutes. Slice it into twelve equal pieces.

8. Step 8: Roll each piece into a thin rope about one-inch or so wide and just over a foot long.

9. Step 9: Place two ropes next one another and pinch together the ends of one side. Twist the ropes around one another, form a ring, and pinch together the remaining ends. Let rings rise again until doubled, then brush with egg wash and sprinkle nonpareils.

10. Step 10: Add a dyed egg to the center of the ring (if you like) then bake at 350°F until golden-brown, around 23-25 minutes.

Adding Dyed Eggs to Easter Bread

While they create a show-stopper of an Easter table centerpiece, it's completely optional to add dyed eggs to Easter bread. In fact, I'm not a big fan of soft or hard boiled eggs in general so my preference is to omit the dyed eggs and simply bake Italian Easter bread without.

This recipe yields six small-ish rings, so you'll need six dyed eggs for decoration. You can also only add a few eggs, or not dye the eggs at all.

If you are adding decoration eggs, keep these things in mind:

• Egg doneness - The dyed eggs are raw, and with a 23-25 minute bake time they'll end up somewhere between a soft- and hard-boiled consistency.
• Use food-safe dyes - If coloring the eggs, be sure to choose a method of dyeing that uses food-safe dyes. The brand of kit I've used since I was little, Paas, calls out that its dyes are food-safe, as does the kind I found at Target. Most should be, but it's worth a double-check.
• Prevent color bleeding - Keep the egg wash away from the dyed eggs as best you can to prevent color bleeding onto the dough. That said, despite my best efforts I've found blue Easter egg dye for whatever reason to bleed more than the other colors.
• Important food safety information - Store the bread rings with the eggs in the refrigerator (or remove the eggs after baking for refrigeration). Don't leave them out for longer than two hours at room temperature after baking. Soft-ish boiled eggs generally keep for two days refrigerated in the shell, so discard them after that.

Make-Ahead Method

Italian Easter bread is best when it's freshly-baked, but its lengthy process can jam up an otherwise busy baking and cooking time on Easter morning.

Enter: cold fermentation.

This is when you allow the dough to rise over an extended period of time under refrigeration, usually for one of the rises or the other (not both).

This recipe lends itself very well to cold fermentation, and is a method I use frequently for Italian Easter bread. The night before I want to bake this bread, I make the ball of dough, let it sit to rise at room temperature for a few minutes, and then transfer everything to the refrigerator. There it will rise for 8-12 hours, ready to continue with the shaping, second rise, and baking the following morning.

There is a risk of over-proofing with this method, though, so you'll have to think about timing as I wouldn't leave it for much longer than 12 hours. King Arthur has lots of information about cold fermentation if you're curious to learn more.

Expert Tips and Tricks

• Be efficient with time. As Italian Easter bread dough contains eggs and requires two rises, you'll want to be as efficient as possible when it comes to proofing the dough so it isn't out at room temperature for longer than it needs to be. An optimally-warm location, such as a preheated-then-turned-off-and-cooled-down-some oven or over top of a running dishwasher or dryer, will help the dough rise speedily.

• Keep an instant-read thermometer handy. Here I use it to ensure the milk/butter is around 110°F before adding it to the yeast, check the temperature of my warm oven before proofing the dough to see that it's in the mid-70°Fs (and not too hot as to kill off the yeast), and even check the baked bread itself for perfect doneness when the internal temperature reaches 190°F.

• Avoid dough shrinkage. After kneading the dough after its first rise, you'll want to let it rest for several minutes or so before rolling the sections into ropes. This rest period allows the gluten to chill out and become less tough, which will let you form ropes without them springing back and shortening.

Recipe FAQs