Whew, we have a lot going on today. First, a recipe for a traditional Italian Easter Egg Bread. We never had these as kids, but learned about them from my hubby’s Italian family. His grandma used to make these every Easter and I’ve made them on several Easters. You can either make a big braided version to use as a centerpiece before eating or make individual ones to place at your guest’s place settings!

Ingredients

Sweet Dough

2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter in 1-inch pieces (room temperature)
1/2 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
2/3 cup whole milk
5 tablespoons sugar
1 packet dry yeast
Dyed Easter Eggs

Glaze

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon milk
colored sprinkles

Directions

Warm the milk, transfer to a bowl and add a tablespoon of the sugar and then the yeast. The milk should be just warm and not too hot or it will kill the yeast. When the yeast is foamy, whisk in the eggs.

Place the rest of the sugar salt and flour in a stand mixer. Add the milk and mix. Then add the pieces of butter one at a time about a minute apart until incorporated into the dough. Then need the dough for another 4 or 5 minutes until it is nice and silky.

Grease another bowl and place the dough there to rise. Lightly grease the top of the dough and cover with plastic. Let rise until doubled.

Then knead the dough and cut into three equal strips. Braid the dough and join the ends to form a circle. Once you have that, nestle the hard boiled eggs into the braids.

Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Make the glaze and drizzle it over the bread once cool. Add the sprinkles to the bread and voila! You’ve got a beautiful Italian Easter Egg bread!

You can see some pictures of Easter Egg Breads by clicking here!

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Giveaways!

Wow, I’ve got giveaways galore going on for you at Facebook. I know some of you don’t do Facebook, so here’s what we’ll do. If you leave a comment on this blog post and leave the name of the hero and heroine in Vampire Reborn, I’ll include you in the list of people that entered when I choose winners using random.org.