Italian Easter Bread
March 19, 2008 
Buona Pasqua! I've made this Easter bread for years for my kids. It's a sweet bread, made with milk and sugar and has an Easter Egg in the middle! There's a lot of Italian recipes for Easter breads, some are savory and some are sweet. This one is fun.
- 1 package Rapid Rise yeast
- 1.25 cups scalded milk, cooled to room temperature
- pinch of salt
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3.5 cups flour (approximate)
- 1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon of water
- 6 dyed Easter eggs
- sprinkles
tip: the Easter eggs do not need to be hard boiled. They cook when the bread bakes. I usually just dye the eggs right out of the fridge, without hardboiling them. Saves time. Just be careful they don't crack!
Instructions:
In a large mixer bowl, combine yeast, warm (not hot) milk, salt, butter, eggs and sugar. Add about half the flour and beat until smooth with dough hook. Slowly add the remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Don't worry about how much flour it ends up being, just keep adding until the dough is not sticky anymore. 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.
Punch dough down, divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece to form a 1 inch thick rope about 14 inches long and, taking two pieces, twist to form a "braid", pinching the ends, and loop into a circle.
Place on a greased baking sheet or line your baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat. Cover and let rise until double, about an hour again. 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.
Bake at 350 degrees until golden - about 20 - 25 minutes. Cool on rack.
** Note: For an updated version of this bread, see my most recent Easter Bread post. It's made with golden eggs and pearl sugar:
Another cute idea for Easter is making these Edible Egg Nests for your table:
You might also like to try Italian Easter Torta (Torta Pasqualina):
Reader Comments (172)
I probably won't be upstairs for a while mom, but I just wanted to let you know it was amazing.
I'm glad I got to come home now, I would hate to break my 19 year run on having this once a year.
Wow, These look amazing! So glad I found your blog! I took a visit and I'll be back for sure!
Grazie!
I love these breads. How fun.
What a great tradition.
My mom make those cakes too,every Easter, every year.
Then she present them to everyone she knows.
Sicerly, i don't like them so much...
These look wonderful! So this recipe makes more of a sweet bread? Can you put something other than an egg in the center?
wow !! they are very nice !! good job .. they saved my project ...
Va bene! But no anise seed? What region of Italy is this recipe from?
mmm! these look prettier than the loaves i grew up with! i like the mini-size--sooo cute!
QUESTION: i would like to make them for gifts. do you think they would travel unrefrigerated for a couple days or spoil?
Flappergirl: I made them once to send to my nephews and I wrapped them tightly with plastic wrap and they were great when they got there. However, tell the recipient not to eat the egg. It will probably be spoiled.
Is there an Italian name for these breads?
These individual Sweet Breads look Great!
can i substitute the 1/3 cup of butter with margarine
Perfect recipe!
My family loved it!
Thanks!
Thank you. This Bread was not only declious,
but looked great with all the colors of Easter.
Made me very happy
YUM. we will be making these!! thank you!
Love the pictures...and love the Easter Bread (which in my family we call Casatiello).
Happy Easter Everyone!
Great bread. I make this every Holy Saturday with my mother and we make it in the shape of a cross. Everyone always loves it.
What a beautiful bread! I need to find time to make this before Easter.
I made this bread today and it came out good .It looks beautiful and tastes yummy !!!.Thanks for the recipe .
Bini
so preeeettty!:)
In italian these are called "Pupa con l'uova" at least in Sicily.
i love these. my local guy makes them and the egg is not cooked through so when you peel them you can dip the sweet bread into the yoke. it is the perfect breakfast.
Che cose?
italian diva567: I think you could substitute margarine, but why would you? Butter tastes better and is healthier than margarine.
we made this tonight - it is so yummy! thanks!
Calabrians call it Sguta. I called it "ah shoota" which the spelling is incorrect but the transaltion means dry.LOL. Grew up with it, always a tradtion.But never had the recipe.Thankyou I will try it and see if it tastes the same.Will have to ask an older relative if they use anise.
BAKING IS MY PASSION! JUST TOOK THEM OUT OF THE OVEN AND THEY CAME OUT GREAT. CAN'T WAIT TO EAT THEM TOMORROW. HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE
CEF: I wonder how he makes them so that they yolks are not cooked all the way through??
Anonymous: "Che cose?" Really?
Jesse and Chris : So glad you made them.
Hello-
Just wanted to comment that I made these yesterday for Easter and they were superb. They tasted so similar to the Easter bread my grandmother used to make, which was exactly what I was hoping for!
Only change I made was using instant yeast instead of rapid rise, and a tad less sugar. Also, I refrigerated the shaped rolls after their first rise, and then took them out to finish rising in the morning (this took about 1 1/2 hours--I went back to bed!).
We had them for breakfast, spread with butter and nutella. So delicious! Thank you!
Amanda: So glad you made them and liked them. I will have to remember the Nutella addition! That sounds great.
Just what I was looking for, they look just like the breads my mom used to make. Can't wait to try the recipe. Buon Pasqua!
I baked these for Easter and just baked them again. My family loves them.
Great recipe.
Thank you for sharing it
I found you looking for an Italian Easter bread recipe. And what a gorgeous one this is! Your blog is just lovely.
Thank you for posting the recipe. My mom and dad were from Calabrian and every Holy Thursday my mother was start the recipe and wake up early on Good Friday to bake them. Where my mom came from she called them "cosuppa".
Can't wait to try your recipe out, they look amazing.
I'm so glad you posted this recipe. My mom passed away this past July and this was one of my favorites. I will carry the tradition on. What a wonderful web site. Thank you!
What a delight to discover your blog! I recently have been trying to re-create some of the recipes that my Sicilian grandmother (from Catania) used to make. Of course, she never used written recipes, so your recipe for Easter Bread is a real find! I can't wait to try it! I plan to surprise my 85 year-old mother with this treat from her childhood.
Also, so interesting to see that we both share loves for cooking, painting and anything Italian. (My art is at www.deborahponder.com.)
Thank you for sharing.
Buona Pasqua!
My mother made these every Easter in much larger quantities. She was from a small village outside Rome and they called them "umbigno" in Italian ( as best as I can spell what it sounded like). She added anise oil or anise extract. What do you think would be the right amount of extract to add? I was thinking 2 teaspoons.
From The Italian Dish:
Deb: My mother went to school in Catania! Hope you like the Easter bread - ciao to your grandmother!
Loretta: I've never added anise to the dough for this, so I'm not sure what the quantity would be! Sorry I can't help you on that. I guess you will have to experiment a little!
I love your blog site an this recipe. My parents and siblings are from Cefalu Sicily and I absolutely love traditional recipes. In response (and about 1 year late) to the anonymous entry that stated these are called Pupa con l'uova" In our family Pupa con l'uova is a sweet cookie flavored with orange, lemon, & vanilla extracts, shaped like bunnies or baskets, frosted with a yummy lemon-rum glaze & sprinked with non-perils. I wish I could put a picture here. Anyway it is really fun to read and share in other family traditions. Thanks so much!
hello, is it possible to refrigerate the dough, so that i can bake them in the morning?
From The Italian Dish:
Ashley: You can make the dough, let it rise, punch it down and then stick it in the fridge, covered. The next day take it out and let it come to room temperature and then form your breads and let them do their second rising.
Hope this helps!
oh my kids would love these.. it's the first time I've heard of Easter bread, thanks for sharing..I hope I can make it as nice as you did but I'm no good at bread making..so goodluck to me :)
ok, thanks :) that helps a lot!!
SIMPLY FABULOUS!!!!!
A feast for the eyes.
Love this. I'm making these on Friday along with Pizzagaina. I love this recipe and the rings are so cute. My nana will love it. She's from Controne, Naples. :) Much love, Happy Easter!
These look great! What do you use to dye your eggs? I am going to try these this Sunday.
From The Italian Dish:
Aimee: I just used regular Easter Egg dye in those little dye kits you buy in the grocery store! Have fun!
I love this recipe, but I cheated and made the dough in my bread machine - worked perfectly. Your recipes and photos are awesome, yum. Thank you for this site.