frances 
I had a spur of the moment Easter baking session using Allrecipes’ tasty Braided Easter Egg Bread recipe. I am super impressed! The recipe was very easy to follow and it was a pleasure to bite into sweet warm bread straight from the oven. As you can see, I dyed the eggs beforehand to give the bread wreath a bit of color and I love the result!
I tweaked the recipe slightly so it is not exactly what you will find on Allrecipes (see notes at bottom to see what I changed). Please enjoy!
Braided Easter Egg Bread
YIELD: 1 Braided Easter Egg Wreath
ACTIVE TIME: 35 min
TOTAL TIME (active + inactive time): 2 hr 25 min
CREDITS: Slightly changed from Braided Easter Egg Bread from Marbalet of Allrecipes
INGREDIENTS
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 package active dry yeast (8 g)
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 large eggs
- 5 large eggs, dyed if desired
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
INSTRUCTIONS
- In your stand mixer bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and yeast. In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter on low heat until milk is warm and butter is partially melted.
- Using your stand mixer on the lowest speed, slowly add the milk and butter into the flour. Add the eggs one at a time, waiting for the egg to be incorporated before adding the next. Change the mixer attachement to the dough hook head and knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
- Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
- Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into two equal size rounds; cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each round into a long roll about 36 inches long and 1 1/2 inches thick. Loosely twist the two pieces of dough together to form a braid ring, leaving spaces for the five eggs. Seal the ends of the ring together and use your fingers to slide the eggs between the braids of dough.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Place the loaf on a buttered baking sheet and cover loosely with a damp towel. Place the loaf in a warm place and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Brush risen loaf with melted butter and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden. Store in airtight container if eating later.
NOTES
- If you don’t have an electric mixer, it would be best to follow the allrecipes mixing instructions—my instructions are the lazy way of making the dough. Just make sure to follow the bake time here, I found that the bake time listed in the original recipe was about 30 minutes too long.
- The eggs are baked with the bread, so you don’t need to pre-boil them.
