Pizza Oven Italian Easter Bread Recipe
Italian Easter Bread Recipe in the Pizza Oven
This delicious Italian Easter Bread really put our baking skills to the test but it turned out perfect in the end!
When working with bread dough, people (us included), often get nervous that it won’t turn out right. At one point, when we had to transfer our beautifully shaped and perfectly risen dough to the oven, the air got knocked out of it and we thought it would flop for sure. Luckily this dough was very forgiving and within a minute of being in the oven, it rose again to it’s original form.
Recipe:
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cup milk
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups bread flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
Rainbow vermicelli
hard-boiled eggs (as placeholders for the chocolate easter eggs)
coloured hollow chocolate eggs for middle of breads
Directions
- Combine the milk and butter in a small saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Warm just until the butter is completely melted and remove from the heat. Let cool until just warm.
- Combine the yeast, salt, eggs and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add the warm milk and half of the flour. Knead with the dough hook until combined. Add more flour gradually until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the mixer. You may not have to use all of the flour (but I did!). Knead the dough about 3-5 minutes longer, or until completely smooth and elastic.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn it over once to coat the top. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm place, about 1 hour – 1.5 hrs.
- Gently deflate the dough with a fist. Turn it out onto a floured work surface and pat it down slightly so that the dough has an even thickness. Cut the dough into 12 even pieces. Roll each piece to form a 1-inch thick rope about 14 inches in length. Take two lengths and twist them together; loop the twist into a circle and pinch the ends together. Place the circle onto parchment lined baking sheets. Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let rise again for 1 hour, or until doubled.
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Combine the egg and 1 teaspoon water in a small condiment cup. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the loaves with the mixture. Sprinkle on the vermicelli and gently place a hard-boiled, placeholder egg in the middle of each loaf.
- Bake for 20 minutes, spinning it around at 10 minutes to make sure the side nearest the fire doesn’t burn. Bake until the bread is golden and fragrant. Let cool until warm, carve out theplaceholder hard-boiled eggs, replace with chocolate eggs and enjoy while still warm!