Easter Crown Bread Recipe

Origin: European      Period: Traditional

To decorate this pretty Easter crown, you will need 5 coloured eggs but they must be UNCOOKED. Be sure to use non-toxic dyes as you colour them. This is also sometimes known as 'Italian Easter Bread'.

Ingredients

650 to 700g plain flour (divided use)
50g granulated sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
160ml warm milk
2 tbsp softened butter or margarine
2 eggs
90g chopped, mixed, candied fruit
50g chopped, blanched, almonds
1/2 tsp anise seed
5 uncooked eggs
Non-toxic egg colouring
Vegetable oil

Easter Crown Bread Preparation:

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 200g flour with the sugar, yeast, and salt. Add the milk and butter and beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes on medium. Add the eggs and 100g flour and beat on high for 2 minutes. Stir-in the fruit, nuts, and anise seed, mixing well. Then stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn this out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 6 to 8 minutes). Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 hour).

About 30 minutes before the dough has finished rising, colour the 5 eggs (leave them uncooked) with non-toxic dyes. When dry, lightly rub them with vegetable oil.

Knock back the risen dough and divide in half. Roll each half into a 24-inch rope. On a greased baking sheet, loosely twist the two ropes together then shape into a ring and pinch the ends together. Gently split the ropes and tuck the 5 coloured uncooked eggs into the openings. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size (about 30 minutes). Bake in an oven pre-heated to 180°C for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown. Remove from the baking sheet and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Find more Easter Recipes Here

Read: Recipe Articles and Reviews

More European recipes...

More recipes for breads, cakes and pastries...

More Traditional recipes...

More recipes for Cakes...

More recipes for Bread...

More recipes for Fruit...

More Baking recipes...

Are any of the terms used here unfamiliar, do you want to translate from British to American cookery terms? If so then this Glossary of US and UK Cookery Terms will help you.

Need to convert any units on this site?

As a guide 1 US cup of flour = 4 1/2 oz = 140g (this applies to breadcrumbs, ground almonds etc
1 US cup of butter/margarine or sugar = 7 oz = 200g

For temperature conversions (Celsius, gas mark, Farenheit) go to the Temperature conversion page.
For mass conversions (grammes, cups, spoons, ounces etc) go to the Mass/Weight conversion page.
For temperature conversions (litres, cups, spoons, fluid ounces etc) go to the Volume conversion page.
You can also see more cookery terms and meanings as well as ingredient descriptions at the Cooks' glossary