Pretty Italian Easter Bread Wreath with Eggs

Italian Easter bread is a traditional slightly sweet brioche style perfect for the springtime holiday. This fluffy, braided bread dotted with eggs and sprinkles is a festive addition to your Easter brunch.

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There are a few things about growing up with an Italian grandmother.

We always had lasagna for every single holiday.

On Christmas Eve, there was always seafood hence Christmas Shrimp Scampi.

And on Easter?

Always braided loaves of bread with eggs in them.

This Italian Easter bread was a favorite of mine as a kid, maybe because its appearance meant the Easter bunny was on its way, or maybe because it was super yummy.

After all this Easter bread, or pane de Pasqua, is a rich and delicious slightly sweet bread.

The dough is fluffy, buttery, and laced with fragrant citrus and vanilla so it tastes like a real treat- especially when you serve it warm with a little butter on it with your morning coffee.

It does require a bit of patience but the results are totally worth it since it gives you a festive, better than a bakery style, loaf of fluffy rich bread that makes it worthy of any Easter table.

Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies

To make this you’ll need:

• All purpose flour– Yes, even though you are making bread, you don’t want bread flour.
• Salt– To cut the sweetness and balance the flavors.
• Citrus zest– Either fresh lemon zest or fresh orange zest. It’s up to you!
• Vanilla extract– A lot of recipes call for anise instead. You can use that if you prefer but the bread will have a distinct licorice flavor. If you like that, go for it! Just reduce the amount you’d use to a teaspoon since it’s so strong.
• Sugar– Granulated
• Milk– Warm it to about 100 degrees so it will activate the yeast. You don’t want it too cool or it won’t activate the yeast and too hot will kill the yeast.
• Yeast– Instant or rapid rise yeast/.
• Eggs– The dough itself requires eggs, but you will also use an egg to make an egg wash and several eggs for decoration.
• Butter– Unsalted room temperature butter. You want the butter soft but not melted.
• Sprinkles– Optional but nonpariel sprinkles are traditional and it makes the bread super pretty!

You’ll also need the following kitchen supplies:

• Stand mixer with dough hook attachment– I highly reccomend KitchenAid. Though it is a little more expensive it will hold up for you! Ours has been alive and well for almost 20 years.
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Zester
• Foil or parchment paper
• Pastry brush
• Baking sheet

How to Make Italian Easter Bread

1. Make the dough.

Whisk the flour, salt, zest, and sugar together in a bowl of a stand mixer.

Make a little well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the vanilla, milk, and yeast.

Mix it with a fork to just combine and then crack in two eggs.

Make sure the stand mixer has the dough hook attached and turn the mixer on medium speed to knead the dough for about 2 minutes.

2. The first rise.

Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and let it rise in a warm draft-free place until the dough doubles in size.

After the dough has doubled in size, uncover the dough and put the bowl back into the stand mixer with the dough hook attachment.

Knead the dough on medium high speed, working in the butter in 3 to 4 equal pieces.

Keep kneading the dough on medium high until the dough is smooth and glossy and pulls away from the side of the bowl.

3. The second rise.

Cover the bowl again with plastic or a clean towel and let the dough rise until it again doubles in size.

After the dough has doubled, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.

4. Braid the dough.

Divide the dough into 3 equal sized parts.

Roll the dough with your hands to make each piece into a 12″-14″ rope.

Pinch the ends of the ropes together and braid the ropes together, pressing the bottom of the braid pices together to secure it.

Make a circle shape out of the braided dough so it is a wreath.

5. The third rise.

Transfer the bread dough wreath onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil that’s been sprayed with nonstick spray.

Cover the dough with a clean dish towel and let it rise again until it has doubled in size.

6. Decorate and bake.

Once the dough has doubled in size, a small bowl, whisk one egg with a tablespoon of water.

Brush the egg wash over the bread.

Gently press uncooked dyed or undyed (up to you!) eggs into the wreath a few inches apart from each other.

Sprinkle the sprinkles over the bread.

Bake the bread uncovered in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, carefully cover the bread with foil and bake it for an additional 10-12 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and makes a hollow sound when you tap it on the bottom.

Let it cool until you can comfortably handle the bread.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Storing

Store baked Easter bread wrapped in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days.

Do not eat the eggs if you leave it on the counter!

FAQs

FAQs

Tips and Tricks

• Traditionally, Easter bread has anise or another licorice flavor in it. However, many people prefer a milder flavor in this bread (myself included!) so we use vanilla instead. If you want to use anise instead, just use a teaspoon. It’s very strong.
• Make sure not to overheat the milk. If the milk gets too hot, it can kill the yeast and your bread won’t rise.
• If you want to slow down one of the rises, you can put the covered dough into the fridge. I often make the dough through the first rise and add the butter in. Then I cover it and put it in the fridge overnight and finish it up the next day. When I pull the dough out of the fridge, I make sure to put it in a warm spot to get the rise going.
• To make the dough rise a little quicker, you can also turn your oven onto warm or proof and pop the dough into the oven. I do turn the oven off after a couple minutes so the dough doesn’t cook but then you have a warm, draft free spot that will allow the dough to rise fairly quickly.
• If you want to use dyed eggs, you can use Pretty Cool Whip Easter Eggs. Just don’t cook the eggs before you dye them!

Other Easter Recipes

Looking for other Easter recipes? Try these:

• Easter Bunny Bark
• Easy Sweet and Savory Instant Pot Ham with Honey Glaze
• Easy Ham and Cheese Frittata (Ham and Cheese Crustless Quiche)
• Adorable Easy Easter Peeps Cupcakes Egg Nest Cupcakes
• Garlic and Herb Roasted Carrots
• Easy Roasted Carrot Soup

Did you make this? Let me know!

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