Sicilian Easter Bread Baskets – a Nonna’s Love for Her Grandchildren

Sicilian Easter Bread Baskets – a Nonna’s Love for Her Grandchildren
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Sicilian Easter Bread Baskets (Pane di Pasqua)

These Sicilian Easter Bread Baskets were a special treat lovingly made by my great grandmother. She sailed to America in 1914 at 14 years of age. Her name was recorded as Apollonia from Sicily; the first matriarch of our Italian-American family, in America she was called Maria. We just called her Nonna Mary for short. Nonna Mary always made these Easter Bread Baskets as a treat for each of her great grandchildren. I loved going to her house on Easter morning and getting my bread basket, it’s a great memory!

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From the Old Country – A Story

This is her story. In the beginning of the 20th Century, at the age of 14, my Nonna Mary escaped crushing poverty from her home in Giarre, Catania, Sicily. She arrived with her family on a boat named Canopic to Boston, Massachusetts to start a new life. However, she never fully let go of her Sicilian roots, she spoke English haltingly as a second language, and was a strong, opinionated woman who passionately loved her family. She eloped with my great grandfather Domenick followed by a church wedding in 1921. I never knew my great grandfather as he passed away young, however, the oral family history says that Domenick was a hard-loving man who took no grief from anyone. He was a hard-working, well-respected (maybe even feared) man in the Italian-American community where they lived. He started and operated his own business, D. Mangano and Sons Plumbing & Heating.

Family Oral History Memories Passed

Picture of me with my great grandparents and brother
Picture of me holding Nonna Mary’s hand with my other Great Grandfather Giuseppe and my brother

My parents have shared their own special memories of my great grandparents. My father remembers Domenick as a doting grandfather. He told me that his funeral procession included four cars filled with flowers following the hearse to the cemetery. My mother shared that my Nonna Mary was passionate about vanilla sugar for baking (which could not be bought in America at the time). So, on one trip back to Sicily, she bought and hid vanilla sugar packets in her bra to smuggle them safely back to America! She crooned over her baked goods made with that precious vanilla sugar and mourned when it was all gone. Now that’s extraordinary passion.

A Special Sicilian Easter Bread Basket Recipe

This Easter Bread Basket recipe shared here is a recreation of her recipe and passion. She made a dozen or more of these every Easter and gave them to each of her great grandchildren. How I loved to get my Easter Basket on Easter Sunday and then bring it home. I stored it in the refrigerator and nibbled away at it all week until there was only the egg left. Then I would crack open the egg and eat that, too.

Baskets baked until golden brown
Baskets baked until golden brown

The dough for this basket is a yeast-risen, dense, enriched dough made with egg, milk, sugar. Yeast gives the final product a risen, smooth appearance. The denseness gives the dough the strength it needs to hold the basket together so it does not break when handled. The resulting bread is really a cross between a cookie and a bread. My favorite flavor combination is vanilla extract and a touch of anise. It’s a flavor reminiscent of black licorice and is popularly used in Italian sweets. If you don’t like anise just substitute almond extract. The dough is the same as the dough used to make this recipe – Italian “S” Cookies Biscotti.

Is this Recipe Very Difficult?

This recipe is not difficult but it does take time and patience. The dough is heavy and dense so can take a bit of time to rise. Also, the process for assembling the baskets, once again, is not difficult, but is written in detail below with process photos for ease. So, follow the recipe and instructions carefully, and you will be rewarded with these beautiful Sicilian Easter Bread Basket treats!

I used a white shelled, dyed Easter egg in the center of the basket. A raw egg in it’s shell is fine because it will bake to hard-boiled consistency in the oven. You could skip this step as it’s not necessary to color the egg but it does add a lot to the overall presentation. If you want to color the egg with food dye as I did (multi color tie-dyed), find the process at this link. Store finished and baked baskets in the refrigerator for food safety (since it has a hard cooked egg in it).

Cut dough into 10 pieces for two baskets
Dough rolled into D Shape for bottom of basket
Roll four D Shapes for bottom of baskets
Braid three pieces of dough together
Braid three pieces of dough together for the handles
Place egg in center
Lay egg in center of D shape and attach the braid
Attach the braided handle to the bottom
Lay a D shape dough over the egg and crimp the edges
Lay a second D shape over the egg and crimp the edges
Assembling the Easter Bread Baskets

Sharing is Caring

Just as my Sicilian great grandmother Nonna Mary used to do, I encourage you to share these fantastic Sicilian Easter Bread Baskets with those who are special to you. Possibly, it will become a tradition in your family, too. Then, in 50 years, your great grandchild will be reminiscing about it and sharing the tradition for the next generation!

Happy baking, my dear friend. Bake One Share One – Great Bread for All.

Signature Christina
Easter Bread Basket with a Real Egg

Easter Egg Bread Baskets

Christina
This is my great grandmother's easter egg bread basket recipe brought from Sicily to America. She made these baskets for her great grandchildren at Easter. It is an enriched dough beautifully shaped and decorated with a real egg in the center.
5 from 8 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 minutes
Resting Time 3 hours
Total Time 4 hours 15 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Easter, Snack
Cuisine Italian, Sicilian
Servings 2 Baskets
Calories 1140 kcal

Equipment

  • Digital Metric Scale
  • Electric Mixer with Dough Hook and Whisk
  • Baking Sheet Pan
  • Parchment Paper
  • Bench Scraper (or knife)
  • Rolling Pin

Ingredients
  

Basket Bread Dough

  • 80 ml Milk warmed to 100°F / 37°C (1/3 cup)
  • 3 tsp Instant or Active Dry Yeast
  • 2 ea Eggs
  • 135 g Sugar 2/3 cup
  • 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1/4 tsp Anise or Almond Flavor Extract
  • 75 g Butter melted (1/3 cup)
  • 200 g All Purpose Flour 1 ⅔ cup
  • 200 g Bread Flour 1 ⅔ cup

Decorating

  • 1 ea Colorful Easter Egg (see not #1 below)
  • 1 ea Egg
  • 1 T Milk
  • 2 T Nonpareils colorful sprinkles

Instructions
 

Scaling Ingredients

  • Measure all ingredients using a digital kitchen scale.

Mixing

  • Mix together warm milk (100°-110°F), a pinch of sugar, and dry yeast until yeast is dissolved, set aside for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
    warm milk & yeast mixed together
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and anise (if using). Mix with whisk attachment on medium high for 30 seconds.
    Egg, Sugar, Salt and Vanilla in a Mixer
  • Add 1/2 cup of flour and yeast/milk mixture. Mix with whisk attachment on medium high for 30 seconds.
    Yeast, Milk, and some flour mixed with egg
  • Add melted butter and 1/2 cup of flour and mix again on medium high for 30 seconds. Switch to dough hook.
    Add butter & 1/2 cup of flour
  • Add remaining flour and mix with dough hook on level 1 for 2 minutes until coarse dough is formed. Switch to level 2 and mix for 4-5 more minutes.
    Remaining flour added to bowl with dough hook
  • Dough is done mixing when it is smooth, pulls from the sides, but sticks to the bottom.
    Smooth Dough sticks to bottom but pulls from sides

Bulk Fermentation

  • Remove dough from mixer and knead into a smooth ball. Place ball in to a bowl sprayed with oil to prevent sticking. Cover. Allow dough to relax for 2 hours in a warm location. Hint: This dough will only rise a little bit during these two hours, that's okay, don't expect it to double like yeast-risen breads.
    Smooth dough ball

Folding

  • Dump dough out on to a flat work surface.

Dividing

  • Cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Then cut two of those four pieces in half. Then cut remaining two pieces into thirds. You should end up with four triangular shaped pieces (top and bottom of basket) and six 3″ long pieces (to braid the baskets’ handles). See photo.
    Cut dough into 10 Pieces per instructions

Pre-Shaping

  • For the bottom of the baskets, using a rolling pin, flatten four of the triangle pieces of dough into a 6″ (15 cm) long “D” shape. See photo.
    Dough rolled into D Shape for bottom of basket
  • For the braided handles of the baskets, roll each of the six pieces into 12″ (30 cm) long ropes. Take three of those ropes and braid them. Set aside. Repeat with the remaining three ropes. Set aside.
    Braid three pieces of dough together

Makeup and Panning

  • Prepare a half sheet pan (large cookie sheet) with parchment paper.
  • On the parchment paper, lay down one "D" shaped piece of dough, place a decorated egg in the center of the flat shape of the "D." Using a little water, connect the end of the rope to the left and right of the decorated egg.
    Lay egg in center of D shape and attach the braid
  • Wet the dough around the egg and lay a second "D" shaped piece of dough over the egg (leaving the top exposed). Gently press the top and bottom together. Crimp the edges around the bottom of the basket. Repeat to assemble the second basket.
    Lay a D shape dough over the egg and crimp the edges

Proofing

  • Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30-45 minutes until dough is puffy.

Baking

  • Preheat oven to 375°F / 190°C
  • Mix together 1 egg with 1 T of milk to make an egg wash then coat each basket with it. Sprinkle bottom of the basket with the colorful nonpareils.
    Decorated Dough Basket prior to Baking
  • Bake baskets for 13-15 minutes until browned on top and on bottom.

Cooling

  • Remove baskets to a cooling rack. Cool for 15 minutes. Serve.
    Baskets baked until golden brown

Storing

  • IMPORTANT! Store these in the refrigerator for food safety due to the egg.

Notes

1. I used a raw white egg and colored the egg with food dye. No need to hard boil the egg first as it will bake in the oven. If you do hard boil the egg ahead of time, it will be fine, just a little over done after coming out of the oven. I used this website for instructions on how to tie-dye the easter egg (multiple colors) https://onelittleproject.com/tie-dye-easter-eggs/.
2. Follow the process pictures, they are really helpful in the assembly of this basket.
3. This is a heavy dough. I recommend some proofing times above but use your best judgement. The dough may not rise much during the first proof but make sure you allow it to rise until puffy after assembly of the baskets and before baking.
3. Store baked baskets in the refrigerator to keep the egg fresh and edible. If they are stored at room temperature for more than two hours do not eat the egg but the basket will be fine.
Keyword Easter Bread, Easter Bread Basket, pane pasquale, Pane Siciliano

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