Easter Egg Bread Baskets
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.
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.
- 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.
- Add 1/2 cup of flour and yeast/milk mixture. Mix with whisk attachment on medium high for 30 seconds.
- Add melted butter and 1/2 cup of flour and mix again on medium high for 30 seconds. Switch to dough hook.
- 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.
- Dough is done mixing when it is smooth, pulls from the sides, but sticks to the bottom.
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.
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.
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.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
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.
- 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.
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.
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.