Italian Easter Bread

Traditionally the eggs are dyed and the sprinkles are colorful. I went for a more muted pallet here.

Italian Easter Bread

For the Sponge:

240ml (1 cup) whole milk, lukewarm

7g (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast

50 g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

240g (2 cups) all-purpose flour

For the Dough:

240g (2 cups) all-purpose flour

50g (¼ cup) sugar

57g (¼ cup) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 orange

For the Decoration:

4 eggs, uncooked and dyed or pretty brown eggs as shown

nonpareils or sprinkles, colored is traditional, I used white

For the Egg Wash:

1 whole egg, or an egg white if you have a spare waiting to get used.

Instructions

 Make the sponge: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all the ingredients for the “sponge”. If you are not absolutely sure your yeast is active, start with just the warm milk and yeast, let it sit a few minutes, until you see bubbles; then proceed with the remaining ingredients. Mix by hand with a dough whisk if you have one, or use the paddle attachment on your machine, or a wooden spoon. The sponge will look like batter, very loose. 

Cover and let sit for at least an hour, or up to overnight in the refrigerator. I typically let mine sit 4 hours on the counter. This deepens the flavor.

Make the dough: To the sponge add all the ingredients under “dough”. Fit the mixer with the dough hook attachment, and mix low to medium speed for 7 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn it out onto a flourless counter and knead a few times to assure it's super elasticky. Oil the bowl and return the dough to it, turning the dough a few times to make sure all of it has contacted the oiled bowl.  Cover the bowl and set it in a warm spot to rise for 1 1/2 hours, or until roughly doubled in size. This is the first rise.

Knock the air out of the dough and divide it into 8 equal portions, around 120g each. Roll into tight balls. 

Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Working with two pieces at a time, roll on the counter into 12-inch ropes. Pinch two ropes together at the ends and twist them several times. Pinch the ends together so the twisted rope forms a wreath and tuck the ends underneath. Repeat with the remaining dough. (If you don’t like how they look the first time, you can weigh, ball, rope and twist one more time, don’t do this more than once.

Place two loaves on each of the lined baking sheets. Place the egg in the middle. Loosely cover plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour, or until puffy and almost doubled in size. This is the second rise.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. When the loaves are well risen, at about an hour, or longer in a cool kitchen, remove the plastic wrap gently and make an egg wash by whisking the egg or egg white in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to brush each loaf with a light coating of the egg wash, avoid touching the eggs. Sprinkle each loaf with nonpareils.

Bake: Bake for 22 minutes, or until golden, rotating the pans and switching their position halfway through. Transfer the loaves to a wire rack to cool.

The egg will be cooked through. The yolk will be more jammy than hard cooked.