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Italian Easter Bread

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Salt

Zest of 1 large lemon

3 tbs sugar

1/4 cup lukewarm milk (i used oat to make this dairy free)

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

2 room temp eggs

1/2 cup butter (i used plant butter)

Other Ingredients

1 egg

1 tbs water

2 eggs (uncooked, dyed whatever color you wish)

Sprinkles/pareils (optional)

Using a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, salt, zest and sugar. Make a well in the middle and add the milk and yeast. Mix together, then add the room temp eggs. With the dough hook, knead the mix until combined.

Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic and let rise for roughly 2 hours. Every 30 minutes do a stretch and fold, moving opposite ends to the middle.

After two hours, add the softened butter a little at a time using the dough hook on your mixer. Once it's all added (don't overmix), let the dough rest another 10 minutes. Knead it again until it's smooth and coming away from the side of the bowl. This should take less than 8 minutes. 

Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Move the dough to a floured surface. Technically this recipe can be divided into four parts for four pieces of bread, but i only made two dyed eggs so i divided into two blobs of dough. Separate each blob into two ropes. Twist them over each other and then join the end to make a wreath. Set on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, cover and let rise for 2 hours, or until it doubles in size.

15 minutes before you think you'll bake them, pre heat the oven to 390 degrees.

Brush the tops with the egg wash made from the one egg and 1 tbs water. Add your dyed, uncooked egg to the center of each and sprinkle the top with pareils or sprinkles (if using).

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden and it sounds hollow if you tap on the bottom. I baked mine for 20 minutes exactly and they were overbaked by a couple minutes, so keep a sharp eye on them. Let cool and enjoy!