Easter Bread

10,000 views! Thank you so much for all of the support over the past year. Happy Easter! This recipe comes from Pennies on a Platter and is my first time using yeast (yikes!), it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Just be prepared that the dough needs to rise twice so there's a lot of down time with this recipe.

Ingredients:

-1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast

-1 1/4 cups warm milk

-Pinch of salt

-1/3 cup butter, at room temperature

-2 eggs, lightly beaten

-1/2 cup sugar

-3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups flour

-egg wash (1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon of water)

-6 dyed, uncooked, Easter eggs (will cook in the oven)

Mix together the yeast, salt, milk, butter, eggs and sugar.
Add two cups of flour and beat until smooth.

I don't have a dough hook attachment on my mixer so I kneeded by hand you can do either.
Kneed until dough is smooth.

Add flour as needed to make sure dough isn't sticky.
Once the dough is smooth and elastic, place into a well-oiled bowl, flipping once to make sure all of the dough is coated.
Cover tightly and let rise one hour. 

Divide into balls.

Form into ropes and braid together two at a time, closing the ends to form rings.

Place onto a greased baking sheet, cover and let rise another hour. 

When the dough is ready, place uncooked colored eggs in the center if desired.
The eggs will cook while in the oven so make sure they're uncooked!
Brush with an egg wash.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

After using yeast for the first time and waiting for the dough to rise twice I was surprised about how good this recipe turned out. The bread was a little sweet, I don't love sweet bread. J. thought that it turned out really good though and the rest of my family enjoyed it. This is a holiday recipe, so it makes a a nice presentation for a once a year event.