Sicilian Easter Bread Recipes

SICILIAN EASTER BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, mahlepi, sugar, and salt.
• Mix eggs, olive oil, milk and vanilla.
• Beat into flour mixture with spoon until satiny.
• Pour batter into 9" greased pie plate or cake pan.
• Top with egg wash and almonds or sprinkles.
• Press egg or eggs in center.
• Bake 55 minutes or so until skewer comes out dry.
• Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes and unmold.

EASY ITALIAN EASTER BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a large saucepan, heat milk and 2 tablespoons butter to 120°-130°. Add dry ingredients; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs; mix well. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down; turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in fruit, almonds and aniseed until blended. Let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough in half. Shape each portion into a 24-in. rope. Loosely twist ropes together; place on a greased baking sheet and form into a ring. Pinch ends together. Melt remaining butter; brush over dough. Gently separate ropes and tuck dyed eggs into openings. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 40 minutes., Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. For glaze, in a bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve desired consistency; drizzle over bread. Sprinkle with candies if desired.

ITALIAN EASTER BREAD (ANISE FLAVORED)

Steps:

• Mix 1 cup of flour with sugar, salt, and yeast in a bowl, stir well. Place milk and anise extract into a small saucepan over low heat, and warm to about 110 degrees F (43 degrees C). Make a well in the center of the flour mixture with your hand, and pour in the milk mixture; swirl with your hand in a circular motion to combine the flour mixture with the milk mixture. Mix in butter and eggs, one at a time, then mix in remaining flour until dough begins to pull together.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and knead until soft but elastic, about 8 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth, and let dough rest for 10 minutes; cut dough into halves.
• On floured work surface, roll each half into a ball, then shape the balls into 2 long pieces, about 1 1/2 inches thick and 18 to 20 inches long. Pinch the 2 top ends together, and loosely twist the pieces to form a twisted loaf; pinch the bottom ends together, and tuck the two ends underneath the loaf. (Alternately, form the twist into a ring, and pinch the ends together.)
• Grease a baking sheet, lay the loaf onto the prepared sheet, and cover with a damp towel; let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Brush loaf with beaten egg, and sprinkle with colored decorating dragees.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake the decorated loaf in the preheated oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Watch closely towards the end of the baking time that the bread does not begin to burn. Transfer to wire rack immediately after baking to cool.

SICILIAN BREAD

Steps:

• For the pre-ferment:.
• Stir together the flours, salt, and yeast in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer.
• Add 3/4 cup water, stirring until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball (you can mix it with the paddle attachment -- I think it is easier to do it by hand). Adjust the flour or water as needed; the dough shouldn't be too sticky or stiff.
• Flour your work surface and transfer the dough. Knead for 4-6 minutes (or mix with the dough hook for 4 minutes), or until the dough is soft and pliable, "tacky but not sticky.".
• Transfer the dough to a lightly-oiled bowl and roll it around to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for one hour, or until it swells to 1 1/2 times its original size.
• Remove the dough from the bowl, knead lightly to degas, and return it to the bowl, covered with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to three days or freeze in an air-tight plastic bag for up to three months.
• Bread:.
• Remove the pre-ferment from the icebox and cut into 10 small pieces (I use kitchen shears). Let it sit an hour, covered with plastic wrap, to take off the chill.
• Stir together the bread flour, semolina flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl or bowl of an electric stand mixer. Add the pre-ferment pieces, oil, honey, and 1 1/4 cups water. Stir until the dough forms a ball, or use the paddle attachment at low speed. Add water in dribbles as necessary to achieve a soft and pliable dough.
• Lightly flour your work surface and knead your dough (or use a dough hook at low speed), adding flour as needed to achieve a soft but not sticky dough, for about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, lightly oil a large bowl, and roll the dough around in the bowl to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• At this point I refrigerate the dough overnight. Mr. Reinhart, instead, ferments the dough at room temperature for 2 hours or until it doubles, divides the dough gently in three pieces, shapes the dough (see below), taking care not to degas it too much, places the dough on a baking pan (or pans) lined with parchment, sprinkles with sesame seeds (see below), covers with plastic wrap, and refrigerates overnight. As explained in the preamble, in my hands the dough over-rose in the refrigerator, lost its shape, and wouldn't rise in the oven. And thus I divide, shape and bake the loaves the next day as explained below. It gives me more control of the proofing process.
• The next morning take the dough from the refrigerator (it will have grown) and divide it gently into 3 pieces. Gently shape as you wish, taking care to degas as little as possible. To achieve the S shape shown in the photograph, extend each dough piece to about 24 inches. Working from each end simultaneously, coil the dough (in opposite directions) towards the center. Place the shaped doughs on parchment-lined pans, mist with water, sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired, mist with vegetable oil spray, and cover with plastic wrap. Proof the dough for an hour or two; it is ready for the oven when it stays dimpled when poked. The loaves should be about twice as large as when first shaped, but DON'T let them over-rise.
• Preheat the oven to 500°F (my oven is too rickety to get that hot; I have to use the convection option). Uncover the doughs and place in the oven; Pour 1 cup of water in the steam pan. Mr. Reinhart also sprays the oven walls with water three times at 30 second intervals, and then reduces the heat to 450°F.
• Bake for about 15 minutes and then rotate the pans 180 degrees. Gently separate the loaves if they are touching. Continue baking for 10-15 minutes to achieve a rich golden brown. The internal temperature of the bread should be about 200-205°F.
• Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack and cool for at least 45 minutes.
• To freeze, when cooled, wrap each loaf in a freezer bag and close with a wire twist.