How to Make Sweet Braided Easter Bread

Have you seen gorgeous loaves of braided easter bread and wanted to try making it, but thought it looked too complicated or would take too much time to make? Today I’m going to share with you how easy it is to make Italian Easter bread.

Get prepared to wow everyone at the Easter table with this beautiful Easter sweet bread!

This Easter bread recipe not only looks good, but tastes incredible too. The bread is rich, sweet, and has almost the same flavor and consistency of a cinnamon roll, minus the cinnamon and frosting.

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Every Easter we have a large family dinner, and we all make something to bring. Whenever I make this Italian Easter bread recipe, I get lots of compliments and it all gets eaten very quickly!

Warning: this bread is very addicting.

Braided Easter Bread Recipe

First, mix up the dough then let it rise until it doubles.

Then roll out the dough and braid it, just like you’re braiding hair.

Tuck some eggs inside the dough ropes, cover, and let rise again.

Brush on an egg wash over the dough, then bake until the bread is a nice golden brown.

Now serve and enjoy! This braided Easter bread is such a treat, and is a wonderful tradition to make each year for the Easter holiday.

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Braided Easter Bread

This sweet, delicious braided Easter bread is easier to make than it looks!  With real eggs tucked inside, this showstopper Italian Easter bread will bring lots of smiles at Easter dinner.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Braided Easter bread, Easter bread, Italian bread

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Rising Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 50 minutes

Servings 16 people

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 6 Tbsp butter, cut into cubes
• 4 eggs
• 4-5 hard-boiled eggs
• 2 Tbsp water

Instructions

1. Mix the sugar, yeast, salt, and 2 cups of flour in a large bowl. I used my metal Kitchen Aid bowl and machine.

2. Heat milk and butter to 125 degrees in a small saucepan, then add to dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add 3 eggs, then beat on high for 2 minutes. Add flour until a soft dough is formed. The dough will be sticky.

3. Knead the bread by hand until it's smoth and elastic for about 8 minutes, OR use the dough hook and a Kitchen Aid to knead the dough for about 5 minutes.

4. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled for 45 minutes. If you want to use colored hard-boiled eggs in your bread, now is the time to color them, while the dough is rising.

5. Punch down the dough that has risen, and split into 3 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a rope that is 24" long, then make a long braid with the pieces. Place the bread braid on a greased baking sheet and pinch the ends together to make a ring. I stretched my ring out a little from the middle so that there would be a bigger hole in the middle once it was cooked.
6. Coat the hard-boiled eggs with a little oil, then tuck inside the dough ropes. Cover the whole thing with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

7. Whisk together the last egg and 2 Tbsp. of water. Brush the egg wash over the dough, avoiding the eggs. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the bread is a nice golden brown. This braided Easter bread can be placed on a cooling rack and served warm, or can be made ahead of time. This recipe was adapted from Taste of Home.

I hope you give this easy Italian Easter bread recipe a try! It’s so soft and light and sweet and is the perfect addition to any meal.

This braided Easter bread recipe was originally posted in March 2016 and was updated in April 2019.