The recipe for this festive Easter bread was developed over the years as I borrowed a bit from here, another thought from there, and arrived at a pretty braided loaf that has become a family tradition. Made from a soft flavorful yeast dough, Cardamom Citrus Easter Braid is drizzled with sweet icing and decorated with dyed Easter eggs.
Easter Bread
A braided loaf of Cardamom Citrus Easter Bread has been a part of Easter breakfast at our house for years. It’s a tradition, even though it hasn’t been passed down through the generations. We never made any special Easter bread when I was a child. Instead, it is a tradition that I read about somewhere along the way, adapted, then adopted as my own.
Thinking back, I must have first baked bread for Easter as a newlywed. When I got married I was still in college. Money was tight and baking bread was my own brand of inexpensive and productive therapy. When I could fit it into my schedule, it felt good to get out of my head and work with my hands.
Back then, after midterms or finals, I would retreat to the kitchen. There I immersed myself in the process of making bread from scratch. The simple creativity of combining basic ingredients to make something that was not only nourishing, but also pretty and delicious, helped me to refocus my mind. The physicality of mixing the ingredients, of punching down the dough and kneading it, was primal and satisfying. The bread that resulted was a blessing!
A Flexible Tradition
As I searched for bread recipes and experimented, I clipped articles about the special Easter breads baked in different cultures. One recipe made a soft dough with citrus flavors and was baked in a ring. Another Easter bread was round with dyed eggs nestled in the dough. One loaf was even shaped like a dove and studded with almonds. Over time I adapted a bit from here, another thought from there, and arrived at a braided loaf made from a soft dough flavored with cardamon and citrus, drizzled with sweet icing and decorated with dyed eggs.
I think our traditional Easter bread still changes a bit from year to year. Sometimes it has a sweet filling and is shaped in a circle. Other times it is a long straight loaf. Whatever the shape, a homemade bread braided and decorated with icing and colorful eggs is now essential. It is a family tradition born of my own personal kitchen therapy as I learned to provide for my family in new and creative ways.
Happy Easter!
Cardamom Citrus Easter Braid
Course: Bread, BreakfastCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium2
loaves40
minutes25
minutes150
minutes3
hours35
minutesMade from a soft flavorful yeast dough, Cardamom Citrus Easter Bread is a festive braided loaf drizzled with sweet icing and decorated with dyed Easter eggs.
Ingredients
- Bread
1/2 cup sugar (3.5 oz, 100g)
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 package yeast (1 Tablespoon)
4 1/3 cups flour (21 oz, 600g)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamon
1/2 cup milk, scalded (4 oz, 114g)
1/3 cup warm water (2.7 oz, 75g)
1/3 cup butter, melted (2.7oz, 75g)
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
3 eggs, beaten
- Icing
1 cup powdered sugar (4.5 oz, 125g)
1 Tablespoon + 2 or 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
colored sugar sprinkles (optional)
6 – 10 eggs, hard boiled and dyed
Directions
- In a small bowl combine the sugar, orange zest and lemon zest. Rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips to release the oil and flavor.
- Add all ingredients to a bread machine according to manufacturer’s directions. Set the machine to ‘manual’ so that you can take the dough, when ready, and shape the loaves yourself.
(If you are not using a bread machine you can follow these steps instead:
a. Mix the yeast, flour, salt, cardamom and sugar/citrus zest mixture, in a large bowl.
b. Heat the milk, water and butter and vanilla over low heat until warm, 115 to 120 degrees.
c. Add milk mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the eggs, and stir until a dough forms.
d. Turn the dough onto a well floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
e. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn once.
f. Cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place until double, approximately 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
Now continue as follows.) - When the dough is ready, punch down and divide it into 6 equal portions. Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
- To make two Braided Loaves:
Roll each portion into a rope 15 inches long. Place ropes side by side on a greased baking sheet, one inch apart. Shape into two braids using 3 ropes for each, beginning in the middle and working out to the ends of the loaves. As you braid, tuck 3 to 5 egg cups, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, between the ropes of the braid (these will make a space where you will put colored Easter eggs in the finished loaf. Alternately, after the loaves are baked, but while the bread is still warm, take a hard-cooked egg and push it into the loaf at intervals, between the twists, to make an indentation for the colored eggs you will add later.) Pinch ends of braided loaves and tuck under. Cover loaves and let them rise until nearly double (approximately 1 hour).
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, or until golden. Remove loaves to a wire rack. Using heat resistant tongs, remove egg cups from the loaf by gently pulling them out of the warm bread. Allow loaves to cool completely.
- When the loaves are cool. Prepare the icing. Stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth and drizzle it over the loaves in a random pattern. Quickly sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired.
- When the icing has set, place dyed hard cooked eggs in the indentations you made.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Skip the Easter egg decoration, if you like. Simply braid the loaves, skipping egg cups, and bake as directed. When cool, drizzle with icing and sprinkle with decorator sugar, if desired.
- To make 3 smaller braided loaves, divide the dough into nine equal pieces in Step 3 (each section weighed about 3.8 oz, or 108g.) In Step 4, roll each portion into a rope 13 inches long. Braid as directed into three loaves. Baking time is about the same.
I made this recipe and it is delicious but I had to make a few alterations. I would double the spice and the cooking time did not work for a couple diffrent ovens I had. I would recommend 350° for at least 30 min. A little lower and slower is needed for making bread Thank you so much for the amazing recipe!
Hi, Isabeau! Thank you for your comments. I think this braid would taste wonderful with additional cardamom added. I have also made it with other baking spice blends. Along with cardamom I’ve used ginger, cinnamon and/or allspice. It is all a matter of personal taste.
I’m also glad you were able to work out a good temperature for baking your bread. Much depends on your oven. The oven I currently own runs a little slow. This year I baked my braids with the oven set at 375F for just over 20 minutes. The loaves came out a rich golden brown.
I think the key to successful baking is to use a recipe as a guideline, then watch carefully and get to know your own equipment. Ovens do vary, so please feel free to adjust as necessary. I’m glad that you were able to use my recipe as a point of departure and that your loaves turned out to be delicious!
The Easter braid looks wonderful. Nice tradition!
This is absolutely gorgeous!
I love seeing these types of breads, it reminds me of my youth and visitng all those nice Italian Bakeries. I made bread like this once- ONCE. It is a lot of work but so delicious and beautiful. Now that my kids are older I am getting into more challenging things.
How gorgeous is this. It looks perfect. Hope you had a wonderful holiday!
Cardamom? Citrus? Bread? Yes, please! Sign me up. Sounds fantastic. Happy Easter to you! I’m with you: bread-baking not only yields yummy results, but it is so cathartic!
Happy Easter….Your bread looks so cool & congrats on the win over at Bunny's site!!
How beautiful! Happy Easter!
Guess what Lisa!!! You won one of the Giada Cookbooks!!!! Send me an email so I can send the book to you!!! Congratulations!!!!
Your Easter braid looks luscious. I suspect some wonderful memories are also being made here. Easter blessings…Mary