Sweet Easter Bread (a bread machine recipe)
Sweet Easter Bread (a bread machine recipe)
When you’re putting together your menu for Easter brunch, consider making this easy Sweet Easter Bread! It’s lightly sweet, moist and so delicious. Serve fresh, make toast, or French toast with this tasty bread.
Serving Suggestions for Easter Brunch
This Sweet Easter Bread is perfect for Easter morning! It’s a delicious addition whether you serve it fresh with butter or jam, or as toast. Here are some brunch recipe ideas that work perfectly with this bread:
- Serve it with this Classic Crustless Quiche.
- Or this Cottage Cheese Crustless Quiche.
- Have it with simple bacon, eggs and fruit salad.
- Enjoy this bread alongside this Easy Breakfast Casserole.
- Or use the leftover or next day old bread to make French toast.
Easter Bread Recipe Tips
- MILK: You can use 2% or whole milk. It should be at room temperature as cold ingredients do not stimulate yeast growth, and the dough may not rise properly.
- BUTTER: Use salted butter at room temperature.
- FLOUR: Use all-purpose flour or bread flour.
- YEAST: Use fresh instant yeast, also called Bread Machine Yeast and Rapid Rise Yeast.
- SHAPING THE DOUGH: This is a braided loaf of bread. You can see how I do this in the images below.
- PREPARE THE BAKING PAN: Grease a large baking pan with oil (vegetable oil or olive oil). Or line it with parchment paper.
- STORAGE: Store this bread in an airtight container to keep it fresh. If after a couple of days it dries out a bit, it makes great toast and French toast!
- FREEZING: This bread freezes very well. Let the bread cool completely before freezing. Freeze in a large airtight freezer bag for up to 2 months.
- TIP! Don’t try to slice into the bread too soon after baking or you’ll squish it.
Shaping the dough:
This Sweet Easter Bread is a braided loaf, but don’t worry, it’s really easy to do! And it does not need to be perfect. I say this all the time, baking happens, and sometimes dough does what it wants and that’s ok. You can even see that here in this loaf I made…one end of the braid broke open during proofing and baking, no big deal. It still tastes amazing…and I’ll just say that it looks like a large peep Easter bunny haha!
Step 1: Split the dough in to 3 even balls.
Step 2: Roll the balls in to 3 logs (1 inch thick).
Step 3: Braid the logs and pinch the ends tightly so they don’t come apart.
Step 4: Cover with a clean tea towel and proof in a warm place for 45 minutes.
Step 5: Brush the top of the braid with the egg wash (1 egg + 1 tsp water). You won’t use it all.
Step 6: Bake for 30 minutes.
More Delicious Easter Breads to Try:
Sweet Easter Bread (a bread machine recipe)
Ingredients
Sweet Easter Bread:
- 1 cup milk at room temperature
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 4 tbsp butter at room temperature
- 3 2/3 cups all purpose flour (or bread flour)
- 1 tsp instant yeast
Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
- Measure all of the above ingredients into the bread machine.1 cup milk, 2 large eggs, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 3 tbsp granulated sugar, 4 tbsp butter, 3 2/3 cups all purpose flour (or bread flour), 1 tsp instant yeast
- Choose the ‘Dough Cycle’.
- Once the dough cycle is complete, remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and cover with a clean damp tea towel. Let the dough rise for 15 minutes.
- After this time, split the dough into 3 pieces. Then roll out each piece into long ropes, about 1 inch thick.
- Lightly grease a baking sheet with oil (or line it with parchment paper), then braid the ropes on the pan, pinching the ends together so the loaf stays in a braid shape(see images).
- Cover the bread braid with a clean tea towel, then let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.
- In the meantime preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients for the egg wash: 1 large egg, 1 tsp water
- When the dough has doubled in size use a pastry brush to brush the surface of the bread dough lightly with the egg wash (you will only use a little bit of it).
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The bread will sound hollow when you tap the bottom, and the top will be golden brown.
- Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Have a delicious day!
It turned out great… and was so pretty! Also, it stayed fresh several days.
First time I made this bread. Beautiful! Easy and delicious!!! Will be making it again.
I have made this multiple times and always turned out great.
One questions though, I like to weigh my flour and your measurement of 3 2/3 cups of all purpose flour, is it the King Arthur of 120g/cup or the standard all purpose flour of 125g/cup?
Thank you!
Hi Reni, apologies for the late reply. I use standard all purpose flour, but I don’t weigh it, I use cups, so I can’t be sure what the weight is.