Easter Bread 2021
Last year when we had celebrated Easter, I had turned to Peter and said, “Next Easter, God willing, we will be pregnant with our first child”. By the end of 2020, I suffered my first miscarriage. Before we could make it to this years Easter, I suffered my second miscarriage. I would lie if I said that my faith hadn't wavered. I realize that in these moments in peoples lives there is a heavy reliance on ones faith. I know this is a food blog, but I think it’s important to talk about this in relation to how we choose to celebrate (usually through food) and how we carry on our traditions even during the hardest times. Part of me wasn't sure if I even wanted to continue the blog during this time or even create anything because in this moment and time, I only have one thing on my mind. Ultimately I decided to not allow my sadness to stop me from celebrating Easter and more importantly celebrating Christ’s resurrection. Although this Easter has been hard, I believe it has brought with it healing.
Per tradition, I dyed eggs (a red color) on Good Friday. I then made an Easter bread, similar to last years, but a much simpler version. Although I love brioche/challah, I love that this recipe only uses 1/4 cup of sugar. I did opt to leave out the turbinado sugar that the original recipe calls for as this bread was most certainly going to be used for eating with our meats and sauces.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp yeast
1 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp salt
3-3/12 cups flour
1 egg whisked with 1 tbsp water
Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast; let stand for 5 minutes.
Add the canola oil, egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough. Knead for 5 minutes. After letting my Kitchenaid knead the dough for about 5-8 minutes, I spent a few minutes kneading it myself to make sure it wasn’t sticky.
Form dough into a smooth ball. Keeping the dough in the bowl, spray with non-stick spray and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 15-20 minutes. I opted for the first proof to leave the bread out for closer to 45 min and about 20 min after I braided it.
Punch down dough. Knead for 1 minute, then divide the dough into 3 same sized portions.
Roll each out into long logs and set them up on the counter side by side.
Braid the three pieces of bread together and then pinch together then end pieces and tuck them under the roll. Carefully place the loaf on the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Instead of creating a loaf as this recipe did, I made it into the shape of a wreath.
Brush thoroughly with egg mixture and then sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.
Let the loaf sit while oven is preheating to 350 degrees F, or about 10 minutes.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until outside is golden brown and internal temperature of loaf registers 195-200 degrees. Mine baked for 30 minutes and halfway I turned my pan as my oven is temperamental.
