Easter Bread – Pane di Pasqua

Easter Sweet Bread

This is the specialty sweet bread that Mamma makes only at Easter, a recipe so cherished it feels like part of the holiday itself. It’s richer and denser than everyday bread, with a beautiful golden‑yellow crumb that hints at the eggs and love worked into every batch. The kids devour it the moment it hits the table, and before long it becomes one of those traditions everyone looks forward to.

Ingredients

7 Eggs (whisk)
7 teaspoons Baking powder
3 cups sugar
Flour (approx 5 cups)
2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup milk
8 ml Salt or 1/2 tbsp
6 eggs (for decorative purposes, twist dough over raw egg)

Directions

• Beat the 7 eggs well with whisk.
• Add 3 cups sugar, add 2 cups of vegetable oil, 8 ml salt or little more than 1/2 tbsp salt, 1 cup milk. Whisk well to add more air.
• Add flour to make a dough consistency (approx 5 cups) and add 7 teaspoon baking powder.
• Roll and twist the dough in strips, add decorative egg (raw, shell still intact of course), shape as per above image.   Use thinner strip of dough to wrap the egg on the top or for the last layer.

Bake at 300 deg F  for about 35 minutes.

Yield: ~6 loaves.

This sweet bread is an Easter treat Mamma gives to all the grand-children every year. In Italy, it is called pane di pasqua — translation — pane is bread, di is of and pasqua is Easter.