Italian Easter bread

I stumbled upon the Italian Easter Bread on a search for an easy recipe for the holiday. It was written by a lovely lady who knew all about Italian traditions and such and the bread looked so colourful with the dyed eggs, I decided it was going to be my centrepiece this Easter.

It's a beautiful sweet bread with the dyed eggs tucked into the braids to symbolise Easter - in the form of rebirth and new life. The eggs are inserted into the braids raw, but dont worry, they will cook in the oven along with the bread. I peeled the egg once it was done and used it up in a salad, because the bread tasted so fantastic on its own.

The eggs are traditionally part of the Italian bread, but you can also do a simple braid with the dough and bake that on its own instead. Feel free to make a large wreath and insert a couple of eggs into the braids, as opposed to the one I did, where I made one ring and just put an egg in the centre. Dyeing the egg can be a fun activity for kids, so get them involved as well.

The left-over bread would also make for gorgeous French Toast or just dunk into your morning tea to keep things simple. It does make for a pretty interesting centrepiece for your Easter table, and a tasty one at that. Happy Easter.