{"id":1245,"date":"2018-03-29T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kitchenfairy.ca\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2019-03-23T18:41:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T18:41:47","slug":"authentic-italian-easter-sweet-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kitchenfairy.ca\/staging\/1035\/authentic-italian-easter-sweet-bread\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Easter Sweet Bread"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Italian<\/p>\n

Growing up in an Italian family, we would always eat traditional sweet bread at Easter called pane di pasqua<\/em>. Every spring, we wait in anticipation for my mother to make this braided bread. <\/p>\n

** I received free flour products from Arva Flour Mill for testing and review. All opinions given are entirely my own and I would not recommend their products if I did not love them. **<\/em><\/p>\n

Italian Easter Sweet Bread is a pale yellow, slightly sweet and fluffy loaf of bread with a shiny golden egg-washed crust sprinkled with sesame seeds. It’s wonderful served for breakfast lightly toasted and topped with butter and apricot fruit preserves. It’s my favourite breakfast at this time of the year.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

\"Arva<\/p>\n

Lately, I\u2019ve been experimenting with Arva Flour Mill\u2019s flour<\/a>. Since my mother is an expert baker, I brought some to her house for a bake-off day to test the different flours. We baked all kinds of wonderful sweet and savoury recipes. The best part of the day was when she passed on her recipe (and her skills) for making this Italian Easter Sweet Bread. I was in heaven!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Easter now, and here I am in my sunny kitchen making my mother\u2019s family recipe. I\u2019m promising myself that I\u2019ll make it again and again throughout the year and not just at Easter time! I\u2019m so happy I\u2019ve learned how to make this bread and have recorded the recipe properly. Now I can carry on the family legacy of our Easter sweet bread.<\/p>\n

\"authentic<\/p>\n

\"italian<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit challenging for my mother to pass on a recipe from her handwritten notes on scrap pieces of paper. When it comes to bread, her famous saying is farina quanto basta<\/em> which literally means \u201cenough flour as you need\u201d.<\/p>\n

I ask her to tell me is it 6 cups or 7 cups? Typically her answer is \u201csometimes I use 6 cups and sometimes I use 7 cups.\u201d  We eventually sorted it out and this recipe indicates 6 cups up to 6 \u00bd cups of flour, as needed. You have to \u201cfeel\u201d the dough and know if you need to add a little more flour or not.<\/p>\n

The recipe calls for the yeast to be dissolved in lukewarm water which is 100 \u2013 110 degrees F and not hotter or it will kill the yeast. Scalded milk is an ingredient in the recipe.<\/strong> This means that milk is brought nearly to a boil (and not to a boil) in a saucepan over medium heat then cooled down slightly. You want to keep it from boiling so it doesn’t form a skin and cook the eggs in the batter. The purpose of scalding milk is to help infuse flavour and sweetness in the bread and it also helps dissolve the sugar and keeps the butter melted.<\/p>\n

This bread is a traditional yeast bread and needs two risings. The first rising is after the dough is blended and kneaded (about 1\u00bd to 2 hours) and the second rising is after the braided loaves are formed and placed on the baking sheets (about 1 hour).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My mother and I were impressed with the results of all the baked goods we made using Arva Flour Mill’s flour. The Daisy Unbleached Hard Flour,<\/a> in particular, is fabulous for yeast bread. The protein content in this flour ranges from 11% to 12% creating a lot of gluten which is what forms the dense chewy texture of bread. Arva flour reminds my mother of the flour she used for her baking and bread making back in Italy and she loves it!<\/p>\n

Arva flours are perfect to bake with when you want to know and care what\u2019s in your food. All natural, no preservatives or chemicals added, non-GMO and using locally sourced grain. The flour is milled in a historical family-run water powered commercial mill just outside of London, Ontario operating since 1819! It\u2019s packaged in original style paper bags.<\/p>\n

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Italian Easter Sweet Bread<\/h2>\n\t
\n\t\tThis authentic Italian Sweet Bread is slightly sweet, fluffy and topped with an egg-washed crust sprinkled with sesame seeds. Serve warm with butter and apricot preserves. This recipe makes two generous-sized loaves.\t<\/div>\n\t
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Ingredients<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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