Celebrate Easter with a traditional recipe for Italian Easter Bread with dyed eggs. It makes for a beautiful (and delicious!) Easter table centerpiece.
Italian Easter Bread with Dyed eggs is both a beautiful and delicious table centerpiece.
Photo Credit: Aimee Seavey
Italian Easter Bread with dyed eggs is a traditional Easter bread dish featuring sweetened bread dough shaped into a wreath with colored Easter eggs tucked into it before baking. While still edible, the placement of the dyed eggs in the bread is symbolic rather than culinary. Eggs are a common Easter symbol, not only for their popular use in egg hunts, but more directly for their historical association with fertility and re-birth. Easter celebrates Jesus rising from the dead, and thus, the egg and Easter have been firmly linked.
Italian Easter Bread with dyed eggs is both a beautiful and delicious table centerpiece. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Eggs were also originally forbidden during Lent (the 40 days before Easter), so when the big day came perhaps it was time to enjoy them again with gusto.
My family is Italian Catholic on my maternal grandfather’s side, and while I spent many Easters wriggling on a pew in church before visiting my Great Grammy in Everett, MA, with my sisters and cousins, where we lined up for the obligatory douse of Grammy’s holy water, I don’t remember ever having Italian Easter Bread with dyed eggs.
Me, my cousins Jaime and Mark, and sister Courtney at Great Grammy’s on Easter in the late 80’s.
Surely I would have remembered a sweet, braided bread with dyed Easter eggs snuggled down inside, right?
After years of admiring Italian Easter Bread when it showed up in the food world each spring, I finally decided to make my own.
The dough is a basic sweet yeast dough, and once it was set to rise I got out my hard-boiled eggs. I hadn’t dyed Easter eggs since the early 90s, but unlike so many other things from childhood, the process is pretty much exactly the same today. Wanting my eggs to look like authentic birds’ eggs, I tried to get them the perfect shade of pale turquoise.
Then, I mixed a bit of brown gel food coloring with water and got out a fresh toothbrush. By dipping the head of the toothbrush into the dye and then running my thumb over it, I was able to “spray” speckles of brown onto the eggs. I practiced first onto a paper towel and suggest you do the same.
SEE MORE: Coloring Easter Eggs with Homemade Egg Dye | Easter CraftsFood coloring and a toothbrush help create an authentic speckle to dyed eggs. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Once the dough was ready, chopped almonds and candied fruit (or raisins) were kneaded in. I had a surplus of golden raisins on hand, so that’s what I used. Then it was cut in half, and each half rolled out into a long, thin rope. The fruit and nuts made this a little tricky by forming air pockets inside the dough ropes, but with a little firm coaxing they were long enough. After wrapping the two ropes together and forming a wreath, the strands were separated enough to nestle a dyed egg firmly between them.
After twisting the strands together, gently separate and insert eggs. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
You can use our recipe for sweet yeasted bread at the end of this post, or substitute your own favorite sweet dough or challah recipe.
Beautiful baked Easter bread with dyed eggs! Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Out of the oven, the bread will fill your kitchen with the intoxicating smell of sweet homemade bread. Unfortunately, the egg dye bled in the oven, but since there was nothing I could do about it, I just tried to draw the eye elsewhere by using a liberal hand with the glaze and sprinkles that are optional (but strongly encouraged) on Italian Easter Bread. Just keep the glaze off the eggs.
A sugary glaze and colored sprinkles make things even more festive. Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
This bread makes a gorgeous Easter centerpiece, and is a holiday tradition for many families. Yes, it’s a little unusual to stick hard-boiled eggs into your bread before baking it, and then pry them out the next day to make egg salad for lunch (like I did), but it sure is fun.
And the final result was also delicious. Sweet and light with just enough almond and raisin filling to make it special. Why not make Italian Easter Bread with dyed eggs this year and add a new tradition to your Easter table?
Sweet and dense Italian Easter Bread with dyed eggs! Photo Credit : Aimee Seavey
Have you ever made Italian Easter Bread?
Aimee Tucker is Yankee’s senior digital editor. A lifelong New Englander and Yankee contributor since 2010, Aimee has written columns devoted to history, foliage, retro food, and architecture, and regularly shares her experiences in New England travel, home, and gardening. Her most memorable Yankee experiences to date include meeting Stephen King, singing along to a James Taylor Fourth of July concert at Tanglewood, and taking to the skies in the Hood blimp for an open-air tour of the Massachusetts coastline.
In the LaBella family, the Italian, or perhaps Sicilian Easter bread design was done two ways: like small purses, or baskets for the girls complete with twisted dough handle and a colored egg on the purse covered with a lattice pocket.
Boys were given a rooster shape dough with the egg under an attached wing.
I never did make a decent dough but they were beautiful to look at. Perhaps I should try again
This bread brings back such wonderful memories, Each good friday in our Italian household my nuna would make the dough 25lbs. of flour at a time oh it was so much fun I would help her do it and let me tell you we did it all by hand. her hands were so big, all her recips read 2 handfulls of this and that. so one day my aunt had to measure her hands so we knew what to mix. what fun w had. her breads look like yours and were so delisious. Then on saturday my dad and I would deliver them to all the family members. What a wonderful up bringing we had. They are all gone now and I try to keep up the triduction and make breads and give it to friends, just not the same but it makes me fill good. so here goes another year of wonderful memories and hopefully good bread.
Hi Jennifer! It was just brown food coloring – maybe the way the sun was hitting it in the photos made it look a little shimmery? If you want, you could always play around with some of that edible gold dust that’s on the market these days. Thanks for your comment!
MS SEAVEY,I AM ORIGINALLY FORM EVERETT MA,BORN IN 1934 AND LEFT FOR AN ARMY CAREER IN 1954 I KNEW EVERY ITALIAN FAMILY IN EVERETT AT THE TIME ,AN WONDERING HOW WELL I MIGHT HAVE KNOWN YOUR ANCESTERS FROM EVERETT .I STILL HAVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN EVERETT,REVERE AND N.H,=====MY MOTHER AND I MADE EASTER BREAD TOGEATHER FOR MANY YEARS AND SHE TAUGHT ME WELL,,IN 24 YEARS IN THE ARMY I MADE IT WITH PEOPLE IN MANY PART OF THE WORLD,I NEVER CLAIMED IT AS THE BEST ,BUT EVERY TIME I MADE IT, IT DISAPPEARED TODAY ILL USE YOU RECIPE. IF I CAN FIND IT =====PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHO YOU PEOPLE WERE FROM EVERETT. RESECTFULLY , ARTHUR R DETORE.
Hello Mr. Detore. I’m so glad to hear that you have fond memories of making Italian Easter Bread! No doubt your fellow soldiers also appreciated it each year. 🙂 My grandfather Albert Generazzo’s mother Mary Dolaser was from Saugus before moving to Chelsea once she married my great-grandfather, and later they ended up in Everett – I believe during the early or mid 1940’s? Maybe you’ve met a Dolaser, Generazzo, or Diorio (my grandfather’s cousins Rosemarie, Franny, and Charlie were/are the latter). It all gets a little tangled, but I’m so glad you shared a comment! Happy Easter to you!
Hi Bill. It’s best to make the bread close to when you’re going to serve it for the very reason you mentioned. If you have leftovers that need storing, I’d suggest gently removing the eggs and storing them in the fridge, while the bread can be wrapped in plastic wrap or stored in a large zip-top bag at room temperature for another day or 2.
Imagine my surprise as I’m searching for Easter bread recipes to find one from a gal in my hometown! I graduated EHS in 1991. Know that your Everett connections reach beyond our small town and that your recipe will be baked in Portland, OR this year; thanks for your post!
Aimee,
I am from Chelsea, but my grandparents lived in Everett. My father had a pharmacy on Ferry St in Everett for years. I went to Our Lady of Grace School and got married at Our Lady of Grace Church in 1970.
So amazing to see your blog. I am putting a family recipe book together and remember my grandmother making these, but she made them into baskets with handles on them. Unfortunately my grandparents and both my parents are no longer with us, so I have been busy seeking recipes from cousins and the internet.
Thanks. I am living in Illinois, just outside of Chicago.
Happy Easter!
Aimee, Wow I was searching for Italian Sweet Bread with Boiled Eggs and I came across your recipe! Boy did this bring a smile to my face. I always made them with my grandmother and we made Pizzelles too. My grandmother bought me one for First Communion…. My grandparents were from Pearl Street in Everett. I lived in Revere and graduated RHS in 1972. I can’t wait to try your recipe. Thank you for a walk down memory lane! Happy Ester.
This recipe is Greek :/ Come on, Italians, don’t do that. First you took elements frm the French WHO set the basis for modern sweets and now you imitate the Greeks? Why?
I have a family recipe for Italian Easter bread and we use 5 raw colored eggs nestled in our bread. The eggs represent the 5 wounds of Jesus and the raw eggs cook in the bread as it bakes. Just another tradition I’m trying to keep alive.
Hi Ilia. You’re right that many cultures besides Italian include special breads in their religious ceremonies and holidays. You can usually tell a Greek Easter bread by the eggs, which are almost always dyed a deep and brilliant red. In its entry on Easter, The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink makes note of a growing interest in “traditional Easter meals from such Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox strongholds as Italy, Poland, Ukraine, and Greece,” and that “common to all of these menus are massive, yeasted enriched cakes and breads.” Thanks for your comment and Happy Easter!
Hi Jessica. I wouldn’t recommend it. In recipes where eggs are mostly used as a binder (like in quickbread and brownies), applesauce can be a healthy substitute, but it gets a lot trickier with sandwich/yeast breads or recipes where the egg is used as a leavening agent or for flavor. I’ve heard of some people using flax seed in this case, but I’m not sure how. Give it a Google!
I remember my grandmother making this bread every Easter. After she made the dough, and placed the eggs , she put the whole thing in a dark closet for a day so the dough would rise well. <:)
My mom makes Easter bread every Easter. She always makes one with white raisins and one without to satisfy all family members. She never used real eggs but uses jelly beans and icing to decorate. Easter breakfast is always Easter bread and hard boiled Easter eggs
I am going to try to make this year!
Ilia, I am full blood Italian and my husband is full blooded Greek and my kids are half and half. I’m going to be 63 years old this year and since I was a baby, my Italian family has been making this bread. In addition, I’ve had Greeks in my life for 47 years and I know the Greeks like to think they invented everything, but they didn’t. And like Aimee says, and as you are fully aware, your Easter Bread is with the deep red eggs and our bread is with the colorful eggs. Give other cultures some credit too!!!!
My mother made Easter Bread since I could remember. Every year she perfected the recipe. She found out years ago, and I agree, that the eggs dry out the bread and the texture is not of bread consistency. We always served the eggs on a separate tray.
I am not Italian – BUT I worked for an amazing family at Tripoli Bakery [and at the Salisbury Beach Pizza Shop! in Summer]. Easter was such a wonderful day to be at the Bakery. The Egg Purses and the large braided loaves were so lovely, and yummy. Living in PA now, I get homesick for the Traditions I shared at the Bakery. My trip to New England in July will definitely include stops at the locales I find since they have expanded! I can smell it now! Oh, no, that’s the oven here! Gotta go!
My mother and father were Italian and came in by boat from Polermo.. My mother, I remember would make the most beautifully little Easter egg baskets with the dyed boiled egg. So beautiful. I did not know the recipe, nor did my sisters. I have so enjoyed reading about those remarks. I would like to know if there is special kind of flour and should I be able to make them 2 days before Easter.
In the LaBella family, the Italian, or perhaps Sicilian Easter bread design was done two ways: like small purses, or baskets for the girls complete with twisted dough handle and a colored egg on the purse covered with a lattice pocket.
Boys were given a rooster shape dough with the egg under an attached wing.
I never did make a decent dough but they were beautiful to look at. Perhaps I should try again
This bread brings back such wonderful memories, Each good friday in our Italian household my nuna would make the dough 25lbs. of flour at a time oh it was so much fun I would help her do it and let me tell you we did it all by hand. her hands were so big, all her recips read 2 handfulls of this and that. so one day my aunt had to measure her hands so we knew what to mix. what fun w had. her breads look like yours and were so delisious. Then on saturday my dad and I would deliver them to all the family members. What a wonderful up bringing we had. They are all gone now and I try to keep up the triduction and make breads and give it to friends, just not the same but it makes me fill good. so here goes another year of wonderful memories and hopefully good bread.
Those eggs are beautiful! Is it really just brown food coloring, though? The flecks appear to be more of a shimmery gold. I’d love to recreate them!
Hi Jennifer! It was just brown food coloring – maybe the way the sun was hitting it in the photos made it look a little shimmery? If you want, you could always play around with some of that edible gold dust that’s on the market these days. Thanks for your comment!
MS SEAVEY,I AM ORIGINALLY FORM EVERETT MA,BORN IN 1934 AND LEFT FOR AN ARMY CAREER IN 1954 I KNEW EVERY ITALIAN FAMILY IN EVERETT AT THE TIME ,AN WONDERING HOW WELL I MIGHT HAVE KNOWN YOUR ANCESTERS FROM EVERETT .I STILL HAVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN EVERETT,REVERE AND N.H,=====MY MOTHER AND I MADE EASTER BREAD TOGEATHER FOR MANY YEARS AND SHE TAUGHT ME WELL,,IN 24 YEARS IN THE ARMY I MADE IT WITH PEOPLE IN MANY PART OF THE WORLD,I NEVER CLAIMED IT AS THE BEST ,BUT EVERY TIME I MADE IT, IT DISAPPEARED TODAY ILL USE YOU RECIPE. IF I CAN FIND IT =====PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHO YOU PEOPLE WERE FROM EVERETT. RESECTFULLY , ARTHUR R DETORE.
Hello Mr. Detore. I’m so glad to hear that you have fond memories of making Italian Easter Bread! No doubt your fellow soldiers also appreciated it each year. 🙂 My grandfather Albert Generazzo’s mother Mary Dolaser was from Saugus before moving to Chelsea once she married my great-grandfather, and later they ended up in Everett – I believe during the early or mid 1940’s? Maybe you’ve met a Dolaser, Generazzo, or Diorio (my grandfather’s cousins Rosemarie, Franny, and Charlie were/are the latter). It all gets a little tangled, but I’m so glad you shared a comment! Happy Easter to you!
What is the proper way to store this bread. Since it has hard boiled eggs, must it be refrigerated?
Hi Bill. It’s best to make the bread close to when you’re going to serve it for the very reason you mentioned. If you have leftovers that need storing, I’d suggest gently removing the eggs and storing them in the fridge, while the bread can be wrapped in plastic wrap or stored in a large zip-top bag at room temperature for another day or 2.
Aimee,
Imagine my surprise as I’m searching for Easter bread recipes to find one from a gal in my hometown! I graduated EHS in 1991. Know that your Everett connections reach beyond our small town and that your recipe will be baked in Portland, OR this year; thanks for your post!
Aimee,
I am from Chelsea, but my grandparents lived in Everett. My father had a pharmacy on Ferry St in Everett for years. I went to Our Lady of Grace School and got married at Our Lady of Grace Church in 1970.
So amazing to see your blog. I am putting a family recipe book together and remember my grandmother making these, but she made them into baskets with handles on them. Unfortunately my grandparents and both my parents are no longer with us, so I have been busy seeking recipes from cousins and the internet.
Thanks. I am living in Illinois, just outside of Chicago.
Happy Easter!
Aimee, Wow I was searching for Italian Sweet Bread with Boiled Eggs and I came across your recipe! Boy did this bring a smile to my face. I always made them with my grandmother and we made Pizzelles too. My grandmother bought me one for First Communion…. My grandparents were from Pearl Street in Everett. I lived in Revere and graduated RHS in 1972. I can’t wait to try your recipe. Thank you for a walk down memory lane! Happy Ester.
This recipe is Greek :/ Come on, Italians, don’t do that. First you took elements frm the French WHO set the basis for modern sweets and now you imitate the Greeks? Why?
I have a family recipe for Italian Easter bread and we use 5 raw colored eggs nestled in our bread. The eggs represent the 5 wounds of Jesus and the raw eggs cook in the bread as it bakes. Just another tradition I’m trying to keep alive.
Hi Ilia. You’re right that many cultures besides Italian include special breads in their religious ceremonies and holidays. You can usually tell a Greek Easter bread by the eggs, which are almost always dyed a deep and brilliant red. In its entry on Easter, The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink makes note of a growing interest in “traditional Easter meals from such Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox strongholds as Italy, Poland, Ukraine, and Greece,” and that “common to all of these menus are massive, yeasted enriched cakes and breads.” Thanks for your comment and Happy Easter!
Can you put applesaugs instead of eggs in the easter bread
Hi Jessica. I wouldn’t recommend it. In recipes where eggs are mostly used as a binder (like in quickbread and brownies), applesauce can be a healthy substitute, but it gets a lot trickier with sandwich/yeast breads or recipes where the egg is used as a leavening agent or for flavor. I’ve heard of some people using flax seed in this case, but I’m not sure how. Give it a Google!
I remember my grandmother making this bread every Easter. After she made the dough, and placed the eggs , she put the whole thing in a dark closet for a day so the dough would rise well. <:)
My mom makes Easter bread every Easter. She always makes one with white raisins and one without to satisfy all family members. She never used real eggs but uses jelly beans and icing to decorate. Easter breakfast is always Easter bread and hard boiled Easter eggs
I am going to try to make this year!
Ilia, I am full blood Italian and my husband is full blooded Greek and my kids are half and half. I’m going to be 63 years old this year and since I was a baby, my Italian family has been making this bread. In addition, I’ve had Greeks in my life for 47 years and I know the Greeks like to think they invented everything, but they didn’t. And like Aimee says, and as you are fully aware, your Easter Bread is with the deep red eggs and our bread is with the colorful eggs. Give other cultures some credit too!!!!
My mother made Easter Bread since I could remember. Every year she perfected the recipe. She found out years ago, and I agree, that the eggs dry out the bread and the texture is not of bread consistency. We always served the eggs on a separate tray.
I am not Italian – BUT I worked for an amazing family at Tripoli Bakery [and at the Salisbury Beach Pizza Shop! in Summer]. Easter was such a wonderful day to be at the Bakery. The Egg Purses and the large braided loaves were so lovely, and yummy. Living in PA now, I get homesick for the Traditions I shared at the Bakery. My trip to New England in July will definitely include stops at the locales I find since they have expanded! I can smell it now! Oh, no, that’s the oven here! Gotta go!
We called our Easter bread Pinia. Is this spelling correct? Abbruzzi
My mother and father were Italian and came in by boat from Polermo.. My mother, I remember would make the most beautifully little Easter egg baskets with the dyed boiled egg. So beautiful. I did not know the recipe, nor did my sisters. I have so enjoyed reading about those remarks. I would like to know if there is special kind of flour and should I be able to make them 2 days before Easter.