Easter Bread

Submitted by ellie_

"We enjoy this very rich bread for Easter breakfast which I make in 1-pound coffee cans, but it can also be made in loaf pans. Prep time includes 3 rises. Recipe adapted from The Finnish Cookbook"

 

• Ready In: 4hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 16
• Yields: 3 loaves

ingredients

• 19.71 ml active dry yeast (or two envelopes)
• 59.14 ml warm water
• 709.77 ml milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm
• 1656.13-1892.72 ml flour
• 4 egg yolks
• 236.59 ml sugar
• 4.92 ml salt
• 16 cardamom pods, crushed (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1 orange, rind of, grated
• 1 lemon, rind of, grated
• 118.29 ml raisins
• 118.29 ml chopped almonds (optional)
• 236.59 ml butter, melted

• For optional icing

• 473.18 ml sifted confectioners' sugar
• 59.16 ml water
• 0.13-0.19 ml almond extract

directions

1. Disolve yeast in warm water.
2. Add 2 cups of the milk to the yeast/water.
3. Sift in 2 cups of the flour.
4. Beat until smooth and elastic with a wooden spoon or beaters.
5. Cover and let rise for one hour.
6. Beat egg yolks and sugar together until light.
7. Add egg/sugar to dough, stirring well with wooden spoon.
8. Add the salt, cardamom, orange and lemon peel, raisins and almonds (if using), stir well.
9. Add the remaining milk (1 cup) and butter.
10. Stir in the remaining flour until a stiff dough forms.
11. Turn onto a floured bread board and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes).
12. Place dough in greased bowl (I use a dutch oven), turn and cover with plastic wrap.
13. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled.
14. Grease 3 (1 pound) coffee cans and dust with sugar.
15. Fill cans half full and let rise until dough is even with top of can (30 minutes).
16. Bake in a preheated 350°Foven for 1 hour or until bread is golden and tests done.
17. If desired, loaves can be iced with optional frosting.
18. To make optional frosting, combine frosting ingredients (confectioners' sugar, water and almond extract).
19. Drizzle over cooled loaves.

Reviews

[Jonathan Melendez]

This was a hefty baking project and one where the end result is well worth all of the work. The bread was perfectly sweet and soft and I loved the raisins and almonds throughout it. The spice from the cardamom was perfect! I added the glaze as recommended and so glad I did.

 

[Sydney Mike]

Outstanding! I made the whole batch & gifted one to a close friend of ours, devoured the 2nd loaf & now we're slowly working our way through the 3rd one! We thoroughly enjoyed the citrus flavor here & will be making these again! Thanks for sharing the recipe! [Tagged & made in Please Review My Recipe]

 

[Dreamer in Ontario]

This bread reminds me a bit of raisin bread only better. The citrus and cardamom add a wonderful flavor to these loaves. I didn't have any coffee cans so I used a loaf pan for 1/3 of the dough and a bundt pan for the remainder. I didn't bother to ice the loaves,increased the quantity of raisins and omitted the almonds although I think they'd be a very nice addition. Made for PRMR Tag.

 

[Lavender Lynn]

This closely resembles an old Swiss recipe in DH's family for generations; the main difference being cardamom, plus the icing in place of cinnamon sugar crust. Cardamom works nicely with the citrus. We didn't have coffee cans, but baked it on pie plates as we do with ours; baking time was shorter, about 40 minutes, result fabulous. Light in texture, very sweet, very popular in our house. Revised review because we made it again: second time, DH had our new 5-quart K mixer do all the work, which resulted in lighter dough and a higher rise, but also still required some hand kneading. We also doubled the raisins and topped it differently, brushing the top with melted butter and sprinkling with cinnamon sugar, resulting in a close match to DH's childhood favorite. We love this and will make it often!

 

[duonyte]

This was so delicious, I had a hard time keeping the spoon out of the raw dough - the citrus and cardamon work beautifully together. I made roughly half the recipe and it made two modest loaves. If you are having trouble finding cardamon, check out stores selling Indian and Asian goods. It was also at a much better price.