Pane Di Pasqua (Sourdough Easter Bread From Italy)
Sourdough bakers who love a rich, buttery loaf will be all over this Pane di Pasqua — a beautifully soft and fragrant Sourdough Easter Bread. This Italian Easter Bread recipe is made with an enriched dough, subtly spiced with star anise and brightened with lemon zest. Braided into a wreath and baked to golden perfection, it’s the perfect centrepiece for your Easter table.
Equipment
- High-rimmed baking tray/ sheet
Ingredients
For Stiff Sourdough Starter
- 30 g sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 30 ml water
- 60 g flour
The Dough
- 70 ml milk
- 4 star anise
- 240 g strong bread flour with at least 12% protein content
- 30 g caster sugar
- 5 g salt
- 100 g stiff sourdough starter from earlier
- 2 eggs large
- zest of 1 large lemon
- 100 g butter softened
- 1 egg for egg wash
Instructions
The Night Before:
- Add water, unfed starter, and flour together and mix well until combined. Place into a bowl and leave to rise for 8-9 hours (overnight) until doubled in size. This will make 120g of stiff sourdough levain, but only 100g will be used in the recipe (extra levain is allowed for the amount that sticks to the bowls, jars, spoons, etc).
Day 2
- Break up the star anise into small pieces and place them in a small saucepan. Pour the milk over and heat over low heat until it starts to bubble around the edges. Take the milk off the heat and leave it to cool down to room temperature, then strain it through a fine sieve and discard the star anise solids.
- In a bowl of your stand mixer, combine the strong flour, lemon zest, sugar and salt. Pinch pieces of the stiff sourdough starter and scatter the bits across the flour. Add the eggs and infused milk.
- Run your stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook attachment, for 5-6 minutes, until the ingredients are well combined.
- Cut your room temperature butter into small cubes. With the mixer running, keep adding one cube of butter at a time and carry on until butter is fully incorporated and the dough looks soft, elastic and glossy. This will take about 10 minutes.
- Grease a large bowl with some butter or oil and scoop the sourdough into it. Cover with a tea towel or cling film in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, coil fold the sourdough, and leave it for another 30 minutes. Then perform another set of coil folds. Cover the dough again and let it rise undisturbed for 3-4 hours, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. The dough should just about double in volume.
- Once doubled, place the dough in the fridge overnight.
Day 3
- Line a roasting tray (or a large baking sheet) with parchment paper. Using a tray with high rims allows you to cover the dough for the second proof without the cling film touching the surface of the dough.
- Scoop the chilled sourdough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide it into 3 even pieces (approx 215g each).
- Roll each piece of dough into a long (45-50cm) rope by rolling the dough with the palms of your hands to create tension against the work surface.
- Pinch all three ropes at one end, then braid the ropes. Pull the braid to make it a little longer if needed. Then tuck one end under the other to create a wreath (make sure to leave at least 10cm gap in the middle of the wreath, otherwise it will close up after the second rise and making).
- Transfer the braided dough into your baking sheet/ tray, and cover it well. If you're using a baking sheet (without rims), cover the dough with a lightly oiled cling film (plastic wrap), otherwise, just cover the top of the roasting tray with a damp tea towel or cling film, so that it doesn't touch the top of the dough.
- Leave the sourdough to rise for 3-4 hours in a warm place until it bulks up by about 50%.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan. Whilst pre-heating, lightly whisk your egg. Gently brush the top of your braided wreath with the egg wash.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before pulling it apart. If you wish to slice it, cool it completely.
- Whilst traditional Italian Pane di Pasqua is baked with a hard-boiled egg pressed into the dough, we simply place an egg in the middle at the end. enjoy!
Nutrition
Calories: 2200kcalCarbohydrates: 281gProtein: 53gFat: 95gSaturated Fat: 55gPolyunsaturated Fat: 7gMonounsaturated Fat: 25gTrans Fat: 3gCholesterol: 545mgSodium: 2746mgPotassium: 629mgFiber: 9gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 3139IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 242mgIron: 8mg
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