My spouse remembers his Italian grandmother’s anise bread from the holidays with great nostalgia. She obviously never used a recipe, and she never even used a breadmaker! So, for a quick, unique Christmas bread, I came up with this. While baking, this dense bread has a beautiful aroma.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 1 2-pound loaf |
Ingredients
- ½ cup hazelnuts
- 1 cup eggnog, plus
- 1 tablespoon eggnog
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons anise seed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon eggnog
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Spread hazelnuts evenly on a baking sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, transfer the nuts to a bowl, and let them cool.
- Place the eggnog, sugar, salt, butter, egg, egg yolk, bread flour, yeast, anise seed, and cinnamon into the bread machine. Program the machine for a basic cycle with the crust as “medium.” Press start. Do not use the delay timer.
- Place the cooled toasted hazelnuts into the machine between Knead Cycle 1 and Knead Cycle 2. When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool on a rack.
- Prepare the glaze by combining the confectioners’ sugar and eggnog in a bowl; mix well. It should be a drizzling consistency. Drizzle the glaze on the cooled bread before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 195 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 28 g |
| Cholesterol | 39 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 103 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Favorite bread!! So good!
Great flavor. However, I took out the anise seeds and cinnamon, as I like neither. But oh so wonderful. And don’t forget the amazing eggnog glaze!
I made this and it was amazing! A little bit challenging though for a novice baker like myself.
Amazing fresh out of the machine! The Glaze makes it. It didn’t mention, but I slightly chopped the nuts with their skins on (I had trouble skinning them), all turned out well.
Great taste, both of bread and of frosting! The bread texture is smooth, even with half of the flour as whole wheat. Great recipe!
Everyone loved this bread and the glaze was an extra special touch! I loved it warmed with honey butter!
This bread is so delicious and easy to make. I was afraid the with 2 T. of anise seed it would be a bit too much spice but it turned out so good!