This exquisite strawberry torte is light, simple, and delicious. My mother gave me the recipe.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 loaf |
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 (.25 ounce) package rapid rise yeast
- ⅔ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon anise extract
- 2 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ tablespoon colored candy decorating dragees, or as desired
Instructions
- Mix 1 cup of flour with sugar, salt, and yeast in a bowl, stir well. Place milk and anise extract into a small saucepan over low heat, and warm to about 110 degrees F (43 degrees C). Make a well in the center of the flour mixture with your hand, and pour in the milk mixture; swirl with your hand in a circular motion to combine the flour mixture with the milk mixture. Mix in butter and eggs, one at a time, then mix in remaining flour until dough begins to pull together.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface, and knead until soft but elastic, about 8 minutes. Cover with a damp cloth, and let dough rest for 10 minutes; cut dough into halves.
- On floured work surface, roll each half into a ball, then shape the balls into 2 long pieces, about 1 1/2 inches thick and 18 to 20 inches long. Pinch the 2 top ends together, and loosely twist the pieces to form a twisted loaf; pinch the bottom ends together, and tuck the two ends underneath the loaf. (Alternately, form the twist into a ring, and pinch the ends together.)
- Grease a baking sheet, lay the loaf onto the prepared sheet, and cover with a damp towel; let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Brush loaf with beaten egg, and sprinkle with colored decorating dragees.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake the decorated loaf in the preheated oven until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Watch closely towards the end of the baking time that the bread does not begin to burn. Transfer to wire rack immediately after baking to cool.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 212 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 35 g |
| Cholesterol | 63 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 288 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
First time making this Italian Easter Bread (and I’m OLD! ) Everything that could go wrong, did! And still, as you can see, it’s a picture perfect bread. Tasted great, too!
I followed the recipe exactly and made a loaf version. At first the dough wouldn’t rise, so I put a pan of boiling water into the oven (off) with the dough and within 45 minutes it rose beautifully. After baking and cooling, I drizzled it with a simple sugar glaze and topped with sprinkles. The balance of anise and sweetness is really lovely! This will be my go-to recipe every year from now on. It is the closest thing in taste and texture to what my Italian grandmother used to make so many years ago!
EASTER BREAD JACKPOT!! I didn’t make one change to this recipe and I’m so glad I didn’t because it couldn’t have come out more delicious. Moist, sweet, and chewy (in a good way). This bread is a new favorite for my WHOLE family. It’s so good i honestly will never try another recipe again. It’s perfection!
Love this recipe, but it’s pretty subtle. I doubled the anise extract and still found it a bit too plain. When I added anise oil as well it turned out just perfect.
We made this Easter bread for Easter a few months ago without the anise because kids wouldn’t eat it with anise. We added a cinnamon frosting too, which went over well with kids and relatives we dropped off pieces to. I would definitely make it again–I found myself breaking off bits and pieces because it just was so delicious!
easy to follow…real crowd pleaser!!
I made this today for the first time. I didn’t have rapid rise yeast and used active dry yeast. It came out good. I was nervous about too much anise flavor so I went light maybe 3/4 tsp. Next time I will use full tsp. It was enjoyable to make.
I’ve been making this recipe for years! My pic is the twisted loaf and colored eggs. If your adding colored eggs there’s no need to boil first. I color raw eggs- they cook while bread is baking. I only use anise oil- so 1/4 tsp is perfect – that stuff is strong! I throw in 1/2 tsp anise seed powder as well. I use quick rise yeast and still let is rise an hour! Sometimes I can let my breads rise 30 min – w/ quick rise ..but not this bread! Let it rise an hour or more and you will get a light fluffy bread! I let it get 2 -1/2 times the size before I bake it. My husband is Italian – and says this is the real deal like grandma used to make! – I omit the icing.
It smells great! I’ll serve it tomorrow for Easter.
Made it just as recipe said. It is delicious. Will certainly make it again.
Awesome recipe!! Reminded me so much of the recipe my late grandma used to make.
I loved this recipe! When I saw that it used anise extract, I knew I wanted t o try it. I did not have the “rapid rise” yeast on hand, so I used regular yeast and just let it rise once, punched it down and then proceeded with the rest of the directions. This made a very fragrant, tender bread. I made one large loaf that I am going to use at an event, but pinched off a bit of dough to make a “roll size” portion for taste-testing . I did add some orange zest as another reviewer suggested…the anise and orange is a perfect combo! I plan to drizzle a glaze over the loaf shortly before serving. I will be making this again! Thanks, LadyAnna123 for the recipe!
ah, it was a lot of work for something came out just like bread. nothing special. I think I must have done something wrong with the yeast because the bread expanded but not an impressive amount. I also made another similar recipe and that dough did double and I didn’t heat the milk as warm
I made it without the sprinkles and instead of twisting it, I just put in a loaf pan. It came out beautiful golden brown and it was delicious
This is a wonderful bread or do I call it a cake 😉 I had looked at other recipes and this one seemed to be the best and it was! I added 1 tsp of lemon zest and 1 tsp lemon juice. Great new Easter tradition for the family.
I made this and it was wonderful. I am full Italian American and have my own version of “Easter bread”. This was easy to make and really delicious. I added juice from one half fresh orange and rind to the milk mixture and it’s great. I put it in a bundt on after I twisted it and baked it, it’s gorgeous!
This was really, really good – and very easy to make! Everyone loved it and ate it up. I made it all by hand following the recipe on Easter morning. I’m not experienced in bread making and it turned out great. The dough is soft with a nice flavor. I added a simple powdered sugar glaze. The house smelled wonderful, and it was perfect with coffee. I will definitely make this again.
I tried it last night. Thank you for all the tips in the reviews, I let it rise in the fridge over night, baked on a pizza stone, 20″, turned oven off and left in oven for 3 min. It was the perfect texture, and baked properly. Thank you!
Found this recipe today. I’m Italian and found this very much like my mother’s bread. I added raisins – no other changes..made 2 different shapes. They both turned out beautifully! Thanks for sharing! Happy Easter!
this is the easiest and best italian easter bread i have ever made. just took a loaf out of the freezer and toasted it for breakfast. still as good as the day i made it 7 months ago.
This recipe was awesome!! I made exactly as directed and got rave reviews!