Salads & Sides: Casadil (Italian Easter Bread)
Yield: Makes 8 loaves
Casadil (Italian Easter Bread)
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 cups milk, heated to 105 degrees
- 2 packages (1/4 ounce each) dry yeast
- 2½ pounds granulated sugar plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 18 large eggs
- 6 pounds all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons baking powder
- Zest from 10 to 12 oranges
Glaze
- 3 large egg yolks
Instructions
- In a bowl, place the warmed milk. Sprinkle yeast on top along with 1 teaspoon sugar. Mix gently. Let rest for approximately 15 minutes until foamy.
- While yeast is proofing, put together the rest of your ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, whip the eggs with a wire whisk. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and orange zest.
- Add the milk and yeast mixture to the eggs. Add the milk mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Use a wooden spoon to combine. Now add half of the flour mixture, stirring to combine. Add the remaining flour mixture. Mix until combined. The dough gets a bit heavy so you will need some arm strength to do this.
- Lightly flour a work area. Transfer the dough to the work area and knead thoroughly adding additional flour as necessary to create a workable dough.
- Lightly spray a large clean bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover loosely with a kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place for 3 hours until doubled in bulk.
- Transfer the raised dough to a lightly floured work area. Form dough into eight circular rounds and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Cover the pans with kitchen towels and let rise again until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk together the remaining 3 egg yolks in a bowl. Brush the top of each round with the egg glaze. Bake the bread for 40 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into the bread center reaches 190 degrees. Remove and let cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Transfer bread rounds to a wire rack to cool.
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