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Easter Bread Recipes

“Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ, but it also celebrates fertility, and the season of renewal. Nature is reborn after the death of winter, and the Christian festival has evolved from pagan celebrations without ever quite eliminating them.” - Bernard Dupaigne, The History of Bread.

Braided Easter Bread

Try one of these recipes or feel free to submit a Easter Bread recipe.

All-Purpose Holiday Bread Recipe

Bundt Pan Babka

Chocolate Babka

Chocolate Bunny Bread (Bread Machine)

Cruciform Buns (Bread Machine)

Easter Egg Nest

Egg Casserole Bread

English Hot Cross Buns

Greek Celebration Bread

Greek Easter Twist

Greek Trinity Bread

Hot Cross Buns with a twist (Bread Machine)

Hot Cross Buns Recipe (Conventional or Bread Machine)

Italian Easter Dove

Italian Easter Pie

Kulich - Russian Easter Bread

Symbolic Easter Breads

"For Easter Sunday, Orthodox Christians dye and decorate eggs. On Holy Thursday to commemorate the Last Supper, when Christ shared bread with his disciples, they prepare in absolute silence a brioche or egg bread called Koulitch. On the Saturday night of Resurrection, they walk in procession to church with a basket of eggs, holding a candle in one hand, and the bread in the other. They exchange a kiss and ask each other's forgiveness for any offense they might have committed against one another, as a token of peace for the future." ---The History of Bread, Bernard Dupaigne, Harry N. [Abrams: New York] 1999 (p. 139)

Hot Cross Buns are a traditional treat at Easter. "These small yeasted buns have been popular in England since medieval times. Small breads, enriched with eggs, currants and raisins and spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, were served with wine at the end of a feast. During the Middle Ages, it was common practice to mark loaves with a deep cross to ward off evil spirits, and although the custom was abandoned after the Reformation, the buns made for Good Friday continued the custom for this most significant of religious days. Some bakers continue to bake their own hot cross buns only during Lent." ---BREAD: the breads of the world and how to bake them at home, Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter, [Hermes House: London] 2006 (p.47, 48)

Kulich is the most famous Russian Easter bread. "The tall narrow shape is Slavic and of great antiquity... The Kulich is based on a baba dough, with more sugar, plus additions of candied peel, almonds, raisins, and saffron. The bulging top is iced and decorated, usually with Cyrillic letters standing for 'Christ is risen'. Traditionally the kulich is taken to be blessed at midnight mass on the eve of Easter Sunday. In some families it replaces bread for the entire Holy Week. It is served with Paskha, a sweetened confection based on curd cheese." ---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 266)