Easter Baking Marathon

Easter Bunnies

Happy Easter Monday.
After successfully completing my Culinary Foundations II course earlier last week, I seem to have taken a break from cooking and crossed over to baking. I love baking at Easter, funnily enough I don't really know why. I am not a particularly frequent baker but there are a few occasions during the year where I feel compelled to bake. Easter is one such occasion. Last year, I was totally obsessed with producing Gourmet magazine-worthy decorated cookies. I uploaded a picture of my efforts and you can make up our own mind how well I did. :-)

 This year, I have been thinking and talking about Easter Breads for the last few weeks and on Saturday I had an Easter Bread baking marathon in my kitchen. My husband asked the obvious question "What is an Easter Bread?" Well, for me it's a slightly sweet, yeasty tasting bread that is braided in a loaf or a ring shape. In Germany we call those shapes 'Osterzopf' or 'Osterkranz' and you will see them in the pictures below. Having said that, the definition of an Easter Bread varies depending on the country from which it comes.

Osterkranz

I've prepared 3 different Easter Breads. Each recipe appealed to me for a different reason and interestingly, each recipe used a different type of yeast.The first one I prepared is a 'Osterkranz' from an original German recipe sent to me by my mum. It uses fresh yeast which is actually quite hard to find in the US and is much more widely used and available in Germany. I really like the taste of fresh yeast in baked goods but particularly in an Easter Bread. It is hard to describe the taste to you, apart from the fact that it is a very distinctive. I like it, but it might not be to everyone's liking.

Osterzopf

I wanted to compare the 'Osterkranz' recipe to the 'Osterzopf' recipe, which has been my go-to recipe for the last few years here in the USA. It's a German recipe which I found on a blog called 'The Foreign Kitchen'. The differences in the recipe are that it uses instant yeast and honey is substituted for sugar. The overall flavor of the bread is a lot milder because of the instant yeast. I prefer the 'Osterkranz'.

Holiday Bread for Easter, NYTimes

The third recipe it actually a recipe I took from the New York Times Dining & Wine section. It is actually an example of what I was mentioning earlier, that each Easter Bread recipe varies depending on the country of origin. This recipe differs from the German ones, in that it contains currents, cranberries, etc as well as anise seeds and citrus zests. The type of yeast used is dry active. The bread is sweet, flavorful and the yeast taste is a little bit more prevalent than in the 'Osterzopf' recipe. Although I wouldn't necessarily associate this bread with Easter, I like it.

To summarize my Easter Bread baking marathon, it was an interesting experience. I love baking with yeast and I really enjoyed comparing the different baking processes and flavors. I've probably put on a couple of pounds while tasting the different breads. The good news is I found my favorite quite quickly. It's the basic German recipe with the fresh yeast, just as my mother used to make it. I guess my choice is no surprise. It's hard to get away from those comforting childhood foods with the happy memories attached.

Watch this space, I have the feeling there is another baking blog coming along next week.
Have a great week and happy eating.