Easter Saffron Wreath Bread (with a Simple Glaze)
This Easter saffron wreath bread is so easy to make. Topped with a sweet glaze and sprinkles galore, it is the perfect centre piece for your Easter table.
I am a lover of saffron in sweet things. I’ve talked a lot about how Swedes use saffron in their baking at Christmas time. And so far, I’ve made crunchy saffron biscotti, soft saffron cake, saffron braided bread with cranberry jam, saffron and white chocolate buns, and saffron and cranberry cupcakes. Phew.
However, saffron isn’t only great in baked goods. It can be used in pretty much anything you like. Check out these 16 stunning saffron recipes, if you don’t believe me.
Saffron is not just for Christmas, either. I had a couple of packets left in the cupboard, and considering how expensive they are, wanted to use them up. I knew that there was a traditional saffron bread in Cornwall, so thought, why not start a new tradition. Easter saffron bread. Okay, I don’t think saffron Easter bread is anything new, but it is not that common, either.
So, that’s how this Easter saffron wreath bread came about. I thought for a while about how I wanted to style the bread. I was going to go for a loaf with raisins. Then I thought I would place buns together to make it look like a flower. This one I still might do.
Finally, I thought a wreath would be a great idea. I love the colour of saffron bread, which fits perfectly with Easter and spring. I decided to continue with the colorful theme and add a simple glaze and tons of pastel sprinkles.
Decorating my Easter saffron bread
I was so happy with the end result. The braiding gave the bread layers, quite similar to puff pastry. Obviously a lot denser, and not as many, though. One packet of saffron is enough to colour and flavour the bread, but it isn’t overpowering at all.
The glaze was made with milk and icing sugar, and I brushed it on. Usually, I like it stand your spoon up in it thickness, as used for my whole lemon and cottage cheese cake. This time, I just brushed it over. Then I liberally tossed over as many sprinkles as I could find in my cupboard. Literally. To finish off, and to pay homage to the Italian Easter bread I’ve seen, I added marzipan eggs to the middle.
Easter Saffron Wreath Bread (with a Simple Glaze)
Ingredients
Saffron Dough:
- 50g (3½ tbsp) butter
- ½ gram (¼ tsp) ground saffron
- 200ml (⅘ cup) milk
- 14g (4 tsps) dried yeast (see note 1)
- 1 egg
- 100g (½ cup) sugar
- 360-480g (3-4 cups) spelt flour (see note 2)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 small egg (for the egg wash)
Decoration:
- 1 tablespoon milk
- icing / powdered / confectioners' sugar
- marzipan eggs (optional)
Instructions
Dough:
- Melt the butter in a small pan.
- When melted, add the saffron, and allow the mixture to cook for a couple of minutes.
- Remove from the heat, and stir in the milk and dried yeast. Allow to sit for five minutes or so.
- Add the cooled mixture and the egg to your stand mixer, and give it a quick mix.
- Add the sugar, salt and 300g of flour.
- Work the mixture, gradually adding as much flour as necessary (one tablespoon at a time). Make sure you work each tablespoon in before adding more. Be careful with this step, as too much flour will result in dry bread.
- You will hear your mixer laboring a little harder as the dough becomes thicker (mine clanks about a bit). The dough will be tacky, but you will be able to easily pull it off the attachment. When this happens, switch to a dough hook, and knead for a further five minutes.
- When ready, the dough should be shiny, and drop fairly easily from the hook.
- Cover with a tea-towel and allow the dough to proof for 1-2 hours (just until doubled in size).
- When the dough is ready, grease a large springform pan (mine is 23cm / 9").
- Pre-heat the oven to 200℃ / 400℉.
- Knock back the dough and divide into three.
- Roll out into long ropes measuring about 50cm / 19" each.
- Place the top of the ropes (furthest away from you) on top of each other and press down.
- Plait / braid the dough. Start by taking the left hand rope and placing it over the middle. Then do the same with the right hand rope. Continue down to the bottom. Keep it fairly tight, but don't create too much tension. Push the ropes together, similar to what you did at the beginning.
- Pull both ends of the plaited dough together to form a wreath, with one end slightly overlapping the other.
- Place inside the baking pan. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
- When ready, bake in the lower part of the the oven for around 20 minutes.
- Remove and allow to cool for a while, remove the springform edge, and leave to cool completely.
Decoration:
- Add one tablespoon of milk to a bowl.
- Add just as much icing sugar as needed to make a very runny paste.
- Brush over the saffron bread, and use any kind of decoration you like (I used spring colored sprinkles).
- To finish off, I added some small pastel coloured marzipan eggs to the wreath's hole. This is entirely optional, but looks so pretty.
- Slice into large chunks, and enjoy! The bread is best eaten the day of baking, but is still good the day after. Saffron bread (like most homemade bread) stales quickly, so anything left over can be frozen.
Notes
- In Sweden we have something called dried yeast. It is used both in warm liquid to proof and also added directly to flour. I am aware that the US has two options for dried yeast, and I believe dry active yeast is the most similar for the purpose of making this particular recipe.
- You can use spelt or regular flour for this recipe (just use the same amount).
