Easter Dove of Brioche Bread, an easy-to-make leavened cake, delicious made of small balls filled as you like.
Mine are filled with hazelnut spread and apricot jam.
For this recipe, a stand mixer is useful, but if you don’t have one, it’s still quite simple to make by just putting the ingredients in a large bowl and working them by hand until obtaining a homogeneous dough.
This recipe is very versatile and you can use it in the molds you prefer.
Adjust the size of the cookie cutter for the balls according to your needs.
For my mold, which is about 10 inches long, I created the balls with a cookie cutter of 2.5 inches in diameter.
You can find the mold in the link in bold below.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 10-inch mold
- Cooking methods: Electric Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Easter
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup milk (At room temperature)
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsps sugar
- 2 1/4 tsps dry yeast
- 1/2 cup butter (Soft)
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 1/2 cup apricot jam
- 1/2 cup hazelnut spread
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp milk
- as needed sugar crystals
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Kneading Board
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Mold
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Cup
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Brush
Steps
To make the Easter Dove of Brioche Bread, pour the milk at room temperature into the stand mixer bowl and add the dry yeast.
Mix and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Then add a tablespoon of sugar and mix again.
Add the flour, remaining sugar, whole eggs, and egg yolk.
Add the pinch of salt and attach the dough hook to the stand mixer.
Start working the dough at low speed, and when the ingredients have combined, add a piece of butter at a time, allowing the previous piece to incorporate before adding the next, while continuing to work the dough with the stand mixer.
Stop the mixer each time to prevent injury.
Once the dough starts to gather around the hook and climb up, you can turn off the stand mixer.
Quickly work the dough in the stand mixer bowl, and once it’s homogeneous, transfer it to a lightly floured bowl.
Cover it and let it rise for at least a couple of hours or until it doubles in volume.
After this time, take the dough and place it on a lightly floured kneading board.
Roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/5 inch.
Note that I used a mold about 12 inches long and 4 inches wide.
To form the balls, adjust according to your mold.
Cut out the discs and fill them with the chosen creams.
Pinch the edges tightly and then roll them into balls between your hands.
The dough is easily workable, so use it all.
Place the balls in the slightly buttered and floured mold, spacing them slightly.
Cover again and let rise for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F in fan mode and, in the meantime, mix the egg yolk with milk in a cup.
Brush the surface of the dove with the mixture and decorate with sugar crystals.
Bake and cook for 25 minutes or until the surface is nicely colored.
Remove and let cool before enjoying.
