Traditional Easter Bread (‘Mazanec’)

Preparation time: 20 minutes       Servings: 1 loaf of Easter Bread

Baking time: 45 minutes ish…       Total Time:  around 3 – 4 hours

Difficulty: easy

Ingredients:

450g / 1lb + some extra strong bread flour

100g / 3.5oz   granulated or caster sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla sugar

200ml / 7fl oz lukewarm milk

1 table spoon active dried yeast

100g / 3.5oz unsalted melted butter

100g / 3.5oz raisins or sultanas

100ml / 3.5fl oz rum

2 teaspoons salt

3 + 1 eggs

ice sugar for sprinkling

Instructions:

• Firstly, a day before we are going to bake our Easter bread, you need to prepare the raisins. Put them into a small glass, add some rum, cover the top and leave it overnight to let rum soak into raisins.
• Melt 100 grams of butter (I use a microwave on medium heat for 40 seconds.)
• Separate the alcohol from raisins and leave it for later.
• Put all dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix together. Then add  lukewarm milk, melted butter, 3 eggs and knead the mixture with your hands for at least 15 minutes to make it soft & elastic dough, make sure it’s not sticky  (add some more flour if required). When you are done, leave it to rest for 1 hour letting the dough grow.
• Knead it once more. Then have it formed into round shape, put it on a flour dusted plate and leave it to rest for another 2 – 3 hours. It should double its size.
• Preheat the oven to 230°C (445°F).
• Then crack the last egg open into a small bowl and beat it with a fork  for 2 minutes. Then paint it with the mixture on the surface of the Easter bread. It makes a shiny brown crust when you bake it.
• Bake the Easter bread 230°C (445°F) for 10 minutes, then reduce to 180°C (356°F) and bake for approximately additional 35 minutes until dark brown – this is quite tricky and depends on your oven (timeing might vary slightly) – meaning  you have to make a little experiment to get the timing right. You can check if the easter bread is baked by tapping the bottom of the loaf. It should make a hollow sound. If not put it back to the oven for another 5 minutes. 
• After removing from the oven, sprinkle with powdered sugar and leave it for the bread to cool down.

It is best to slace it and serve plain sprinkled with some ice sugar or with some strawberry jam.  That is all for today and you can enjoy a nice sweet taste of the Czech traditional Easter bread. But if you don’t like sweet stuff you can try bake our simple bread buns…

Good appetite.