Pull Apart Easter Bread

Happy April Fools Day everyone!! This day is soo under appreciated! My roommates in college had the great joy unfortunateness of being my friend on this day. I got them so good our first year of college, that they now remember this day every year and I'm actually not even allowed to call them on today because they won't answer. I am ruthless. I go waaay too far and then some. It's only once a year, and it's totally worth it to freak someone out!

Here's an example of some of the things I've done in the past. One year I called my sister; she was driving so I made her pull over. I told her I was dying of some extremely rare disease, there was no cure, and Dad and I were moving to Australia because that's where I wanted to spend my last few months. She started bawling and said she was moving with us. I started cracking up and yelled April Fools!! She hung up and wouldn't answer my calls for a week!!! That's a long time for us seeing as we talk almost every day. 

This year I waited until Hub was in the shower to enact my plan. I ran downstairs and grabbed the ketchup bottle and squirted it all over my hand. Then I busted into the bathroom, while he was in the shower (knowing he didn't have his contacts in and therefore wouldn't be able to see well), and started screaming I had cut off my finger. He.flipped.out. I'm not kidding when I say he almost fell out of the shower he was shaking so hard at the sight of (what he thought was) blood. Oh yeah, did I mention my Hub passes out at the sight of blood? I'm a bad person. But I immediately shouted April Fools and he eventually recovered. He was a little paler than usual when he left for work, but I had made his whole staff some Pull Apart Easter Bread, so all was forgiven...I hope!

This bread is a little complex, but so worth all the steps. Really for the most part this recipe is all about waiting. You just have to wait until the dough rises so you get a nice fluffy bread in the end. 

So first you roll out the dough. Then cut it into fourths. Then cut each fourth four more times. Roll two strips together a few times and twist those into a bun. Do that nine more times, until they are all rolled up. Let it rise, bake and you're done!

Make this recipe your own. Instead of strawberries and cream cheese, try butter and cinnamon. Or almonds. Or fresh berries. Possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:

6 Cups Flour
1 package rapid rise yeast
1/2 Cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 eggs
1 3/4 Cup milk
1/2 Cup butter
1 tsp almond extract

1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp water

2 Cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Lemon juice from above
2 oz cream cheese, softened
1 Cup strawberry jam

Directions:


In a large bowl whisk together 4 cups of flour, yeast, sugar and the salt. Set aside. Grease another large bowl and set that aside, too.

Zest and juice your lemon and set aside. Whisk the three eggs into a small bowl.

Melt the butter and milk together in a small sauce pan on low heat until warm (about 110 degrees). Scoop out 2/3 cup of the buttermilk and whisk it into the eggs.

Dump that whole egg mix back into the sauce pan and add the lemon zest and almond extract. Save lemon juice for later.

Slowly whisk in the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until fully combined. Add in the rest of the flour a cup at a time and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Make sure it comes together easily. If the dough is still too sticky, add more flour. 

Turn the dough around in the greased bowl to coat it with a light layer of oil. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Remove the dough and split into two halves. Roll one half out onto a floured surface to make a 12-15 inch circle. Place a clean drinking glass upside down in the middle. This will keep you from cutting in too far. 

Cut the circle into fourths, then cut each fourth four more times. This will leave you with 20 strips. Remove the glass.

Preheat the oven for 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper.

Grab two strips and twist them together 4-8 times. Pinch the ends together. Twist those pieces into a bun shape and place the rolled up dough onto the center where the glass was. 

Continue this with the remaining strips until all are rolled up. There will be nine buns surrounding the middle one (so ten altogether). Transfer the breads to the baking sheets and correct any buns that came apart in the transfer.

Place a clean kitchen towel over the breads and allow to rise again for another 45 minutes.

Combine the egg yolk and water together in a small bowl and spread the egg mix over both breads. 

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until nice and brown on top. Let cool. Using your thumb, push an indention into the middle of the little buns to allow room for the strawberry jam and cream cheese filling.

For the icing:

Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla together until it forms a shiny white icing. Add more powdered sugar if you need to. Set aside about a 1/4 cup of the icing and drizzle the rest over both breads. 

Add the cream cheese to the remaining 1/4 cup and scoop into half the buns in each bread. Add the strawberry jam to the ones you didn't put the cream cheese in. 

Serve immediately, or place in the fridge over night and serve the next day. This bread is amazing warm or cold. I can't stop eating it!


So are you a Fooler on today? Or were you like "Oh yeah, it's April Fool's Day"? Let me know your best tricks...maybe I'll use them next year :)

Thanks for stopping by!

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***recipe modified from here