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Italian Easter Bread

post #1 of 6
3/31/07 at 5:19pm
Thread Starter 
Hi!

I've an Italian Easter Bread recipe to share with you! You can read that on my BLOG! :chef:
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post #2 of 6
4/1/07 at 1:42am
That picture looks like the commercial ones. I've tried various recipes for home made colomba, and none came looking even vaguely like that, though often the picture they gave was like that. Is that a picture of one you made at home with this very recipe? I'd love to make one, since they sell them everywhere and they taste like artificial colomba flavoring. (I actually saw bottles of that in a bakery supply store!!!) It pains me that in the country of fine food people's idea of a holiday desert is something you buy in a box at the supermarket! But i want to be sure that it does come high, with that texture etc, if i follow your directions, because it's a nice bread, has a nice texture and appearance, but the ones you buy are all disappointing. I've actually seen recipes for something and the picture accompanying it was not made with that recipe, so i wanted to check
Thanks
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post #3 of 6
4/1/07 at 3:59pm
Thread Starter 
Well, if you follow the directions eventually you'll have a delicious colomba like the one in the photo. I must confess the texture is a bit different than commercial ones, but it tastes really good. You're in Rome, right? Please replace the dry yeast and use 25 gr of lievito di birra instead! You know it's so hard to find fresh yeast in the US. And please cover it with granella di zucchero (50 gr), instead of the "some granulated sugar" I mentioned. I'm just starting my blog, and I'm planning to go to Rome this summer. My idea is to prepare the recipes my mom taught me using the actual Italian ingredients. And then I'll post all that on my blog. Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope your colomba will be a success. :chef:

PS: Note that the texture is different because bakeries use lievito madre which takes 36 hours, and then lievito nostrano (12 hours).
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post #4 of 6
4/2/07 at 12:10am
great, thanks, Daziano. I wonder if the texture could be reproduced using the method of putting very little yeast in it, and letting it sit for many hours, like 24, sort of like in the "no knead bread" that's been going around the internet - it gives that open-holed chewy texture. I've been experimenting this method with sweet breads too, with great results.

i stopped buying fresh lievito di birra here because often it was sitting around for months, and sometimes it had been frozen and thawed, and the shopkeeper said "oh, sure, that's fine" but it never worked! (Hardly anyone makes bread at home here, or does any baking - yeah, i know, a big surprise to me). I can get various active dry yeasts in health food stores (canestro is one in rome, or naturasi) and also the supermarket sells "mastro fornaio" a dry active yeast done by pane degli angeli. And the naturasi store has what i think is a dried lievito madre (a largish bag, not the usual little bag of plain yeast which is a "natural yeast" but i don't think actually a "sourdough")

Still you didn;t answer my question - did you actually make THAT bread - the one you took the picture of - at home?
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post #5 of 6
4/2/07 at 6:54am
Thread Starter 
Yes, I made the bread myself and it worked, and I'll make it again this year. The photo was sent to me by one of my cousins, the one who shared with me the recipe.

And you're right. It'll be much better if you use the method you mentioned, indeed that's a homemade version of the lievito madre.

Also, if you like your colomba with a bit humid texture you can add some honey. I prefer a dryer one, so I've omitted that option in my recipe.

Take care and hope you'll get excellent results! :)
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post #6 of 6
4/4/07 at 12:02am
thanks so much!
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