Colomba di Pasqua – Easter Dove Bread

An Easter tradition in Italy is to make a dove-shaped sweet bread, or Colomba di Pasqua, which symbolizes peace and the Holy Spirit. It is to Easter what panettone is to Christmas. It is usually made in a dove-shaped pan, but if you don’t have one you can shape the dough by hand.

This recipe uses fiori di Sicilia, which is a citrus and vanilla flavored extract with essence of flowers. It can be hard to find so you can substitute vanilla and orange extracts for it.

It also uses pearl sugar, a type of sugar which looks like Brioschi (remember those? We used to eat them like candy when we were little!) but is actually a hardened piece of sugar which does not melt easily during baking.

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Ingredients
1/4 c warm water
1 T active dry yeast
1/2 c warm milk
2/3 c granulated sugar
1 stick butter, melted
1 T grated lemon zest
1 tsp fiori di Sicilia
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
4 1/2 to 5 cups all purpose unbleached flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg white, slightly beaten
2 T almonds
1 T pearl sugar or coarse brown sugar

  1. Bring the eggs to room temperature.
  2. In a large bowl, put the warm water and yeast together and stir to dissolve. Let the mixture ferment for 10 minutes.
  3. Add the milk, sugar, butter, lemon zest, fiori di Sicilia, whole eggs, and egg yolks and beat on low speed with a mixer to blend well. Then beat on medium speed for 3 minutes.
  4. Add 4 cups of flour and the salt and beat on medium speed. Gradually add as much flour as is needed, a little at a time, until soft dough is formed.
  5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
  6. Punch the dough down and knead for several minutes until smooth. Place it in a greased colomba pan.
  7. Cover the pan with a sheet of buttered waxed paper and a towel and let rise in a warm place until almost double the size, about 20 minutes. Do not let it over-rise or the shape will be lost in baking.
  8. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  9. Brush the dove bread all over with the egg white. Sprinkle with the almonds, and pearl sugar or brown sugar.
  10. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown.

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Stromboli Roll

This recipe serves approximately 4 -6 people if sliced and served as an appetizer, or 2 people if it is the main dish. You can leave out the prosciutto if it is too salty for your liking.


Ingredients

12 oz. pizza dough
4 slices of ham
4 slices of mozzarella
4 slices of salami
2 long slices of prosciutto
onion powder
garlic powder
oregano
pecorino romano or parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1 T olive oil

  1. preheat oven to 375°.
  2. in a large pizza pan spread the olive oil with your fingers.
  3. stretch the dough out in the pan and sprinkle onion and garlic powder according to your taste.
  4. spread the slices of ham, mozzarella, salami and prosciutto across the dough, leaving about an inch around the dough with nothing on it.
  5. fold about an inch of the dough on opposite ends, then roll one of the other ends until you have a log.
  6. sprinkle some oregano and grated cheese on top.
  7. bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.

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