Easter Bread Ring

Here is a decorative and delicious bread for your dinner table that looks like a basket filled with painted Easter eggs!! It's easy to make: roll dough into 24-inch ropes then twist them together and join the ends to form a ring. Place hard boiled eggs into the "basket" before you let the dough rise. The finishing touch: carefully paint the eggs after the bread has been baked.

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Yields: 1 Bread Ring

Ingredients

• BREAD

• 5 -6  cups  robin hood best for bread flour
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 5 1⁄2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1  teaspoon orange zest, grated
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 2  teaspoons  orange juice
• 2  teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1  cup Carnation Evaporated Milk
• 3⁄4 cup Crisco shortening
• 3  eggs, beaten
• 6  hard-boiled eggs

• EGG WASH

• 1  egg
• 1  tablespoon Carnation Evaporated Milk

• GARNISH

•  liquid  food coloring

• ORANGE GLAZE

• 1  cup icing sugar
• 1 -2  tablespoon  orange juice

Directions

1. BREAD:.
2. In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour with the sugar, yeast, orange zest, and salt. Mix until well blended.
3. In a saucepan, heat the milk over medium high heat until just boiling. Remove from the heat; add the shortening and stir until melted. Stir in the orange juice and vanilla. Cool to 120°F Pour the milk mixture and the beaten eggs over the flour mixture.
4. Mix until a soft and sticky dough forms. Slowly stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 8-10 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plstic wrap and place in a warm draft free spot and let rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down dough, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight.
5. Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the refrigerator; punch it down. Divide dough in half. On a floured surface, roll each piece into a rope, about 24-inches long. Twist the ropes together; place the dough on prepared baking sheet. joining the ends together to form a ring shape.
6. Push the hard boiled eggs, on their sides, between the spaces in the twisted rope around ring. Cover bread with a piece of lightly greased plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 -2 hours.
7. Heat oven to 350°F Place the bread in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Bat egg with 1 tablespoons milk. Brush bread with egg wash; return to oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
8. GARNISH:.
9. Place a few drops of liquid food coloring in a small dish. Using a cotton swab or small paint brush, carefully color each dyed egg. Let dry fully before drizzling on Orange Glaze.
10. ORANGE GLAZE:.
11. In a small bowl, combine glaze ingredients: stir until smooth. Drizzle over cooled bread.