Easter Sunday celebrates Christ’s resurrection from the dead, following crucifixion. It marks the end of Holy Week, the end of Lent, and the last day of the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday), as well as the beginning of the Easter season. The resurrection represents the triumph of good over evil, sin, death, and the physical body.
When Christianity was taking over in Europe, the christians struggled to convert the Pagans. The Pagans didn’t want anything to do with this new religion, so the Christians decided to adopt the pagan rituals of conquered peoples in an effort to help convert them. It worked pretty well as a strategy as it allowed the conquered peoples to continue a semblance of their observances as they remembered, and with time the population would be replaced with those who only knew the new traditions. Easter always falls on a Sunday between 22 March and 25 April inclusive, within about seven days after the first full moon of spring. How pagan is that?
Now on to this bunny bread! A simple white bread in a festive shape, perfect for Easter brunch. Also great as a gift! You could also make a teddybear, or a cat..
Ingredients
- 500 gr flour
- 2 tsp sugar
- 8 gr dried yeast or 20 gr fresh yeast
- 45 gr butter at room temperature
- 250 ml water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 egg
Start by heating up the water to a lukewarm temperature, you can do this in a small saucepan or microwaveable container. Don’t make it too hot, otherwise the yeast will die. 30°C would be ideal, but if it feels nice and warm to the touch it’s fine. Add the yeast and sugar to the water, stir and set aside to activate the yeast.
Sift the flour onto a clean work-space and create a crater, make sure it has a solid wall or you’ll end up with a sticky mess!
Now, in this crater, add the water, egg and butter and mix thoroughly. Slowly start to mix in the flour bit by bit until it turns into dough. Knead this through for about 10 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky and feels elastic. You can also add all the ingredients in your stand mixer and mix on low speed for about 6 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Coat the inside of a clean bowl with flour and add your dough ball. Cover with a damp cloth or towel and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour, until the dough has at least doubled in size.
