Recipe Name Easter Bread Submitted by gepetto333 Recipe Description A sweet Holiday bread Quantity 1 Quantity Unit 3 Pound Loaf Prep Time (minutes) 180 Cook Time (minutes) 30 Ready In (minutes) 210

Ingredients Amount Measure Ingredient 1 package yeast, instant 5 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting 0.5 cups white sugar 1 teaspoon salt, table 1/2 cup milk, whole 1 stick Margarine, regular, stick 3 large eggs, beaten 1 tablespoon anise extract 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg Steps Sequence Step 1  In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a HEAVY duty mixer place the 1cup of Flour, the sugar and salt, stir to incorporate, then add the Yeast mixture with continued stirring. Meanwhile place the rest of the water, the Milk,the Margarine(cut into chunks) into a Sauce pan over LOW heat just until the Margarine is melted and the liquids are WARM the Margarine doesn''t have to melted completely. Pour this WARM mixture into the Flour and continue beating for a few minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally until a smooth batter is formed. Then beat on high for two minutes once again scraping the bowl a couple of times.  To the mixture, with the machine on Medium add the 3 Eggs (one at at time), Anisette, Nutmeg and 1 cup of Flour until the batter is a little thick and smooth. At this point you may have to work by hand unless you have a very HEAVY DUTY mixer, the batter will become a dough in short order. Add enough Flour ½ cup at a time to make a soft dough. Turn this dough out onto a floured work surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes (now you find out two things, why the old timers had strong arm and why they only made this bread once a year).  Place the dough in a clean greased bowl, turn to coat with oil and cover with plastic wrap or clean cloth and let rise in a warm draft free place until doubled in bulk, about 1-1½ hours.After the first rise punch the dough down, turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two equal parts. Roll each piece of dough into a 24" rope, twist the two ropes together (relatively loosely) and form into a ring on a greased baking sheet. Brush the ring with melted margarine and place a raw egg in the center of each twist cover with cloth and let rise again until doubled.  heat the oven to 350° when the second rise is done, bake the ring for 30-35 minutes, here''''''''s a tip if you have an instant read thermometer bread is fully cooked if the internal temperature is between 190-200°. 