Primorski Uskrsne Bebe/ Croatian Easter bread dolls is traditional slightly sweet yeast dough braided around a colored hard-boiled egg, giving the appearance of a swaddled baby
What is Primorski Uskrsne Bebe: Croatian Easter Bread Dolls
Croatian Easter bread dolls or primorski uskrsne bebe (literally "Easter babies from Primorje") are traditionally made in Primorje and Istria on the Adriatic Coast from pinca.
Croatians makes round sweet Easter bread called pinca to put it into Easter basket and take it to church for the Holy Saturday for blessing. With the same dough they makePrimorski Uskrsne Bebe/ Croatian Easter Bread Dolls for kids. I It basically looks like a swaddled baby. Dyed eggs are the head of baby peeking through the swaddle.
They are prepared with a slightly sweet yeast dough braided around a colored hard-cooked egg, giving the appearance of a swaddled baby. Traditionally eggs are dyed red, however nowadays there are other colors are used to make the Croatian Easter Bread Dolls.
Best part of making Primorski Uskrsne Bebe/ Croatian Easter Bread Dolls
Kids can take part in the various stages of making this Primorski Uskrsne Bebe/ Croatian Easter Bread Dolls. From dying the eggs to making the dough, placing the eggs and finishing the bread with drawing faces on the eggs. I used food color for dying the eggs in this recipe. If you want, you can naturally dye the eggs recipe is here. This recipe is inspired from here, I reduced the amount of recipe and adjusted according to our taste buds. I have added orange zests and vanilla extract also and made 3 bread dolls.
How I made Primorski Uskrsne Bebe/ Croatian Easter Bread dolls
In order to make a delicious sweet yeast bread you need to remember these points.
• Always use All-purpose flour rather than bread flour as later makes chewy bread.
• Use whole milk rather than 2% or fat free milk as it makes softer dough
• Use soften butter vs melted butter. You need to combine soften butter into the dough to make brioche kind of dough
• Use orange zest, if you have lemon zest you can use that too in combo with orange zest
• You can add vanilla extract or orange blossom extract. I added Vanilla extract
• If you are using yeast, use SAF gold yeast as they tend to work better in the presence of sugar. If you don’t have SAF Gold Yeast in hand, try to use slightly more instant yeast to make it work.
• Bread dough should be sticky, don’t be tempted to add any extra flour.
• You can use flour while braiding to prevent from sticking to the counter
• In order to get final glossiness, you need to use egg wash with egg and water.
• It will easy if you dyed the egg one day earlier and make the bread next day.
Next, I am going to try this bread with my sourdough starter. Let you know how it turned out for you next post. If you tried this recipe, please tag me in Instagram or upload a picture in Pinterest I will update this blog post with your picture and credits will be given to you.
Primorski Uskrsne Bebe/Croatian Easter Bread Dolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup/240 ml whole milk
- ½ pack / 1 ⅛ tsp/ 3.5 g Yeast SAF Gold
- 1 large beaten egg
- ¼ cup / 55g sugar
- ¼ cup /55g butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 ⅛ cup/385g All-purpose flour
- Zest of one orange
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 3 hardboiled eggs dyed
- 1 more egg for the egg wash
Instructions
- Hard boil the eggs, and then dye to dye eggs:
- Mix 1 teaspoon of vinegar and 20 drops of food coloring in 1 cup of hot water in a bowl or jar. Submerge the egg completely. And keep aside few hours or overnight in refrigerator.
- For making the Dough.
- Heat milk in microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds. Then add the yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar to proof a little. This step will help you to check that your yeast is not working.
- In kitchen aid bowl, combine eggs, sugar, butter and salt, mixing well. Add the yeast-milk mixture and half the flour and beat well. Add remaining flour gradually, until a smooth, soft dough is formed.
- Place dough in a greased bowl. Allow to rise, covered, until doubled in size. Punch down, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.
- Divide dough into 3 equal pieces of 252 g each (then each into 3 pieces ( 83.55g of each ) again). Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 375 F/ 190 C. Using 3 pieces per doll, roll into 3 (12-inch) ropes. Make a T shape using 2 ropes for the top of the T and 1 for the downstroke. Put a cooked colored egg on the join of the ropes, with the central rope behind the egg. Then start plaiting, initially wrapping around the egg, creating a hood for the doll’s face.
- Pull the left strip over and down under the right side of the egg, and the right strip over and down under the left side of the egg. It doesn’t really matter how you do it, if the “face” of the egg peeps through. Plait the remainder of the rope below the egg and pinch the ends together.
- Place doll on a lined baking tray and repeat the process with remainder of the dough balls. Cover with cling film and allow to rise about 15 minutes or until it proofed little. Egg-wash the dolls with 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Use a marker pen to paint faces on the dolls when cooled.
- Enjoy.
Video
Nutrition
For more Easter bread recipes please check here.
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This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Bozcro says
All good, but the braiding is wrong, I'm from Istra and in the family for over 100 years, should look like a tear drop, naturally dyed, two braiding not three.
Swathi says
It is two braid, yes doesn't have naturally dyed eggs.
Amy Liu Dong says
This braided bread is so cute and looks so easy to make.
Jasmina says
Greetings beautiful Swathi and friends
Did you try the Croatian easter bread dolls with sour dough? I am wanting to also try this!!! I am very new to bread making, but I have been making friends with my sour dough culture for a couple months now and I love her so much 🙂
I have named her Dusica, Croatian for little soul.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and beauty,
Jasmina
Swathi says
I haven't you can convert this recipe just use 100g starter instead of yeast and give extra time for bulk and proof.
Jasmine Majcenic says
Thank you so much Swathi happy spring🌸🌸🌸
rika says
I really admire your baking skill 🙂 You always make awesome bread recipes! The braiding bread is so beautiful!
Lizzie Lau says
Your Croatian Easter bread dolls are so cute. We've been doing a lot of bread baking, but we haven't tried any braided loaves yet.
Bohemian Babushka says
Those are BIG!! In BB's eyes they look like Babushka's, so of course they're beautiful. ; ) Wonderful to know you're keeping up with tradition.
Cheese Curd In Paradise says
I love those cute little faces on the eggs! What a great idea! I know that my kiddos would love these!
Kita Bryant says
These would be so fun to make! I love braiding bread too.
Catalina says
Oh my goodness! How cute are these Easter breads! It's great to discover other nations' Easter traditions!
Fiona says
These are so fun and super cute for the kids to make
Kathy says
This looks really good. I love having just about any kind of bread. My kids are going to love this I'm sure too.
Jenn @ EngineerMommy says
These Easter bread dolls are absolutely amazing. I wish I saw this before Easter. I would have made this for Easter Sunday.
Rena says
These look like so much fun and delicious! My grandkids are going to go crazy for these.
Lynndee says
I have never seen those Easter bread dolls before. They sure are adorable. Bet they're delicious too.
Jen says
I have never seen anything like this. How adorable!
Chef Dennis says
Wow! This Primorski Uskrsne Bebe looks like soooo fun to make. Easter surely had ended but that won't stop me from making this at home.
Pinay Mommy says
This is interesting! We can also make other food ideas aside from that.
Pavani says
Such a cute looking bread. This is a totally new type of bread for me, so thank you for introducing this amazing bread to us.
Beth says
These are really cute! The bread looks delicious too.
Marysa says
What an interesting recipe. I wasn't familiar with this particular tradition, although I have seen whole eggs baked in bread before.
Heather says
These are so stinking cute! We italians make a similar braided bread. I like the characters yours take on.
Tasheena says
This looks like so much fun to make. Looking forward to making this for my kiddos.
cait says
ive never heard of these but these look delicious and super easy to make
melissa chapman says
Such a cute craft/bread. I know all of us who are stuck in for the holiday will love to make this adorable bread.
Amber Myers says
Oh my gosh, these are too cute! I might have to make them with my kids. Easter might be over, but they're fun!