Easter Bread

This past week at the Bakery we turned out this year's Easter Bread, which meant longer days for me culminating in a 10 hour shift on Friday followed by a mental health breakdown on Saturday. But the Easter Bread turned out Lovely, and Delia dyed 50 or so eggs so we could braid them into the loaves, most of which were sold before we even baked them. I wanted to take some to the Family for Easter Dinner, but couldn't bring myself to take any away from the customers, so I decided to bake some at home.
You can find the original recipe here. If you decide to try it, I suggest you halve this recipe unless you have an industrial mixer at your disposal. I planned to knead it by hand but gave up fairly quickly and took it down to the bakery at 10 AM on Sunday morning to knead it in the Hobart there. The finished product completely filled my 98 ounce Fiesta Mixing Bowl, and by the time we hit the highway it was straining against the plastic wrap cover in what Delia considered to be a threatening manner. Jesus wasn't the only thing rising on Easter Sunday.
I braided and baked the bread in my Grandmother's kitchen, and it was so much fun. I ended up with 9 full sized loaves and 3 smaller ones, which was plenty to share! We ate the first one hot out of the oven, and 2 stayed at Grandma's house, 2 went home with Trisha and John (I hope one made it to John's Mom & Dad), 2 went to Carson and 2 went to 14th Street. Keith's Grandma Virginia was resting the whole time we were there, and I sincerely hope she got at least one slice.
Holidays can be a real whirlwhind tour, especially with three houses to visit in one day, but we saw everybody's parents, Grandma Freda, and Trisha & John & Zoey, and Donna & Bill, and Stephanie too. We missed Emma & Sean and David and Christian, can't be Everywhere at the same time, but I hope to see them all sometime this summer. We didn't bring a camera, so no photos, but maybe Seester will post some on her blog.

Then I got up and went to work on Monday, my day off, so I could work with our new apprentice baker and train her a little in my side of bakery things. I feel like I haven't had a day off in a long time... But I'm not complaining, really... Once we get Misty trained, I'll be able to take a day off and not have to worry about it! Before she joined our team, she was a coffee roaster, and she talks about coffee like vino aficionados talk about wine - with passion. She's a great addition to our Bakery Family.

We'll be baking the Easter Bread again this weekend, because a customer asked us why we weren't having Greek Easter Bread for Greek Orthodox Easter? I wasn't aware that they celebrated on a different day, but, well, Now We Know, and if you missed out on the yummy bread last weekend you get a second chance this Saturday and Sunday. Which is nice for everyone, but it probably means another 10 hour Friday for me. :(

Oh, and there was CANDY! EVERYWHERE! We ate candy for breakfast. I'd like to tell a funny story abut Delia, the Giant Peanut Butter Egg, and the Thief in the Night, but my daughter has specifically requested that I quit talking about her on the internet. I wonder how the other MommyBloggers will deal with it when their kids start screaming "You are EMBARRASSING ME!" every time they try to tell a story? I tried to take pictures of her and Milo playing together this afternoon, I thought I was being all sneaky, framing up a candid shot. As soon as the flash went off she jumped up with her hand out in front of her face like I was some kind of paparazzi and said "Delete that! Do NOT put me on the internet!" So I took a picture of Milo instead (after getting his consent, of course. And then I got his mother's consent too, just for good measure). But now my iPhoto application won't open for some reason and I am too damn tired to try to fix it, so maybe I'll try to post it later. pooh