Comments on: To Hell with the Diet. Happy Easter.

By: Lys

Lys — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 02:09:34 +0000

We make it without the eggs on top and it’s casatiello dolce. We just call it “gazadille”. Happy Easter.

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:05:28 +0000

Hi Cathy,

I have learned that the real name for this Easter egg pastry, which comes from Puglia, is scarcella. I never heard that word when I was a kid and everyone I knew just called it Easter bread. Personally I like buba cu l’uova better.

Happy Easter.

Erica

By: Cathy

Cathy — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:49:36 +0000

Buba cu l’Uova ….My mother always called them this, and all my life, people have looked at me like I was crazy…but this is the name. Ours were more like small pastries, a little dryer and firmer than a bread, and sometimes sprinkled with sugar before baking. We have also always made pignolata for Christmas, which some people call struffoli.

By: Erica

Erica — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:48:04 +0000

Hi Andrea,

The truth is I’ve never actually made this bread, we just bought them. I don’t have a recipe at hand, but I think I know where to track down a good one. When I get it together, I’ll send it over to you.

Happy spring cooking.

Best,

Erica

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 27 May 2008 15:24:56 +0000

Hi Erica, turns out I have been looking for that repie forever now, my dad used to bake the easter bread and I haven’t been able to find the recipe, which is driving me crazy I just would love to bake it for my nieces so they can have that easter flavour my sister and me were so fond of.
Do you think you could e mail it to me Thank you so much

By: ann

ann — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:15:04 +0000

Erica,

Thank you for your reply. I baked the bread once again this Easter Holiday. It never fails that a visitor to my home is amazed how special the bread looks and esp. how it taste. One day I will find out the meaning of the eggs–my parish priest who is Italian and his mom makes the bread–did not know. I have my own special story to relate to this bread–how special the Easter holiday was 25 years or so ago, when my mom and I laughed and told stories while spending endless hours in the kitchen preparing for the upcoming holiday. Hopefully, that tradition will be continued when I become a Grandmother.

Best wishes
ann

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:54:33 +0000

Curtissimo,

It is true that the celebration of eggs dates back to pre-Christian rituals, but what Ann wants to know is the meaning for each individual egg baked into this particular Sicilian Easter bread, so if you or any of my readers can track down the answer to that, I’m sure she will be extremely grateful.

Erica

By: Curtissimo

Curtissimo — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:00:10 +0000

Hi Erika,
Not to get all pointy-headed here, BUT easter eggs originated with the Hebrew Passover, which is what early Christians celebrated. (They did not, it seems, celebrate Easter at all). The Passover Seder, includes “Beitzah”, meaning a hard-boiled or roasted egg in Hebrew, symbolizing Springtime, when the Passover story took place.
As for coloring them – conspiracy theorists on the far far floopy-bible toting “christian” right suggest sinister influences from the Egyptians, who colored eggs as sacrificial offerings to their gods at the onset of spring. Hey – maybe so – but remember that Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox – so – hmm – Happy Festival of Ra the Sun God to you!

By: Erica

Erica — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:39:36 +0000

Hello Ann,

I wish I did know the meaning of the eggs in this Easter bread. Aside from the traditional Christian meaning that eggs have as a symbol of new life and the end the of privations of lent, I just haven’t been able to track this down. I hope one of my readers will write in with some history.

Happy Easter to you.

Erica

By: ann

ann — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:36:47 +0000

The Easter Egg Bread Ring has been a tradition in my house since I came across the recipe/picture in Good Housekeeping magazine over 25 years ago. My mom was so surprised to see it, b/c she had forgotten the recipe. It brought back many childhood memories for her. As she and I baked the bread, she told me so many memories she had as a child. We shared an extraordinary holiday that year. Unfortunately, she passed away that July. As the story continues, when my son was to receive his First Communion a few years later, all the parents had to attend religious sessions. We viewed a film on the meaning of traditions, and lo and behold it was the story of an Italian family who bypassed the Easter Egg bread tradition. I had tears streaming from my face. A part of the story told the meanings of each of the eggs, but I never was able to absorb that information while crying that hard. My son, said MOM, that is the bread Grandma taught you about. He just climbed in my lap and cried along with me. Can anyone tell me the meanings of the eggs?