Italian Bread Recipe

Nostalgia is a big part of Italian cooking. And remembering my aunt Vera's anise bread always brings me great childhood memories. When she passed away she never left a cooking book so I had to try to replicate her bread. After years of trying, I came up with this recipe that has the perfect softness and crunch to the bread.

Ingredients

For the Bread:

1 Eggnog tbsp.

1/2 Hazelnuts cup

1 Tsp. of ground cinnamon

2 Tbsp. of white sugar

1 Cup of eggnog, plus

1 Egg

3 Tbsp. of butter, softened

1 Egg yolk

3 Bread flour cups

1 1/2 Tsp. of instant yeast

2 Tbsp. of anise seed

1/2 Tsp. of salt

For the glazing:

1 Tbsp. of eggnog

1/2 Cup of confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350 °F. Over a baking sheet, lay hazelnuts evenly. Put into oven and let roast for about 6 minutes. Transfer hazelnuts to a bowl so they cool down.

On a bread machine mix sugar, butter, egg, eggnog, bread flour, anise seed, cinnamon, salt, egg yolk and yeast. Set the machine in basic cycle and medium crust. Start cycle but don't use delay timer.

Between Knead Cycle 1 and 2, put the nuts into the mixture. Then baking cycle ends, take out the bread from the machine and put bread on a rack for cooling.

For the glaze: mix confectioners' sugar and eggnog in a bowl. Blend well until you get a drizzling consistency. Glaze bread with it.

If you would like to get more information on similar recipes, please visit our site at Italian Food Recipes.