Dairy-Free Easter Egg Bread

This Dairy-Free Easter Egg Bread is our family’s traditional recipe and my favorite Easter dish. Try this easy and quick recipe!

My favorite Easter dish is this soft and sweet brioche dough that can be shaped into buns or formed into wreaths, or braided! 

This is a traditional Italian recipe that my family has been making for years! It is very simple to make, but it does take a little time for the dough to rise. Still, you can mix the ingredients in the morning, and have the buns freshly baked by lunch for a tasty afternoon snack with your coffee.

But don’t limit yourself on making it just for Easter, this sweet brioche is delicious to have any time of the year!

This recipe is not vegan, as it uses eggs, but it is dairy-free! We always use free-range organic eggs from the local farm, so it is as cruelty-free as possible.

Dairy-Free Easter Egg Bread Ingredients

To make this recipe you will need:

• vegan butter
• soy milk, other kinds of milk will also work, but we have the best results with soy milk when baking
• egg yolks + 1 egg for the egg wash
• sugar, regular granulated sugar works best
• vanilla sugar, this is just sugar mixed with vanilla, you can also swap for 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
• dark rum, optional for flavor (it is traditional in this recipe)
• lemon zest for a fresh flavor and zing
• yeast, we use dry yeast as it is convenient to keep, but fresh yeast works just as well. Choose the one you like best.
• flour, all-purpose flour is fine in this recipe
• a pinch of salt to enhance the flavors

If you do not follow a dairy-free diet, you can use regular butter and regular milk instead.

How to make Dairy-Free Easter Egg Bread

Before you start, 2 main pointers:

• make sure your ingredients are room-temperature (eggs especially), and your soy milk is lukewarm. Remove them from the fridge 2 hours before starting.
• Your room must be warm with no drafts or the dough will not rise well. If your dough is not rising, place it in the oven under the light and set the temperature to 30°C / 86°F.

Start by activating your yeast: mix half of the soy milk with 1 teaspoon of flour, a pinch of sugar, and the dry yeast. Stir until fully combined, cover with a napkin, and set aside to proof for about 10 minutes until the yeast is bubbly and has doubled in volume. It should look like this (before and after):

Whisk egg yolks and sugar until the mixture looks pale in color, thick, and foamy. Add rum, vanilla sugar, lemon peel, and melted butter. Whisk again until combined.

Add flour to a bowl and make a well in the middle. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on the edge of the bowl. Make sure the salt and yeast do not come into direct contact. Pour your yeast into the middle of the well, and stir it in the flour gently.

Then, add the egg mixture and the remaining soy milk and stir into the flour. It will start off being lumpy, but just continue mixing until the dough starts to stick together. Then, transfer the dough to a working surface dusted with a little bit of flour.

Continue by hand-kneading the mixture into a dough. The dough should be smooth, elastic, and just slightly sticky. But if the dough sticks to your hands, add a little flour, until it’s pliable.
Shape the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl, cover it with a kitchen towel or foil, and set it aside to proof for about 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size.

See notes for troubleshooting if your dough is not rising.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F.

Once your dough has risen, take it out, and divide it into 6 pieces. Shape into balls and place on your baking tray, pre-lined with parchment paper. Leave to proof for another 20 minutes.

Beat an egg into a bowl to make an egg wash. Spread it gently all over the dough balls (with a brush, or your hands) and cut a Y shape on top of the dough balls with a sharp knife.

Optionally, you can now sprinkle the tops with some almonds flakes.

Place in oven and bake for about 23-25 minutes until golden brown in color.

Remove from the oven and let the loaves of bread cool on a cooling rack.

Serving suggestions

This egg bread is best served within a day or two as it is made.

You can enjoy it as is, or spread a little (vegan) butter on top. Some marmalade goes splendidly, too! 

But what I like to do best is just tear it and dunk it in my morning coffee.

Storage tips

Store it in an air-tight container or zip-lock bags for 2-3 days.

This egg bread keeps for a few days rather well, but it does tend to dry up. When it dries up you can dunk it in a latte for breakfast!

Even better, freeze it as soon as it cools down and it will keep frozen for up to 6 months. Then just remove a bun, thaw it out for a couple of hours on the counter (or overnight) and it will be as good as freshly made!

I like to place it in my air-fryer on low for a couple of minutes just to warm it up a little.

More similar recipes:

• Easy Vegan Chocolate Babka
• Vegan Hot Cross Chocolate Buns
• Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls
• Vegan Baked Berliner Donuts