Easter in South Tyrol is so tasty.

Hen, rabbit, or braid? 11. March 2024 3 min. by Südtirol Hosts

Sweet bread, colourful eggs, and savoury Easter ham ... we find the Easter season irresistibly delicious!

Sweet and fluffy: South Tyrolean Easter braided bread

Some love it pure, other with jam or chocolate spread, other prefer it with traditional horseradish and Easter ham. We’re talking about the braided bread, that we bake, eat, and adore in South Tyrol.

Easter question: hen or rabbit?

Did you know that South Tyrolean sweet bread is made in the shape of a hen or a rabbit during Easter time? Can you guess why? Traditionally, the children get this braided bread from their godparents. Girls get hens and boys rabbits. Both are famous Easter symbols. In the south of South Tyrol, the flavour is taken to the next level: The sweet bread is eaten with spicy horseradish and savoury Easter ham, whereas in other parts of South Tyrol it’s eaten with jam, chocolate spread, or pure.

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Fancy a piece of this bread now?

Here are the ingredients to bake it from your own home:
• 500g wheat flour
• 70g sugar
• 25g yeast or 1 yeast cube
• 70g butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 250ml warm milk
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp rum
• Lemon zest

Preparation:
Step 1
Prepare the dough. To do this, sieve the flour into a bowl and shape it like a volcano. Add the yeast, some sugar, and a little bit of the warm milk. Stir everything together, add the flour, cover the dough, and leave it to rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes.

Step 2
Add the eggs, the remaining sugar, the rest of the warm milk, vanilla sugar, rum, and lemon zest, and then knead everything together. Melt the butter and add it to the dough. Mix everything together into a smooth dough until bubbles form. Cover it and leave it to rise in a warm place for another 30 minutes until it has doubled in size.

Step 3
Here comes the exciting part: Mould the dough into the shape of your choice. Try a simple braid or shape a hen or a rabbit.

PS: What’s inside is what matters. That’s why you can add some poppy seeds, mixed nuts, or chocolate to make it more fun.

Let the (Easter) games begin!

Another South Tyrolean tradition is the so-called Eierpecken, also know as Eierguffen in Val Pusteria/Pustertal. Two players take a colourful, boiled (!) egg each. They hit the tips of the egg against each other, or bottom against bottom. The winner is the player whose egg remains whole.