Celebrating Easter wouldn’t be the same without the appearance of freshly baked Easter breads. For many, it’s a non-negotiable part of the holiday festivities.
Though holiday traditions vary regionally, one thing everyone can agree on is serving their own traditional Easter bread for the holiday.
Easter breads are symbols of Easter. They join the other symbols including Easter lilies, Easter eggs, the Easter bunny rabbit, and dogwood trees.
If you’re interested in holiday symbolism, make sure to check out our posts to learn more about the symbols of your favorite holidays: Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day and the Chinese New Year.
What are traditional Easter breads?
Easter breads are a special type of bread served during the Easter holiday season. Easter bread recipes, ingredients and appearance and vary from country to country.
Some Easter breads are braided, and some are in a boule (ball) shape. Some are topped with slivered almonds, while other are drizzled with an icing glaze.
Certain varieties of Easter breads have dyed Easter eggs baked into the dough, and others omit this detail.
All Easter breads have spices baked into the dough, though the particular spices vary regionally. Many have dried fruits like raisins (or even rum-soaked raisins) baked into them.
What is the meaning of Easter bread?
While the various Easter breads have their differences, they are all used to celebrate the Easter holiday and symbolize the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Easter breads like hot cross buns (England) and Osterbrot (Germany) have cross symbols either etched into or piped onto the bread. This cross represents Jesus’s crucifixion.
Pane di Pasqua, which comes from Italy, is formed in a circular shape with a hole in the middle. This gives the bread the appearance of a crown which represents Jesus’s crown of thorns.
Several Easter breads like Choereg (Armenia), Tsoureki (Greece) and Kozunak (Bulgaria) are made from a three stranded braid. This braid represents the holy trinity.
Other Easter breads like Pane di Pasqua (Italy) and Tsoureki (Greece) have dyed eggs baked into the dough. These eggs symbolize the fertility and rebirth of spring, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The meaning of Easter bread is directly related to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, which is why these breads are served during the holiday season.
When should you eat Easter bread?
If you’re wondering when to eat these Easter breads, you can look to their etymology for a clue. Germany’s Osterbrot literally translates from German to mean Easter (Oster) bread (brot).
Similar to how king cake is only meant to be eaten during Mardi Gras, many of these Easter breads are meant to only be consumed during the holiday season.
When to eat these Easter breads varies by country. These Easter breads are usually enjoyed on Christian feast days like Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Some Easter breads like Cozonac (Romania), Kozunak (Bulgaria) and Choereg (Armenia) are also eaten during Christmas celebrations.
What are the different breads for Easter?
There are many traditional Easter breads from around the world. We’ve listed a few below.
If we missed the Easter bread you enjoy during the holiday season please leave us a comment. We would love to add it to the list!
- England – hot cross buns
- Italy – Pane di Pasqua
- Greece – Tsoureki
- Romania – Cozonac
- Bulgaria – Kozunak
- Armenia – Choereg
- Ukraine – Paska
- Poland – Babka
- Russia – Kulich
- Germany – Osterbrot
- Portugal – Folar da Pascoa
- Czechia – Mazanec
Pretzels are another Easter bread with religious symbolism. Three holes between the pretzel dough represents the Holy Trinity. You can learn more about the religious history of pretzels here.
Easter bread recipes
If you’d like to make one of these traditional Easter bread recipes yourself, check out the links below.
Expand your Easter celebrations this year to include one of these traditional Easter bread recipes from around the world! Try making this spin on a classic hot cross bun recipe. The rum soaked raisins and orange glaze make it a crowd pleaser! This Italian Easter bread is flavored with orange and anise. Pane di Pasqua has dyed Easter eggs baked right into the dough! Tsoureki is full of Easter symbolism! This Greek Easter bread is made from a three strand braid which represents the Holy Trinity, and has red eggs baked into the dough, representing the blood of Christ. This Romanian Easter bread has a delicious walnut filling. The Cozonac dough is rolled and twisted giving a swirled appearance to the slices. This Bulgarian Easter bread is a close cousin of Romanian Cozonac. It is often topped with sparkling sugar or slivered almonds. This Armenian Easter bread is similar to Greek Tsoureki. Both breads use Mahleb, a spice made from the seeds of the St. Lucie cherry. This Ukranian Easter bread is sweet and slightly eggy. Paska is flecked with raisins. Babka literally translates from Polish to mean grandmother. Try this version of Polish Easter bread with a lemon glaze. The texture of this Russian Easter bread is like a cross between brioche and panettone. Traditionally Kulich has a sugar glaze and raisins inside, but this recipe exchanges those ingredients for chocolate chips and white chocolate! This German Easter bread is often made in a boule shape, and scored with a cross. It is glazed and topped with slivered almonds.Traditional Easter Breads Around the World - 10+ Easter Bread Recipes
National bread days
If you love sweet and savory breads as much as we do, you’ll be excited to know there are several national days of the year dedicated to bread of all kinds!
National days of the year are a fun way to celebrate odd and unusual foods, animals and items that you come into contact with. Be sure to check out my national day’s guide for more fun days to celebrate.
Here are all of the national bread days throughout the year in chronological order:
- January 6 is National Shortbread Day
- February 23 is National Banana Bread Day
- March 31 is National French Bread Day
- April 1 is National Baked Sourdough Bread Day
- April 10 is National Cinnamon Crescent Day
- June 5 is National Gingerbread Day
- September 11 is National Hot Cross Bun Day
- September 16 is National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day
- October 4 is National Cinnamon Roll Day
- October’s last Friday marks National Breadstick Day
- October 30 is Pumpkin Bread Day
- November 11 is National Homemade Bread Day
- December 22 is National Date Nut Bread Day (also on September 8)
In 1987, Ronald Reagan proclaimed that November become National Family Bread Baking Month. Try celebrating these national bread days by making some bread recipes of your own!
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Head to Always the Holidays to learn about traditional Easter breads from around the world, and get 10+ Easter bread recipes! 🍞 🐣 🥖 #EasterBread #EasterRecipes Share on XLooking for more Easter content?
If you enjoyed learning about Easter breads, and getting these Easter bread recipes, be sure to check out some of our other Easter themed posts!
- Easter nest cupcakes (pictured above) – These cupcakes are almost too cute to eat!
- Easter Midnight Kiss Cocktail – Try being a bartender for the night. This vodka based cocktail garnished with candy is sure to delight.
- Peeps centerpiece – Want to show off your sweet tooth? Look no further than this Peeps themed table decor.
- Easter farmhouse decor – Want to decorate this year for Easter? Check out our tips for decorating with farmhouse Easter decor.
- Bird’s nest cookies – Try this no-bake Easter cookie that looks like a bird’s nest!
- Easter printable – Head to this page to get our free Easter printable to add to your decor this year.
- Easter bunny gift bag – Check out this tutorial to make easy Easter gift bags, and don’t forget to add one of our Easter gift tag labels!
- Easter word puzzles – Get a free Easter word search and word scramble puzzle which feature not only one of the traditional Easter breads (hot cross buns) in them, but also the other symbols of Easter too.
Pin this post on traditional Easter bread recipes for later
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About the author
Since graduating from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Jess has been living and working in Los Angeles, CA. She is a freelance writer, specializing in content related to fashion, food and drink and film industry topics. Find out more about Jess here.
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