Colomba di Pasqua

A home-made Colomba di Pasqua is utterly satisfying! During the Easter period, the ‘Colomba’ quite literally invades Italian shops and bakeries, but our Executive Chef, Michele Pili, is going to teach us how to make one that is just as delicious at home! Are you ready? 

• Preparation time: 20 minutes
• Cooking time: 40 minutes
• Ready in: 1 hour
• For 6 people

INGREDIENTS

• 3 eggs
• 350 gr of plain flour
• 90 gr of sunflower oil or a seed based oil
• 170 gr of milk
• 150 gr of sugar
• The zest of 1 lemon
• The zest of 1 orange
• 1 vial/1 teaspoon of almond flavouring
• 1 sachet of instant yeast
• Whole almonds (for decoration)
• Granulated sugar to taste (for decoration)

1. Start by taking the eggs, separating the whites and yolks into two separate bowls and beating the whites until stiff.
2. Add the sugar to the egg yolks and mix with the mixer, then add the grated peel of one orange and one lemon and the almond flavouring.
3. Continue mixing and add the sunflower oil and milk.
4. Stir again and begin to add the flour a little at a time, mixing carefully.
5. Then it's time for the yeast: use a pizza maker's powder sachet (for example) and mix well again.
6. At this point, we need to decide whether we would like our Easter Colomba dough to be simple and delicate, or whether we want to enrich it with other delicious ingredients such as candied fruit, sultanas or chocolate chips.
7. Once the choice has been made, add our egg whites, previously beaten until stiff, and stir gently from the bottom upwards, folding it all together.
8. The dough for our Colomba is ready: we put it in a mould and decorate the surface. The traditional Colomba requires sugar grains and almonds and in this recipe we have respected tradition.
9. Once the decoration is complete, we can bake at 180°C for 40 minutes.

BUON APPETITO!