Pinsa - Pinza - Sweet Easter bread
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 kg flour
- 200 g sugar
- 8 eggs
- 200 g butter
- 10–15 g yeast
- Grated orange and lemon zest
- Vanilla
- Rum
- Milk
- A pinch of salt
PREPARATION:
In a large pot, dissolve half of the sugar in a glass of lukewarm water together with half of the yeast, a little flour, and two whole eggs.
Mix well and let the dough rise for about one hour.
Add the remaining yeast dissolved in a bit more lukewarm water and some more flour.
Leave it to rise again for about 1 hour.
Prepare the egg yolk cream: beat the yolks with the remaining sugar; in a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
On a pastry board, make a well with the remaining flour; pour in the melted butter, the remaining yeast dissolved in lukewarm milk, the grated lemon and orange zest, vanilla, and the egg yolk mixture.
Knead everything together well.
If the dough is too stiff and hard to work with, add the beaten egg whites.
Shape the dough into small round loaves and let them rise again.
Before baking, brush the pinze with a beaten egg to give them a glossy finish.
Then, cut a cross on the top of each loaf so that it opens up during baking.
Bake for about 1 hour at 180 °C.