This delicious dish is named due to its looks being similar to that of the nest of a bird. The dish is supposed to be one of the favorite recipes prepared and served during Easter. It is decorated using raw eggs with different colors, in such a way that it looks exactly like a nest. Its preparation is easy and can be done only in a few minutes. It becomes extra delicious as it is given a light touch of lemon extracts. Once this is prepared, it can be served hot with the butter spread on top of it. Here is the recipe of this delicious dish for you.
Complexity level: Moderate
Time required: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- Active dry yeast, 2 tbsp
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 2 cups flour
- Shortening, 1 cup
- White sugar, 1 cup
- Salt
- 3 eggs
- 4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- Multicolored candy sprinkles
- 1 beaten egg yolk
Process:
1. Take a mixing bowl half filled with warm water and sprinkle yeast into that. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of sugar and flour into the mixture. Mix well to form a smooth paste. Now leave the mixture for one hour so that the quantity of the mixture is doubled (due to the use of yeast).
2. Now mix shortening with 1 cup of sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix eggs whitening in the mixture and make a thick paste of all the items. Make sure the mixture is smooth and mixed well. Now add this mixture to the one that you prepared in the first step. Add the remaining flour now and mix well to make a thick paste. Add lemon zest and lemon juice to the mixture and form smooth dough. After leaving the dough for a few minutes, put it on a lightly floured surface and knead well until it gets elastic.
3. Now take a large bowl and apply some oil on its inner surface. Now put the prepared dough into the bowl. After this, let it be there for at least one hour. This is for setting the mixture. Prepare for the next step until this mixture doubles in volume.
4. Now shrink the dough and take this out on a lightly floured surface. Make 4 equal partitions of the overall dough while leave the remaining dough for further use. Now take four ropes, each 18 inches long and wrap these ropes with the dough parts.
5. Now apply some grease on two baking sheets. Take the dough and spread on one of the sheets in such a way that it forms a ring with the space for three eggs.
6. Set the oven at 350 degrees F and pre-heat it on the same temperature. Take the yolks of the eggs with 1 tablespoon of cream and mix them properly. Set this aside.
7. Now bake inside the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. You can now brush on the egg yolk mixture and decorate with candy sprinkles. It is advised to bake the same until it turns light brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Do it for 30-40 minutes.
8. Your dish is ready now. You can either serve the dish hot or after it is cooled. The dish can be decorated using various decorative materials available for cakes and cookies.
Tips:
1. While baking the dish, make sure you keep checking the dish after equal intervals of time. Maximum baking time can be fixed to 45 minutes, as after this, it will start losing its taste.
2. If you want the dish to be extra soft and creamy, make sure you follow the instructions of making dough exactly as they are given in the above steps.
3. Pre-heating the oven is very important. Missing this step may spoil the dish. Therefore, this should be properly taken care of.
4. Use gloves during the whole course of making the bread. Touching the raw materials with your hands may be harmful and the prepared bread may not last longer.
5. Do not store the breads for longer period of time; rather repeat the process whenever you wish to have this dish.
