Jamaican Spiced Easter Bread Recipe

With Easter just around the corner, there’s no better time to put your culinary skills to the test and impress friends and family with this traditional Jamaican Spiced Easter Bread recipe.

This Jamaican Spiced Easter bread recipe is brought you from Couples Resorts' Executive Chef, Stefan Spath. This sweeter take on the festive hot cross bun is sure to add some Caribbean flair to your Easter celebrations.

Stefan Spath is the Executive Chef at Couples Resorts. He's resided in Jamaica since 1999 and fully embraced the island life, with his love for fresh and local Caribbean ingredients clearly demonstrated in the food he creates.

Now, let's begin making Stefan's special Easter bread recipe…

Ingredients:

120ml milk

1 teaspoon of dry yeast

9 oz/350g flour

5 oz/140g unsalted butter

1 ½ oz/40g sugar

Pinch of salt

1 egg

A few drops of vanilla

Rind of 1 lemon or lime

1 teaspoon of finely grated fresh ginger

4 ¹⁄₂ oz/125g raisins

2 oz/50g mixed peel (finely chopped)

³⁄₄ oz/20g sliced almonds (roasted)

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves

For glaze and topping:

¹⁄₂ cup apricot jam

¹⁄₂ cup sifted icing sugar

Drop of almond essence

Dash of water

¹⁄₄ cup sliced roasted almonds

Method

Heat milk until lukewarm, add yeast and combine well, add flour and mix

Put flour into a large mixing bowl, add yeast / milk mix in the centre

Cover with a little flour and allow to rest (and rise) for about 30 minutes

Cream the butter until light and fluffy

Add all the other above ingredients (including the butter) to the flour / yeast mix and mix well (using a dough hook) – for at least 5 minutes

Add raisins, mixed peel, almonds and thyme to the dough

Mix in quickly until well combined, cover bowl with plastic and allow dough to proof (and rise) for about 1 hour

Take dough out of bowl and shape into a round loaf, place on a grease paper lined baking sheet. Allow to rise again (approximately 45 minutes in a warm place)

Brush with Egg wash (1 whole egg slightly whisked) and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F or 175°C for about 50 minutes

Check with a wooden skewer to ensure the bread is baked properly

While the bread is in the oven, work on your glaze

Bring apricot jam to a boil and brush loaf generously with the jam – do this immediately as you are removing it from the oven

Mix icing sugar with a drop of almond essence (very little) and some water until you get a glaze-like texture

Brush onto warm loaf and immediately cover with sliced roasted almonds

We hope you love this Jamaican spiced Easter bread recipe as much as all of us here at Couples Resorts!

What is your favourite Easter recipe? Tweet us @CouplesUK and let us know!