Peach, Cardamom and White Chocolate Easter Bread

 

 

I came across this recipe about ten years ago, tucked into the pages of a spring magazine I picked up on a whim. It was one of those quiet finds, nothing dramatic, just a page folded over with the intention of “I’ll try this someday.”

Well, that “someday” turned into every Easter since.

There is something grounding about making the same thing year after year. The smell alone does half the work, warm spice, soft sweetness, a hint of citrus from the fruit, it settles into the house and signals that Easter has properly begun. Traditions like this don’t need to be elaborate to matter. In fact, I think the simpler they are, the more likely they are to last.

Over time, I made one small change. Mango isn’t always easy to get just right, so I swapped it for canned peaches. They bring the same soft sweetness, but with less guesswork. Just make sure to pat them dry properly, otherwise they’ll add too much moisture to the dough.

This is now firmly “our” Easter bread.

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 450g strong white bread flour, plus extra for kneading
  • 7g sachet fast-action yeast
  • 50g golden caster sugar
  • Seeds from 10 green cardamom pods, ground (about ½ tsp)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 250ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the filling and topping

  • 150g white chocolate, chopped
  • 225g canned peaches, drained and patted dry with paper towel, then cut into small cubes
  • Seeds from 10 green cardamom pods, ground (about ½ tsp)
  • 2 tbsp golden caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp apricot jam
  • 1 tbsp shelled pistachios, sliced

Method

  1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast, sugar, cardamom and salt.
    Melt the butter gently, then add the milk and let it cool to room temperature. Stir in the egg and vanilla.
  2. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and bring together into a soft, slightly sticky dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
  3. Knead on a floured surface for 5–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and leave to rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size.
  4. While the dough rises, prepare the filling. Chop the white chocolate and peaches. Mix the cardamom with the sugar.
  5. Roll the dough into a large rectangle (about 30 x 60 cm). Scatter over the peaches and chocolate, then sprinkle the cardamom sugar evenly on top.
  6. Roll it up tightly into a long sausage. Slice it lengthways, keeping one end intact, then twist the two halves together to form a braid. Shape into a ring and place on a lined baking tray.
  7. Cover loosely and leave to prove in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
  8. Preheat the oven to 200°C (gas mark 6). Bake for 25–30 minutes until golden and cooked through.
  9. Warm the apricot jam with a splash of water and brush over the warm bread to glaze. Finish with a scattering of pistachios.

A small note

If you’re making this for the first time, don’t overthink it. It’s a forgiving dough, and part of the charm is that it never comes out exactly the same twice.

But if you make it again next year, and the year after that, you’ll start to notice something. It becomes less about the recipe, and more about the rhythm of it.

And that’s when it turns into a tradition.

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