Italian Anise Easter Bread

Total Time: 9 hrs Preparation Time: 8 hrs Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup crisco
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup warm water
• 3 (1/4 ounce) envelopes yeast (not rapid rise)
• 16 -20 cups flour (almost 5 lbs.)
• 3 tablespoons anise seeds

Recipe

• 1 in mixer bowl beat eggs. add sugar, butter, crisco, oil, milk, and vanilla.
• 2 dissolve yeast in the warm water. you may want to use a thermometer to be sure the temperature is correct. let yeast sit until it foams, as in package directions. add to egg mixture. add anise.
• 3 add flour one cup at a time until mixture is unmanageable. transfer into large pan (dishpan works well.) and work in remaining flour, kneading with hands.
• 4 knead until you are too tired to knead any more (half hour?) and then oil top of dough ball, cover, and let rise in warm place 6 hours or overnight.
• 5 grease 6 loaf pans. separate dough into 6 parts and knead each again. cover with towels and let rise in warm place another couple of hours.
• 6 bake 1 hour at 275 degrees. do not underbake or they will be hard as a rock. (top should be lightly browned.).