Halloween bread is soft, buttery, and decorated with orange and black swirls to match the spooky season. The dough is easy to work with and after baking, it makes spook-tacular finger sandwiches or you can use it other recipes to create a fun and festive look.
This bread is perfect for Halloween parties, especially when served with coffee or tea or used to make festive sandwiches. It looks so gorgeous and unusual!
Halloween bread is one of those perfect kids' Halloween recipes that is fun to make and eat too. This sweet bread is perfect for Halloween or any holiday season. Just adjust your colors accordingly.
Serve it up for breakfast by turning it into French toast sticks! You can even add some Halloween pancakes to make it extra special.
Why You Will Love this Recipe
- It's a soft, tender bread.
- It's perfect for sandwiches, toast, or just with a little butter.
- The orange and black swirl is perfect for the Halloween season.
Ingredients for Halloween Bread
This is a simple recipe that uses basic baking ingredients. You'll find them all easily in your pantry or at your grocery store.
- All purpose flour: No need for anything special to make this fun Halloween bread!
- Granulated sugar: Adds a bit of sweetness but is also food for the yeast so it can do its thing!
- Butter and olive oil: The butter adds flavor and fat to the bread while a touch of olive oil on the dough while it rises keeps it from drying out.
- Active Dry Yeast: For leavening
- Activated Charcoal: For the black swirl.
- Orange Food Coloring: For the orange swirl.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full list of ingredients along with amounts.
How to Make Halloween Colored Bread
This is a very basic bread dough, so it's incredibly easy to make. We're hitting the broad strokes of how to make it here, but you'll find the complete directions in the recipe card at the end of the post.
NOTE: The ingredients are split in half to make one part of orange dough and then the black dough. Amounts of each ingredient for the separate batches is provided in the recipe card!
- Combine the water, sugar, and dry yeast to a stand mixer and let it proof.
- Add the remaining wet ingredients and orange food coloring.
TOP TIP: Be absolutely sure that your yeast is fresh and live, or your bread won't rise.
- Mix in the flour until a tacky dough forms.
- Do the same thing again, adding the activated charcoal instead of orange food coloring to make the black dough.
- Let each batch of dough proof, covered, until it's doubled in size.
- Roll out each ball of dough into a thin, rectangular sheet.
- Place the orange dough on top of the black dough and roll them up into a tube.
- Place the dough in a greased bread pan and let rise again.
- Brush the top of the unbaked loaf with melted butter and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
- When ready remove from the oven and brush the baked bread with the rest of the melted butter.
- Once the bread is cool enough to touch, remove from the loaf pan and let cool completely before slicing.
Substitutions and Variations
- Omit the food coloring: For homemade sandwich bread that's good any time of year.
- Change the colors: To fit any season or special occasion. Red and green for Christmas, orange and yellow or red for Thanksgiving, blue or pink for baby showers!
If you think this Halloween bread looks good, then you'll love these fall bread recipes.
Storage
- On the counter: This bread will last for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container.
- In the refrigerator: I don't recommend storing bread in the fridge as it dries it out.
- In the freezer: Wrap the bread tightly in a double layer of clingwrap and then foil and freeze for up to 2 months.
What to Serve with Halloween Bread
This Halloween bread is perfect for Halloween sandwiches. It's also great with butter or as toast. In addition, this bread is delicious with things like:
- Tomato soup
- Fried or scrambled eggs
- Avocado
- Pulled pork
For a Halloween party, serve it up as finger sandwiches filled with egg salad or other fillings. Don't forget other spooky treats such as bat cookies or witch hat cookies!
Other ways to use: Send your kids to school with a Halloween themed sandwich, or surprise your friends and family with a spooky gift of delicious bread!
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Tips
- Be sure your yeast is fresh. Stale yeast is dead yeast, and dead yeast won't help bread rise.
- Proof your Halloween bread in a warm place. This allows the yeast to live longer and helps the bread rise more.
- Spoon flour into your measuring cup. This prevents packing for a more accurate measurement.
- Remember you will be splitting the dough ingredients in half to make two different colored balls of dough.
FAQ
Rapid-rise yeast is often used by professionals in commercial settings because it works faster than active yeast and can be added directly to dry ingredients. It will make your dough rise faster since it's more concentrated. For this recipe, you will be using active yeast.
Any food coloring will work as long as it is orange! I used liquid Wilton gel food coloring. The black color in this bread is created by the activated charcoal - and won't color anything else. I like to use the gel food coloring because it makes the orange in this holiday bread really stand out.
Use a serrated knife to slice your holiday colored bread. It slices the bread easily, without crushing it. Cut thin slices to make sandwiches or toast, and thicker slices for French toast.
Halloween Bread Video
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Halloween Bread Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with dough hook
Ingredients
- 4-5 cups all purpose flour divided
- 2 cups warm water divided
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast divided
- ⅛ cup granulated sugar divided
- 5 tablespoons melted butter divided
- ½ tablespoon salt divided
- 2 Tablespoons food grade activated charcoal powder
- Orange food coloring
- Olive oil
Instructions
Make the Orange Dough
- Pour 1 cup of warm water into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 2 Tablespoons of sugar and 1 ⅛ teaspoons of active dry yeast to the warm water. Let this mixture sit for a few minutes until the yeast looks a bit frothy.
- Add in several drops of the orange food coloring, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 1 ½ tablespoons of melted butter.
- Turn the mixer on low with a dough hook, and slowly add in 1.5 to 2 cups of flour, let all of the flour combine with the yeast mixture. Add in additional orange food coloring if needed at this time. You will want the dough to come together into a ball, it should be a little tacky. Add additional flour if needed. Continue to knead the dough for about 6 minutes.
- Prepare a large bowl by lightly greasing it, when the dough has finished kneading, place the dough in the greased bowl, rub a little bit of oil on the top of the dough then cover the bowl with a tea towel and set aside to rise for about 1 hour.
Make the Black Dough
- Repeat steps 2-5 using the same measurements but instead of adding orange food coloring, use the 2 Tablespoons of food grade activated charcoal.
- Be sure to allow your doughs to rise in separate bowls for one hour. After an hour both doughs should have doubled in size
Shape the Loaf
- Lightly grease a counter space and dump the black dough out onto the greased counter.
- Gently use the tips of your fingers to press the dough out into a 9”x15” shape. Repeat this with the orange dough.
- Lift the orange dough up and carefully place it on top of the black dough.
- Starting on one of the short ends, roll the dough tightly into a log. Pinch the seams together along all the edges.
- Oil a 9” bread loaf pan and place your dough log seam side down into the pan.
- Cover the dough with a tea towel and let rise for 25-30 more minutes. While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 400.
Bake the Halloween Loaf
- Once the dough is finished rising, melt 1 Tablespoon of butter and brush the top of the loaf with it.
- Bake in the preheated oven for approx. 30 minutes.
- Remove bread from the oven and brush the top with 1 Tablespoon of the melted butter.
- Allow your bread to cool and then remove from the loaf pan. Once it's fully cooled you can slice it up and serve.
Notes
- Be sure your yeast is fresh. Stale yeast is dead yeast, and dead yeast won't help bread rise.
- Proof your bread in a warm place. This allows the yeast to live longer and helps the bread rise more.
- Spoon flour into your measuring cup. This prevents packing for a more accurate measurement.
- Remember you will be splitting the dough ingredients in half to make two different colored balls of dough.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in August 2021. It has been updated with images and content.
Billie
Exceptional recipe. Good for so many holidays. So many colors so little time. Lol Thank you for a recipe I’ll make over and over again. Love your site ❤️
Karin and Ken
I think so too! We’ve made this bread in so many colors too. Hilarious! Thank you for your kind words! You’ve made my day! All the best. Karin
Sandra
What a terrific recipe and the bread is fabulous. I’ve now made it in so many colors. My kids love it. Makes lunchtime and holidays a little more fun. Thank you for a keeper. 💕
Karin and Ken
I could not agree with you more! Glad you enjoyed this bread as much as we all do! I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to let me know! Enjoy the rest of your day! Karin
Rita Urban
What charcoal food grade did you use in this recipe?
Karin and Ken
Currently I am using this one but any food grade activated charcoal powder will work great! Enjoy! Happy holidays. Karin https://amzn.to/3tzSaVq