Italian Anise Easter Bread - cooking recipe

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

Preparation

In mixer bowl beat eggs. Add sugar, butter, crisco, oil, milk, and vanilla.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bake 1 hour at 275 degrees. Do not underbake or they will be hard as a rock. (Top should be lightly browned.).