Paska Bread
Paska, a beautiful and delicious Easter tradition.
Making Paska bread is more than just a way to celebrate Easter. It's a way to honor my family's traditions and to carry on some of the culture of my Eastern European heritage. With each passing year, I would practice the technique and perfect the family recipe. It has definitely been a tedious process but I enjoyed every minute of it. With every success and failure, I’ve only filled my kitchen with knowledge and many happy memories. I can only hope that I could pass on this Easter tradition and create many more happy memories with my future family.
Paska Bread
*Makes 1 large loaf or 2 small loaves
Yeast Mixture
½ tsp granulated sugar
½ cup warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
Dough
1 ½ cup whole milk
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, beaten
½ tsp fine sea salt
4-5 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup of raisins (optional)
In a glass cup measure, combine sugar, warm water and yeast. Mix until the sugar and yeast are dissolved. Leave the yeast for about 5 minutes or until the yeast are bloomed and foamy.
In a pot, combine the whole milk and butter. Place the stove on medium low heat to melt the butter and scald the milk. Put aside and cool until the milk’s temperature is 110 or feels lukewarm. You don’t want your milk to be too hot, if it’s too hot when you add your yeast you will kill your yeast.
In a stand mixing bowl, combine your milk mixture, yeast mixture, sugar and eggs. Mix together until everything is fully incorporated. Add 1 cup of flour and your salt, mix until that first cup of flour is incorporated into your wet ingredients. Add the rest of your flour in a cup at a time and your raisins if using until a soft dough forms. You want to take care not to add too much flour into your dough because it will create a very dry and crumbly bread.
Grease a large bowl with butter and add your dough. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and a kitchen towel, leave the dough to proof for at least 1 hour or until doubled.
While your dough is proofing, butter any spring form pan or round baking dishes that you’ll be using.
Once doubled, punch down the dough and cut the dough in half; if making two small loaves. Shape the dough into a round ball. If you would like to decorate the bread, follow the optional step below.
Optional Step: Cut a quarter portion off each portion of dough for the decoration. . Decorate each loaf with braided dough pieces from the quarter portions. Traditionally, people decorate the Paska bread with a braided cross but you can be as creative as you want. If the thought of braiding is a little overwhelming, you can skip it all together and make a plain round loaf. Also remember, there’s no right or wrong way to shape and decorate your Paska, they come in all shapes and sizes! Some are tall, some are very round, some are ornately decorated, some are plain; just work with what you have and put your heart into it. Trust me, no matter what your loaf will be beautiful because you made it!
When decorated or shaped into desired shape, place your dough in the prepared pan. Cover with a kitchen towel and leave to proof for 60-90 minutes or until the loaves have almost reached the top of the pans. If you are making two small loaves and are using a spring form pan depending on the size, the dough might not fill out the whole pan. You really just want it to double in size and have the tops reach the top of the pan. But if you are in doubt you can do the finger poke test on the dough to see if it’s completely proofed. If your kitchen is on the colder side it could affect the proofing time. In the past, I’ve had it take as long and two hours for this dough to be completely proofed.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
After the bread is done proofing, brush each loaf with an egg wash and bake for 35-45 minutes or until the crust is a deep golden brown. I will typically start checking the bread after 30 minutes. Depending on your oven the bread could start to get really brown before it’s fully baked. If this happens, tent your loaves with aluminum foil to ensure the crust doesn’t burn.
Once fully baked, let the bread cool in the pans for 5 minutes before releasing and cooling completely on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy with plenty of butter!
*Notes: Depending on your baking pans it could take longer than 45 minutes to fully bake the loaves. In the past, I have used tall casserole dishes to bake my Paska. When using these types of dishes I noticed that it could take almost a full hour before a large loaf of Paska is completely baked.
If using raisins I have a little trick to make them extra delicious, plump them! Yes, plump them! While you're waiting for your yeast to become foamy, take your raisins and cover them with warm water. Let them steep for about 15 minutes. Then strain the liquid away with a mesh strainer and put the raisins aside until you’re ready to use them.
As stated in my previous recipe for Hrudka, you can save any excess liquid from your cheese ball! You can save it and use it as if you were using the milk. It’s just a good way to use all your resources and not waste anything.
If you don’t use the extra dough to create braided crosses but still want a cross. With a sharp knife or razor blade cut a cross design into the top of the loaf. Just make sure the cut you make is shallow so the dough isn’t tempted to spill through the design when baking.
When proofing this dough please be patient! This dough is enriched dough and it could take quite a while for it to proof properly. Due to the fact that it has large amounts of butter and sugar, it could stunt the growth of the dough. Also, if you add raisins it will affect the proofing time as well. The raisins do weigh down the dough and it will take longer for it to proof.
Please use the proofing times that are stated as a guide. Times will definitely vary due to your specific weather and temperature. I’ve made this dough on a cool or rainy day and it has taken longer than specified to properly proof. If the dough isn’t properly proofed, especially in their baking pans, when they bake the bread will crack because it rises too quickly in the oven.