Gluten-Free Paska! (Citrussy Ukrainian Easter Bread)

Sharing is caring!

Gluten-Free Paska!

Recently, I was asked to make 3 huge batches of my Paska for a screen test for a local TV show. I was so confused at what I was thinking - it was such a great opportunity, and I love to turn people on to Paska - it's *glorious* stuff - but I had already planned to not have to make Paska this year. It's too great a temptation for me - last year, I went off gluten free when I made it and lived to sort of regret it. (The pain was awful, but the bread was kinda worth it - it's THAT good!).

I really didn't want to go flying off the gluten free wagon, especially with my health doing so well lately. I'm strong, but some temptations are too great, even for me. I know myself well, so I decided to create a gluten free version.

Sure, I'd never made a gluten free bread before this point (and this was before my recent Gluten Free Deep Dish Pizza epiphany.)... but you know, I love a challenge.

Oh lord. This was amazing. It didn't have quite the same texture as the real deal, but the flavor was there. I slathered butter on a slice fresh out of the oven, and it was heavenly. So good, in fact, that I immediately messaged local friend Alissa, of "The Accidental Celiac, to inform her that I am a GENIUS (and so humble!), and that if she was around, I had to bring her something. There may have been some capitalized expletives and exclamation point abuse involved also.

I wrapped some still-hot goodness up, stepped away from preparing supper, and went the few short blocks to deliver it. Yep, fresh out of the oven Paska is THAT urgent... especially because having access to safe, GOOD bread when gluten free can make you sort of... feral.

Says Alissa:

"GF Paska, I dub thee "Magic Bread." My daughter already has had 2 servings..and a part of the braid on top. It was so yummy...and the scent was heavenly. Nice and lemony...mmmmm THANKS for the surprise delivery!!!"

Anyway, the screen test ended up cancelled, but at least I got THIS out of it all. This morning I was reminded that I had not posted this recipe, though all of this went down just over a week ago!

Enjoy!

Print Pin

5 from 6 votes

Gluten-Free Paska

Paska is a delicious Ukrainian Easter bread that I LOVED, growing up. This Gluten-Free Paska has all the flavour, and an acceptable texture. (Hey. It’s GF bread!)

Course Bread, Breakfast

Cuisine Gluten-free, Ukrainian

Keyword 'easter, Beyond Flour Book, easter bread, gluten-free, glutenfree, lemon, orange, paska bread

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Resting time 3 hours 45 minutes

Total Time 4 hours 30 minutes

Servings 8 People

Calories 620kcal

Author Marie Porter

Ingredients

• ¼ cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2.5 tsp active dry yeast 1 packet
• ½ cup butter softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs beaten
• Juice of ½ lemon and ½ orange
• Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup scalded milk cooled
• 3 cups gluten free all-purpose flour I used Bob’s Red Mill
• 2 cups white rice flour
• 1 cup potato starch
• 1 egg yolks
• 2 tsp water

Instructions

• Stir sugar into warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top of sugar water, gently incorporate. Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes, until bubbly.
• In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, continue to cream until well incorporated and fluffy once more.
• Add juices, zest, and salt to the mixture, mix until combined. Add scalded milk, continue to mix until well incorporated and smooth. Add 2 cups of gluten free all purpose flour, combine well. Add yeast mixture, mix until well incorporated.
• If you have a dough hook attachment for your mixer, affix it now.
• Slowly add remaining flours and starch until a good, coherent bread dough comes together. It should be sticky to the touch.
• Put dough into a lightly greased bowl or pot, cover top with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm area until doubled in size, about 1 ½-2 hours.
• Now here’s the fun part. Reserve about ⅓ of the dough for decorations, and divide remaining dough out among the pans you’ll be using (grease them first!). For reference, we used an 8″ round pyrex pot, and an 8″ square cake pan to bake one batch of this. Mine turned out fairly thin, next time I’ll probably use the whole amount in a 9″ round pan.
• For the main body of your bread , you’ll want the dough to fill at least ½ of each baking pan. They’ll rise a bit more, but not like crazy. Cover loosely pans and reserved ⅓ dough loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise another 1 hour.
• Once your rise time is up, use the reserved dough to make designs on the top of each loaf. Braids, twists, curls, crosses and rosettes are popular/traditional, but have fun with it. (Google can be a great source of design inspiration.) Toothpicks can be used to help secure designs in place until after baking. Cover loosely with plastic, allow to rise one last time, 30 minutes.
• While your dough is rising, whisk together the remaining egg yolks and water to create an egg wash. This glaze will give your finished Paska a shiny, dark brown finish. Beautiful!
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Once final rise is finished, brush entire top of each loaf with egg wash. Bake loaves for 10 minutes. Without opening the oven door, lower the heat to 325°F and continue to bake for another 20-35 minutes, depending on how thick your bread is. (Mine took 25 minutes.
• Cool Paska for 10-15 minutes (if you can handle the wait), then gently remove from pans and transfer to a wire rack or wooden cutting board to continue cooling.

Notes

Cut into one of your warm loaves, slather with butter, and … don’t plan on going anywhere for awhile. It’s easy to plow through a ton of this, and it will give you a bread coma. SO WORTH IT. Like many GF breads, this is best served warm… but that’s true with the full gluten version as well.

Nutrition

Calories: 620kcal | Carbohydrates: 108g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 298mg | Potassium: 293mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 530IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 83mg | Iron: 3mg

Interested in Gluten-free cooking and baking? You'll LOVE Beyond Flour: A Fresh Approach to Gluten-Free Cooking and Baking! How many times have you come across a gluten-free recipe claiming to be “just as good as the normal version!”, only to wind up with weird textures, aftertastes, etc? Most gluten-free recipes are developed by taking a “normal” recipe, and swapping in a simulated “all purpose” gluten-free flour. “Beyond Flour” takes a different approach: developing the recipe from scratch. Rather than swapping out the flour for an “all purpose” mix, I use various alternative flours as individual ingredients – skillfully blending flavours, textures, and other properties unique to each flour. Supporting ingredients and different techniques are also utilized to achieve the perfect end goal, not just a “reasonable facsimile”. Order your copy here.

Looking for even MORE fantastic gluten-free recipes? Beyond Flour now has a sequel: Beyond Flour 2: A Fresh Approach to Gluten-Free Cooking and Baking! Imagine gluten-free foods that are as good – or better! – than their traditional, gluten-filled counterparts. Imagine no longer settling for foods with bizarre after-tastes, gummy consistency, and/or cardboard texture, and imagine graham crackers that taste just like the real thing. Crisp, flaky crackers…without the sandy texture. Hybrid tortillas that: look and act like flour tortillas, with the taste of fresh roasted corn! Imagine chewy, delicious cookies that *everyone* will want to eat! Imagine BAGELS. If you’ve cooked from “Beyond Flour”, you already know that these fantasies can be reality – it’s all in the development of the recipes. Order your copy here.

Related posts:

Paska - Ukrainian Easter Bread Gluten-Free Sauerkraut Buns - Pyrizhky Lembas Bread Recipe [Gluten-Free] Gluten-Free Banana Nutella Ebelskivers