Paska

I may not come from a Ukrainian family, but growing up in Winnipeg - which is FULL of Ukrainian people - the delicious foods from central Europe definitely played a huge part in my childhood.

As I mentioned in my "How to make Pysanky" blog post, my absolute favorite part of Easter - growing up - was my grandma’s neighbour’s Easter bread, called Paska.

Mary would bake up her family recipe for the traditional Easter bread every year.

We’d all head over to my grandmother’s place for our yearly Easter meal, and there’d be traditional paska bread waiting for us.

We’d have to wait until after the egg hunt part of our Easter celebrations was over, but that traditional sweet bread was absolutely my favourite part of Easter morning.

Every year, I looked forward to that first slice - a citrussy, delicious bread. SO GOOD.

Lately, I’ve been preparing for Easter celebration - baking up a few variations on hot cross buns (I’ll post those shortly), and I decided it was time to update my post on this slightly sweet egg bread.

So here we are - complete with a recipe walk through, video, and all new photos!

What is Paska Bread?

Paska is a traditional Ukrainian bread - almost like a Ukrainian babka - but it’s also popular through a lot of Eastern Europe, as well as areas with a lot of Ukrainian immigrants.

You know, like my hometown - Winnipeg!

Paska - in one form or another - is traditionally served in Eastern European countries as part of their celebrations, and the bread is often braided or decorated with Christian symbolism.

In the case of both Ukrainian and Slovak paska, some of the raw yeast dough is twisted into religious symbols - such as crosses - and placed on the bread, to be baked together on Good Friday.

Once the sweet egg bread is baked, it’s brought to the church as part of an Easter basket - along with eggs, meats, and other foods to be consumed on Easter - to be blessed on Holy Saturday.

Some paska takes a form more like Russian kulich - round loaves of bread, decorated with an icing drizzle, dried fruits, sprinkles, and/or nuts.

As I’ve always known Ukrainian paska bread, it's sweet, almost like a cross between a cake and a bread, and my neighbour used to bake them in coffee cans.

Now that I think about it, I guess they’re a bit like Italian panettone, though the panettones I’ve had are quite a bit more dry in texture than the paska I’ve had.

Anyway, I tend to think of it as a breakfast bread, though if it’s in my vicinity, it’s fair game at ANY time.

There are some wildly different ideas of what this sweet yeast bread entails - many traditional paska recipes don't have citrus, some have raisins, dried fruits, or a frosting.

... but this citrus version is what I was raised on, and it won't disappoint! It’s the perfect sweet addiction to your Easter brunch menu!

My Paska Recipe

Anyway, the memories of that bread were so vivid, when that Pysanky post brought them up, that I decided to get the original recipe from my grandmother, and make it myself for the first time.

It's always interesting when you're trying to get a recipe through a game of telephone - especially when the first two passes are through old ladies 🙂

As usual with my family, the Easter bread recipe came as more of a formula - no instructions, and some of the measurements were... not standard measurements.

It was a good start, anyway!

I adapted it a little (increased the flour and zest, changed lard to butter, ditched the coffee can in favor of decorated style), figured out what the directions would be, and made it last night.

I had planned to make this as a blog entry only, pass the finished product off to my husband to share at work, and behave myself.

Gluten allergy be damned, I dug into that sucker AS I was taking it out of the oven!

I decided that whatever fallout should happen as a result, it'll be worth it ... and it was!

Gluten Free Paska

Since originally sharing this paska bread recipe , I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t be as reckless in terms of just eating the gluten and “damn the consequences!”.

So, I finally developed a REALLY good gluten-free recipe!

It doesn’t have the same texture as this, and it’s baked up as a bundt cake. Because the batter is such that twisted dough decorations don’t really work, I went with the “glaze and sprinkles” route, and it’s fabulous.

If you know anyone who loves Ukrainian paska, but can’t handle gluten, you should definitely try it out: Gluten Free Easter Paska Bread

Note in 2022: Now I have a Keto Paska that's also gluten free!

Paska Bread Ingredients

This bread recipe is a bit more involved than many of my bread recipes, but I promise it’s worth it! You will need:

All Purpose Flour
Granulated Sugar
Milk
Oranges & Lemons (Both juice and zest!)
Butter
Eggs*
Active Dry Yeast (You can use fresh yeast or instant yeast if you prefer)
Salt

*You’ll use both whole eggs - in the dough - and egg yolks, as the egg wash. I like to time my paska making to use the egg whites towards making Easter Pavlova.

Variations

As with most traditional recipes, there are slight differences (and sometimes not so slight!) in how people can make their paska Easter bread.

One of the big ones: Some people like to add plump raisins to the dough.

I don’t, because that’s not how Mary made it. If I were to use raisins, I’d probably use 2 cups of Golden Raisins, just for aesthetic purposes.

Dark Raisins would work just fine, though.

Equipment

There are a few pieces of equipment that you will need - or want - to make this.

1. A LARGE mixing bowl. This makes a ton of bread, so you’ll want a really big bowl to let the dough rise in. If you try to use a bowl that’s too small... you’re going to have a hard time with this 🙂

2. A Citrus Zester

3. A Citrus Juicer. I like to use my electric Cuisinart pulp control juicer, as I’m juicing a lot of fruit when I make this!

4. A Stand Mixer - Definitely nice to have. You can make this recipe by hand, but a stand mixer with a dough hook makes easy work of mixing and kneading!

5. Baking Pans - These can be anything. Mary used coffee cans, but I don’t tend to have tin cans on hand. I usually use a mix of loaf pans and round casserole pans. Spring form pans are also a good option, and I use foil pans when making them for others.

How to Make Paska Bread

The full recipe follows, but here’s a quick overview of what you’re looking at!

Start the Dough

I like to measure out all of the dough ingredients before getting started - it makes the whole thing go more smoothly, IMHO.

In the bowl of a stand mixer - or in a large bowl, using an electric mixer - cream together butter and sugar until fluffy-ish.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, add eggs, continue to cream until well incorporated and smooth.

Add juices, zest, and salt to the mixture, mix until combined.

Pour in the scalded milk, continue to mix until well incorporated and smooth.

Add 4 cups of flour, combine.

Finally, add the active yeast mixture, mix until well incorporated.

If you have a dough hook attachment for your mixer, affix it now.

Slowly add remaining flour- mixing on a low to medium-low speed - until a good, coherent, soft smooth dough comes together. It should be only very slightly sticky to the touch – not a super sticky dough, and not really DRY.

Only add enough flour to take away excess stickiness.

Turn bread dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for a few minutes. The bread dough should be smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky when it’s been kneaded enough.

Transfer dough into a lightly greased bowl or pot.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap - or a clean kitchen towel - and allow to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours.

Once doubled, punch dough and allow to rise another hour.

Make the Loaves

Once the second rise is done, it’s time for the fun part.

Dump the dough out on your work surface - I use a silicone mat, but a clean, lightly floured counter works, too.

Divide the dough: reserve about ⅓ of the dough for decorations, and divide remaining dough out among the pans you’ll be using - you can use a loaf pan, large casserole dish, even a springform pan. (grease them first, or - for best results - grease and then line with parchment paper!).

For reference: to bake ONE batch of this, we generally use either:

1 - a 9″ round Pyrex dish, a large loaf pan, and 3 mini loaf pans

or

2 - A 9" Round Pyrex dish and 3 regular loaf pans

It makes a *LOT* of bread… this is a good thing!

For the main body of your breads, you’ll want the dough to fill about ⅓ of each baking pan – they’ll rise wildly. Halfway full if you’re adventurous, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Cover pans and reserved ⅓ dough loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise another 30 mins.

Once your 30 minutes are up, use the reserved dough to make decorative shapes 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, there are a lot of different ways to decorate this bread!.)

Toothpicks can be used to help secure designs in place until after baking.

Cover loosely with plastic, have the dough rise one last time, 30 minutes.

Bake and Eat!

While your dough is rising, whisk together the remaining egg yolks and water in a mug or small bowl, 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 oven temperature to 325°F and continue to bake for another 40 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.

I recommend wrapping and hiding a loaf or two, before cutting into any of them. If you’re planning to bring them somewhere, or share with ANYONE, this step is kind of essential.

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. ABSOLUTELY WORTH IT.

Leftover Paska

While this bread is at its most fabulous when fresh out of the oven, it makes great leftovers as well.

Once the bread has fully cooled - to room temperature - wrap it in Saran wrap. It's a very tender, soft bread, so you want to be sure to keep it from drying out.

It can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for a bit longer.

I prefer this bread served warm, either fresh out of the oven or microwaved. You’ll definitely want to heat it up if you store it in the fridge.

Once it does start to dry out a bit though?

This makes some AMAZING French toast! Add a bit of vanilla, orange zest, and a splash of OJ in the custard... MMMmmm...

If you have enough left over, it also makes a fantastic base for bread pudding. Same thing, I usually add citrus zest into the custard, and just amplify the flavours of the bread itself.

Scaling This Recipe Up

This paska recipe makes a TON of bread, so be prepared to make some friends VERY happy.

That said, once you give it out a few times, be prepared for requests. LOTS of requests!

I eventually got to the point where I was making multiple batches to handle all the friends who wanted some, and had to turn my entire kitchen into a proofing room - a warm place for the bread to rise.

I just didn’t have enough space in the oven all of that sweet dough!

So, we draped heavy plastic sheeting over the open door to the living room, lined the bowls and loaves of dough up on every flat surface, and had a space heater going. Good times, LOL.

Anyway, while you may or may not get that extreme with your Easter baking, I wanted to put it out there as a suggestion.

Also, unless you have a large commercial mixer, I wouldn’t recommend actually doubling the recipe. It does double / triple / etc just fine, it’s just a matter of mixing it.

As-is, this batch is about as much as I’d ever recommend putting through a home stand mixer. It’s also as much as I’d recommend kneading by hand in one go.

So, I recommend making a batch, getting it through the kneading stage, putting it aside, and starting another batch... as many times as you need. (Knead? LOL)
I do streamline the ingredients part though, getting multiple bowls going with the zest, juices, etc. SO, I’ll juice and zest everything at the same time, just placing it in separate bowls. I’ll also start all the yeast off, one after another.

The dry ingredients get measured at the same time, etc - it helps to have a lot of mixing bowls if you’re going to do this!

More Easter Content!

Looking for more fun / tasty ways to observe Easter? Here are a few suggestions for Easter baking and more:

Chocolate Zombie Easter Bunnies
No-Bake Easter Chocolate Pie
Easter Pavlova
Easy Pysanky [Epic Ukrainian Easter Eggs]
Gluten-Free Paska [Easter Bread]>
Layered Easter Creme Egg Brownies
Pastel Easter Charcuterie Board
Keto Paska
Paska Bagels
Southern Comfort Glazed Ham

Share the Love!

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More Recipes that Remind me of Gramma

Since originally writing this post, my grandma has sadly passed... but her memory lives on.

Here are a few recipes that remind me of her, whether as something she taught me to make, a replica of a retail treat we used to enjoy together, or one of my own recipes that she would request whenever I’d visit, as an adult.

Gramma's Perogies Recipe
Homemade Marshmallow Cones
Homemade Clodhoppers Candy
Puffed Wheat Squares
Honey Dill Dipping Sauce
Baking Powder Biscuits
Grandma's Potato Salad
Easy Butterfly Cupcakes
Breakfast of Champions
French Canadian Pea Soup
Beep Drink Recipe
Sponge Toffee