Paska Bread [Ukrainian Easter Bread]

3 loaves of braided Paska bread on a wooden cutting board.

4.83 from 52 votes

Paska Bread is a traditional Ukrainian Easter bread. This recipe is based on the bread my neighbour used to bake for us - Citrus, sugar, eggs, and fat - amazing stuff!

Prep Time1

Cook Time50

Rising Time2 30

Total Time4 20

Course: Bread, Breakfast, Side Dish

Cuisine: European, Holiday, Ukrainian

Servings: - 4 Large Loaves of Bread

Calories: 349kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

Zester
Juicer
Parchment Paper
5 Loaf Pans Or more, see post for suggestions.

Ingredients

½ cup Warm Water
1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
2 packets Active Dry Yeast 4.5 tsp
¾ cup Butter softened
2 cups Granulated Sugar
8 Large Eggs beaten
Juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange About ¾ cup juice, total.
Zest of 1-2 lemons and 1-2 oranges
1 teaspoon Salt
1 ½ cups Scalded Milk Cooled
12 cups+ All Purpose Flour Divided
2 Large Egg Yolks
1 tablespoon 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 4 cups of 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 flour until a good, coherent bread dough comes together.
It should be a smooth soft dough that's only very slightly sticky to the touch – not super sticky, and not really DRY.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for a few minutes. Dough should be smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky when it’s been kneaded enough.
Put dough into a lightly greased bowl or pot, cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a warm area until doubled in size, about 1 ½-2 hours.
Once doubled, beat down the middle of the dough and allow to rise another hour.
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 a 9″ round pyrex pot, a large loaf pan, and 3 mini loaf pans to bake ONE batch of this. 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 a LOT.
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 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 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.

Video

Notes

See the post for step by step photos and additional tips and information, including on how to scale this recipe.

Nutrition