How to Make Easter Paska Bread the Ukrainian Way (2024)

Easter Breads
Breads
Side Dishes
Eastern European Cooking
Easter Recipes

Barbara Rolek

Barbara Rolek is a former chef who became a cooking school instructor and award-winning food writer.

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Updated on 03/7/24

Ingredients

For the Dough:

1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup water, lukewarm
1 (0.25-ounce) packageactive dry yeast
7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt

For the Egg Wash:

1 large egg, at room temperature
2 tablespoons water

Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.
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In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, scald the milk and set aside to cool until lukewarm.
In a large bowl, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon sugar in the water and sprinkle the yeast over it. Mix and let stand for 10 minutes.
Add the lukewarm scalded milk and 2 1/2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat until smooth. Cover and let rise until light and bubbly.
Add eggs, the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, melted butter, salt, and 4 1/2 to 5 cups of the remaining flour to make a dough that is not too stiff and not too slack.
Knead until dough no longer sticks to the hand and is smooth and satiny (about 7 minutes in a stand mixer, longer by hand).
Place dough in a greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled.
Punch down, cover, and let rise again.
Reserve a third of the dough for decorating. Shape the rest into a round loaf and place in a 10- to 12-inch greased round pan.
Shape the reserved dough into decorations of choice—a cross, swirls, rosettes, braiding, etc.—and arrange on top of the dough.
Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled.
Heat oven to 400 F. Brush bread with 1 large egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water.
Bake 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F and bake an additional 40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer registers 190 F. If necessary, cover the top of the bread with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.
Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe Variation

Some cooks make a stiffer, non-yeast, sculpting dough for the decorations so the shapes won't distort when baked. You can use the one as described in thisSerbiancesnicarecipe.

Where Is Paska From?

Paska is primarily from Ukraine, but the traditional Easter bread is eaten throughout Eastern Europe and in countries with Eastern Orthodox populations.

What Is the Difference Between Babka and Paska Bread?

Both babka and paska are traditional Eastern European breads served at Easter. While they are both yeasted, sweet, enriched breads, paska tends to be wide and round with dough shaped on top to form religious symbols or decorative shapes. Ukrainian babka is a tall cylinder that sometimes contains raisins and/or citrus zest, and can have icing on top. Polish paska has a fluted shape.

Ukrainian Blueberry Dumplings (Varenyky)

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
403	Calories
8g	Fat
70g	Carbs
11g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 12
Amount per serving
Calories	403
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g	10%
Saturated Fat 4g	21%
Cholesterol 78mg	26%
Sodium 305mg	13%
Total Carbohydrate 70g	25%
Dietary Fiber 2g	8%
Total Sugars 10g
Protein 11g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 60mg	5%
Iron 4mg	22%
Potassium 157mg	3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

bread
ukrainian bread
dessert
eastern european

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