When I was researching recipes to make for Easter, I stumbled on this Ukrainian Easter bread. We have wonderful friends from Ukraine who we love like family, so I really wanted to try making an Easter bread from their home country. Paska is a delicious sweet bread eaten on Easter. Ukraine adheres to the Orthodox calendar, which celebrates Easter a week after we celebrate in the United States. Paska is often brought to the church in the morning to be blessed by the priest, along with other foods during the Easter church service.

It is an enriched dough which is typical of Easter breads, many of which are consumed after a period of Lent where sweets and decadent foods are fasted from for a time. This Paska is a brioche-like dough studded with dried fruit and a delicious lemon icing on top. They are baked in special paper molds, but if you don’t have that you can use a tin from canned food (green bean tin, tomato tin, etc…). Paska can also be made in a larger mold, though you would have to adjust the baking time. And speaking of time, this recipe does take a LONG time. That is part of the fun of it, though. It has three “rise” periods and it takes so long because of all of the heavy ingredients in the dough (eggs, butter, sour cream). Despite the amount of time for rising, this is a VERY easy dough to make because I never had to knead it. I think it would be a perfect baking project to make with kids for that reason.

If you want to teach your kids a little about Easter in Ukraine and Russia, here are a few books that go along very well with this yummy recipe. Check them out from your library, watch them being read on YouTube or purchase them on Amazon. You can’t go wrong with Easter books that teach about a new culture.

Rechenka’s Eggs, Patricia Polacco
The Magic Babushka, Phyllis Limbacher Tildes

Or a coloring book of Ukrainian Easter Eggs: Pysanky Coloring Book

Regardless of whether you read a book about Ukrainian Easter, this recipe is a fun one to make with kids. When I texted the photo of the finished Paska to my friend, she was delighted to say it looked similar to their Easter bread! I wish I could have shared one with her with a cup of the delicious orange infused tea she makes. Making this delicious Easter bread would have only been better if we could have shared it together. Hopefully soon!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Yield: 12 mini paska

Time: 15 minute mix, 6 hours rise, 30 minute bake

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1 cup warm whole milk
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ Tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4-5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup currants, raisins or craisins
• 12 mini panettone paper molds

Icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• ½ Tablespoon cream

Instructions:

1. Whisk together milk, eggs, yeast, sugar, melted butter (not hot!), salt, sour cream and vanilla. Add 2 cups of flour and whisk together. The batter will be thick but won’t form a dough yet. Cover the dough and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.
2. Add 2-3 cups more of flour until the dough doesn’t stick to your hands. Stir in the currants, raisins or craisins (your choice). The dough will still feel a little sticky. This dough does not require kneading. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 2 more hours.
3. Set up 12 panettone molds on a baking sheet. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and fill each mold. Try not to knead it or push it down too much. Let the dough rise another 2 hours until the molds are almost full.
4. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature and then remove the wrapper if desired.

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To make the icing: whisk together 2 cups of powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice and ½ Tablespoon cream. Add a little more cream if it’s too thick, or a little more powdered sugar if it’s too runny. Pour glaze over each Paska and top with sprinkles before the glaze sets.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! I will be posting a new Easter recipe every week leading up to Easter. You can see last week’s recipe here.

Please share this recipe if you enjoyed it! Post a photo and tag me @amybakesbread so I can see your bake 🙂

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